Public schooling is probably a really good idea for a lot of people, but only for a certain (unknown) percentage of people who actually graduate. And, among those who do manage to graduate from public school, I would guess that the effectiveness of public schooling varies from pretty good to dismal because many teachers are doing it for the wrong reasons, in some cases for just plain bad reasons, and/or they really don't know what they are doing.
I have yet to meet a college professor who would claim that they are generally happy with what shows up at their classroom door from Public Schooling Land ... even though most college professors with whom I have had this conversation are actually in favor of public schooling in principle. The point here is that it is probably pretty easy to execute the process poorly and damage the child.
One could say that public schooling is like this ... a version of education that ideally would be much better than the "private" approach, but in practice, is often (how often, we don't know) executed poorly.
The reason that I think a lot of public schoolers are not doing a great job is because their motivations are not really in the interest of the child. Their motivations are often political . The children are being dragged along in the adults' efforts to make some point, play some game, avoid some personal discomfort, get their jollies in one way or another, etc.
Public Schooling In The Eyes Of Connecticut State Law
A Superior Court judge last year determined that the state's (Connecticut) constitution did not guarantee a right to an adequate or suitable education, the position taken by the state.
Public schooling critics, haven't they learned anything?
Now honestly, I don't give a shit what anyone thinks about public schooling. I send my four children to public schools for reasons that make sense to ME, because they're MY children, not the governments, not society's, and not Jack's. Why shouldn't I shove my kids out the door and onto a school bus so I can enjoy some peace.
Please don't tell any of the public schoolers I wrote this post. They will get mad at me and never leave me alone.
I hope you enjoyed my parody of The Homeschooler Mind Set. It's as poorly researched as the original. But hey it was fun to write.
You do realize that your use of language is offensive, yes?
ReplyDeleteEdutards? That is such a derogatory slam on the mentally challenged...I don't know what to say...
ReplyDeleteI thought *compassionate homeschoolers* were AGAINST the kind of belittling and bullying that these especially challenged kids allegedly recieve in the public schools?...
maybe you are on this guys team?
http://www.bastardpowered.com/retarded.htm
seriously... change your title. that's just... not cool. there are other things you could say that would get your point across without having to debase the mentally challenged. hell, you can even insult someone without using derivatives of ignorant terms. ::shrug:: up to you, but i think you would probably regain a smidge of respect...
ReplyDeleteGreg, you do realize that your constant belittling of homeschoolers is offensive, yes?
ReplyDeleteAlasandra,
ReplyDeleteEven if Greg is being offensive, that does not change your being offensive. That is a child's defense.
Actually, I support home schooling in principle. I would belittle a person on their own merits, not because of their linkage to a particular practice that may have great benefits.
ReplyDeleteAnd I remain totally unsure as to the range of real practices in the home schooling world.
And yes, eewolf is correct. Saying "greg belittles X therefore as long as he does that I can belittle the mentally disabled" is similar to saying "no one should say anything bad about home schooling until they fix everything wrong in the public education system" .. which you have said on numerous occasions.
I don't want to tell you what to blog. But as long as you and your buddies use the "t" word I hope you realize that people's estimation of you, your overall credibility, is going to be down a couple/few notches.
Did I mention the mentally disabled anywhere in MY POST?
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't!!!!
Apparently y'all are capable of manufacturing slights against people where none was intended.
And yes all the edutards should spend more time fixing the public school system then bashing homeschoolers. After all your tax money is going to support the public schools. Your tax money doesn't support homeschoolers. But instead of focusing your time, energy and writing talents on a "problem" that should be a legitimate concern to you (the public schools). You waste your time on perceived problems with homeschooling that really aren't any of your business.
Speaking of childish --
ReplyDeleteNatalie was just obediently following his marching orders, Alasandra, to come here and demand you follow them too, do things his way on your own blog. Greg sent out a blanket order to his claven of syncophantic minions basking in his reflected science god glory, commanding them to tell you what words you can and can't use.
Not that you're a student subject to his control and command but why should that stop him? He knows what's best for EVERYBODY, at any age, enrolled under him or not.
If intertube self-reporting can be believed -- which it can't, witness the lies Greg purposely spreads about "cmf" being real instead of woolly -- then "Natalie" at the oh-so-indignantly, self-righteous and self-important age of 22, is younger than my daughter's boyfriend, younger even than I was when *I* was as a similarly insufferable, overschooled, childless know-it-all.
We might hypothesize then, that Natalie's proffered "smidge of respect" is not worth having and not to be had by you in any case, no matter what you express or what words you do or don't use in expressing them, Alasandra.
Not for a couple of decades at least, until she's had time to earn a REAL education on her own, in the real world. For the moment she lives there in MN idolizing Greg and His Misogynistic Sock Drawer, probably his student and not much of a educational trophy for him at that, if at 22 she still lacks even the analytical skills, mental discipline or world experience to detect woman-baiting and hating when she's being so easily disrepected and manipulated by it from her own team leaders!
EEwolf as a new unlinked alias here, is probably from the same cmf sock drawer Greg keeps at the ready to confound reasonable discussion without dirtying his own academic robes too much, when the going gets tough.
Not cool indeed.
Quite amusing.
ReplyDeleteEdutard sounds like some kind of circulation constricting, one-size-fits-all, full-body cat suit clothes.
ReplyDeleteCompulsory public edutard then, would literally mean "school uniform."
Hi Doc!
Greggie and friends -- always good for a laugh.
ReplyDeleteNance
I love the word "edutard". It so aptly describes some of them. Having one that can make the connection from them to "Mentally challenged" individuals only proves their level of absurdity and ego-centric beliefs.
ReplyDeleteApparantly, they don't get it and that's fine with me. I'll allow them to stay couped up in their perfect little bubbly world where no one offends anyone and everyone has a nice home with white picket fence and 2.5 children playing in the yard.
Your parody was a thing of beauty and that they found offense in it also only proves their "edutardness". :)
Toni
Only a retard would think that using the term "*tard" would be offensive or refer to an actual mentally challenged person.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what we are suppose to call leotards? Apparently that word might offend Greg, cmf and Natalie Wagner.
ReplyDeleteYou know it's amusing the only thing they could find to complain about was the title. Apparently even they couldn't find a way to defend the public schools from the same criticisms Greg leveled against homeschooling.
PS: I wonder if Natalie Wagner really thinks I care about being cool that's so outdated.
ReplyDeleteSchools better stop using the word "tard-y" too --
ReplyDeleteThe tardy edutard was wearing a leotard.
ReplyDeleteSorry I couldn't resist.
And then there is petard
Guess we better not tell the edutards to hoist on their own petard.
We really shouldn't pick on them for their language skills after all they attended public schools.
ReplyDeleteWow. I read that a homeschooler was throwing the word "tard" around, but I didn't believe it. All of the homeschoolers I know actually have compassion for others. Try checking out blog against disablism day, which just happened, particularly this post called Why I don't use the word retarded. Then try and get yourself a heart.
ReplyDeleteTried to check "Carlie's" profile but it was -- um -- "disabled." ;-)
ReplyDeleteCarlie, did I use the word RETARDED????
ReplyDeleteNO
Greg, the real cmf, and Natalie Wagner jumped to conclusions.
There are more words with tard in them then retard.
tardy
leotard
petard
edutard * see new post for the definition.
BTW I thought most civilized people referred to them as mentally disabled these days not retarded.
JJ, Poor edutards they are so transparent.
ReplyDeleteAlasandra, when I was in (extremely public) high school, we intellectually precocioius kids had a favorite cheer for the football games, when "we" were on defense:
ReplyDeleteRetard them, retard them!
Make them relinquish the ball!
This is ridiculous. On wordpress, you'd be able to see that all these *tards are the same person. That's why it doesn't happen on my blog.
ReplyDeleteIf you need a laugh, go read Nat's blog.
No doubt Laden opines on issues of which he knows nothing. But, FWIW, I've never liked the -tard construction. "Edutard" is new to me, but the more common "f**ktard" always strikes me as juvenile.
ReplyDeleteI'd just call Laden and his minions a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes. :-)
Oh man. After reading JJ's old post I almost regret having ignored Mr. Laden for the most part. It would have been fun to be part of a homeschooling cabal. Are you ready to advance from pestering Laden to, say, world domination?
ReplyDeleteThe word, 'retard' or 'retarded' is one no longer commonly used by the public. The use of the word has been restricted to medical facilities and elementary aged children. Most professionals describe mentally challenged folks as just that or they use the actual name of their disability, not the word 'retard.' The word is much like the word, 'dork' (now means a doofy person, not a fake penis) in that 'retard' is no longer in common use as a descriptive of someone with a mental handicap but is used to describe someone who acts like an idiot or an ass.
ReplyDeleteI think the sticking point that everyone is arguing about masks the real issue, which is that the article parodied was ridiculous in its portrayal of homeschoolers.
Cerwydwyn is right. By choosing to harp on the word Edutard we have been distracted from the real issue which is that the article parodied was ridiculous in its portrayal of homeschoolers.
ReplyDeleteDaryl, in hindsight I would have probably chosen another word to use for the title.
Dana, world domination sounds like a plan. Daryl you can be in charge of Greg & company.
He's ignoring the issues the same way Lessenberry did in his comments (picking on grammar and spelling).
ReplyDeleteAnd as for "edutard" being derived from the word retard (or perhaps leotard as JJ pointed out), the definition of retard is to slow or impede progress, which fits perfectly.
Laden mocked Alasandra openly last year when she tried to answer his concerns about religious homeschoolers, because she was fond of pretty butterflies adorning her personal blog space.
ReplyDeleteSo he labeled Alasandra too soft-hearted for credibility in his home education conversation -- pretty much the opposite of the Ladenblather claim this week, that she's too bigoted, callous and offensive for credibility.
At Rolfe's, this self-proclaimed Education Decider and his meatiest sock puppets smeared home education as a threat to national security, arguing that unregulated homeschooling imperils all academic credentialism. Diplomas and degrees to MEAN something, doncha know.
Oops, Thinking Homeschoolers with credentials can be such an Inconvenient Truth! Rolfe is introspective, compassionate and yes, obviously brilliant with or without a doctoral sheepskin to hang or hide behind, while Doc and Daryl both have science degrees and credentials that any real credentialist would respect.
And my credentials if credible, certify that I know a thing or two about education policy -- which is what this argument is REALLY about, not religion or evolution or language choice or butterflies -- and have the degrees and experience to prove it.
So if academic cred actually was the point, we'd be having a collegial conversation with Dr. Laden rather than with Mr. Hide Behind CMF. And Ladenblather would have long since been freely and appropriately left behind.
We really shouldn't pick on them for their language skills after all they attended public schools.
ReplyDeleteI was home schooled from tenth grade on.
My daughter is in 7th grade and can out grammar and out write every single commenter on this blog post, myself included. Public school all the way.
It really depends.
Oh, so private shame and insecurities with a dash of self-loathing thrown in would explain this persecution of homeschooling? How Hitlerian (which under Godwin's Law ends the thread, right? Thank goodness!)
ReplyDeleteYou do realize we only have Greg's word that he was ever homeschooled.
ReplyDeleteBut if in fact he was homeschooled how does he explain that he is now a university professor. I mean according to Greg homeschoolers don't amount to anything so either
1.) he was never homeschooled or
2.) He is wrong and homeschoolers can become whatever they want; including college professors.
Minus the *tard stuff, which I wasn't clever enough to come up with, this thread and the one at Greg's are eerily repeative of the original Ladenberry post that I lambasted over a year ago.
ReplyDeleteCall me when he updates his act.
LOL - don't sit by the phone waiting for that call, Chris.
ReplyDelete(Oh, and sorry about Brooke saying bye-bye this week! But you know David Cook deserves to win. . .)
Chris, that explains why the whole time I was reading Greg's post I kept thinking. I have read this before.................
ReplyDeleteAn ass, a lemur, or a cichlid could discern Gregs writing from my own--but not those hearty bonobos JJ, DOC, etc...
ReplyDeleteY'alls need help, or some meds for that projectile paranoia.
And JJ, I hear there are a few blogs out there with you, and June Cleaver that are sock puppets of you as well...
http://notjunecleaverxxx.blogspot.com/
http://jjrosshomeschooling.blogspot.com/2007/07/i-am-homeschooler-and-i-am-particularly.html
It seems that the only way that you people relate is by snipy, defensive, and actually just really immature sounding very shitty comments.
Kind of, um, unsocialized...I guess I can see why you guys got "picked on" in public school: you deserved it.
sign me "the real cmf"
Funny how when you use your OWN INITIALS, it throws off the morons.
I'm surprised you only listed those two blogs you created with our names. Gosh, don't forget all the fake posts and other stuff you created with our names. That's sort of fun reading too.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually lucky, I guess, because I was NOT picked on in school. School was actually a pretty good experience for me. My problem with my schooling is that it taught me how to jump through hoops rather than how to really learn and be passionate about my interests.
BTW what is up with posting from the Bloomington School District computers? Is that allowed? Wouldn't you be better off using the Minneapolis Public Library or the University of Minnesota Library like you usually do?
June,JJ, DOC et al: I have no response for any of you, in light of the fact that you practice the rudest form of cowardice:
ReplyDeleteaccusations, unfounded character assaults, and out of context posting on your blogs, where you edit portions of comments, delete others, and reword comments that you don't like.
Worse? June, you ARE an absolute ass if opnly because you couldn't locate an IP if you had Carnivore installed "the Bloomington School District computers?"
Dude, you need a subscription to a better IP location service. How's this IP now? Let me guess "SanDiego public toilet wireless hub" or the "the Starbucks terminal at June C's rendevouz spot with her therapist"
Idiot--and a liar to boot.
No one is persecuting anyone, and ppl like JJ, et al, represent the very worst flotsam--and likely the most prone to use and propagandize children, or who are child abusers--of the entire HS crowd.
For those interested, here is the text of the last post I sent to JJ this afternoon (Laden linked to her blog--she calls me him, and him me, and then mentions me no less than half a dozen times, virtually begging me for a comment), where she was deriding me in various ways.
She loves one-sided conversations where she re-words posts, and edits them so they fit her worldview, so here is what she left out:
" You blathering butt-sniffing-dogs-- begging for CMF to appear.
You summon ghosts, and complain then that you are scared: typical matriarchal coveners.
Aren't you busy enough sleeping with your girl-children and teaching them the meaning of "coochie-snorcher" with a hands on lesson? Or playing dress up and dress off all day?
Don't you have some young corn-kings to indoctrinate or cuckold?
The reason I don't visit your dull blogs is that they lack wit--oh, that and that you take my posts and edit them, and then sock puppet them around in your klavern. Oh, that and the fact that this kkklavern of rhetoriticians is just not interesting, is predictable, and really just "not well written..."
Check this IP you digital dorks--and DOC, don't you have anything better to do than IP locate all day? I have hundreds--no *thousands of IP's daily* if I need them. I just don't come here because you all sound like an incestuous mini-matriarchy-wannabe.
My mom had more real "feminist" in her left tit than any of you tit-wits ever will: she 'showed rather than telled' ( some southern vernacular for you klavernists) what a woman is--and her feminism didn't include the incest that you weirdos perpetrate, perpetuate and...well, you get the picture--or all of the useless, circular and endless sniping, and blathering."
Whew! Thanks for confirming that you are not the same person I thought you were.
ReplyDeleteThe first two comments in this thread were from "greg" and his troll puppet to belittle and bully dear, sweet Alasandra (a homeschool mom who loves butterflies and kitty cats) for using one "offensive" word!
ReplyDeleteLOL . . . Greg Laden knows, praises and protects this (offensive seems inadequate) troll. Maybe it's some kind of master-slave parasitic relationship like Quirrell and Voldemort -- one wearing the turban to hide the other, some unspeakably offensive monster inhabiting his head?
Bizarre Human Brain Parasite Precisely Alters Fear
"Rats usually have an innate fear of cat urine . . . After they get infected with the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii, however, rats become attracted to cat pee, increasing the chance they'll become cat food. . .
T. gondii is a parasitic germ whose primary hosts are cats. However, it can be found in most warm-blooded animals, including an estimated 50 million people in the United States.
One study suggests the parasite has altered human behavior enough to shape entire cultures.
. . .The germ seems to especially like infesting the brain —- "parasites hijacking the mind," Vyas said.
"Sock Puppetry at Home for Fun and Profit!"
ReplyDeleteGeez. Alasandra is right. And too many of you are too hypersensitive, politically correct and worse.
ReplyDeleteGet a grip and grow up.
- The Reality Check
Okay, I have to share this. Do any of you know of Ree, The Pioneer Woman? She's a well-known blogger who lives on a ranch with her husband and four kids whom she homeschools. She has a retarded brother, Mike (HER WORD NOT MINE).
ReplyDeleteHer posts on her relationship with her brother are hilarious (well, a lot of her posts are that), irreverent (ditto), compassionate and touching at the same time:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/2006/06/i_have_a_retard.html
She pokes fun at herself and also at stereotypes in a relaxed and meaningful way.
I got what you meant with "edutard." I've heard it before. Not one of my favorites, but not one that offended me (I assumed you were just calling academicians stupid, not insulting mentally challenged people!)
Regards,
Stephanie
Since the grammar police are out taking nouns and kicking...ahem, well doing things that involve violent verbs, let me correct my modifiers and say that Ree homeschools only her kids, not her husband, and her word for her brother is "retarded", although since his name IS Mike, that's also her word for her brother.
ReplyDeleteYou can pick apart anyone's grammar. We're not writing graduate papers (which many of us here HAVE done, and done well)...and frankly, I don't have time to spend making a POST grammatically perfect. Seriously.
Last word on the matter for me (and it was an adverb, I believe),
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie, I hadn't heard of Ree, she sounds interesting. I am going to check out her blog. And please don't worry about grammar when you are posting on my blog. We are all human and make mistakes. Even the grammar Nazis, make the occasional mistake here and there. I have better things to do with my time then correct them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for understanding about the edutard. I hate it distracted from the point of the post, which was that Greg's criticism of homeschooling could also be leveled at the public schools everyones tax money goes to support.