Sunday, February 12, 2006

What's the Problem with VPS????
Susan Ohanian ask "Should the Public Pay for William Bennett's Version of a Home School?"
My answer would be NO. Although I do respect the rights of those who have chosen to avail themselves of VPS. And if it works for your family then by all means use it.
My problem is with VPS being equated with Independent Homeschoolers. It's not that I think my family is superior to a family that uses a school at home approach, but their insistence on calling themselves homeschoolers while taking advantage of public funds leads to confusion among the general public, many of whom have never embraced the concept of homeschooling in the first place. They start demanding to know why homeschoolers are receiving public funds at the expense of traditional schools. They want to know why testing is required of some homeschoolers and not all. And with these questions comes legislation that HURTS independent homeschoolers.
So if you want to take advantage of VPS, by all means do so. But do homeschoolers a favor and call yourselves something else, that reflects your schooling choice; Virtual Schoolers or E-schoolers might be a good selection. You'll be more then welcome to participate in our homeschooling groups and we can be more supportive of your choice knowing that the general public will not confuse Virtual Public Schoolers with Homeschoolers.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Spam is not tolerated. I welcome on topic comments from you.