Right to homeschooling denied

[eqgumby]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100302/us_time/09171196809900

The Romeikes are not your typical asylum seekers. They did not come to the U.S. to flee war or despotism in their native land. No, these music teachers left Germany because they didn't like what their children were learning in public school - and because homeschooling is illegal there.

Weird that some governments INSIST, by law, that your children attend a certain school that has a specific curriculum.

German officials, for their part, note that the Romeikes had other options. "If parents don't want to send their children to a public school, they can send them to alternative private schools," says Thomas Hilsenbeck, a spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg education ministry. Homeschooling advocates counter that there are few private schools in Germany, and they tend to be expensive. But beyond that, many religious parents have problems with sex education and other curricular requirements. "Whether it's a state school or a private school, there's still a curriculum that is forced onto children," says Kuhnle.

Apparently private school is not an option.

Personally, I feel if you want to home school, you should be able to do so under certain criteria.

[Pseudo Intellectual]

Well, of course. You can't have people educating their own children. No, people are only allowed to know what good ol' government wants them to know.

[Wickian]

I used to be home schooled. If the parents have the desire to instill their own values and the time to do it it isn't bad(it didn't work out for me so I went back to public). The best thing about public school is learning how to socialize though.

[eqgumby]

I used to be home schooled. If the parents have the desire to instill their own values and the time to do it it isn't bad(it didn't work out for me so I went back to public). The best thing about public school is learning how to socialize though.

My kids are in high-school...socializing is hardly an argument, based on some of the morons I see there...

But yes, it is important that kids learn social skills, no doubt.

[IamsSon]

We home school both our kids and the whole socialization thing is a bunch of BS! My son is a very extroverted person, he has never met a stranger, just friends he hasn't made yet. He finds ways to interact with people and because he has not been trained on the "clique" culture he has friends who are jocks, friends who are book worms, emos, preppies, skaters, friends who are Christians, atheists, agnostics, etc. My daughter is an introvert and enjoys leading a quiet life with a few close friends, but even she has no problem socializing or making friends in different social groups. Yes, there are parents who isolate their kids and who, in fact, home school in order to separate their kids, but if you're not intent on isolating your kids, then there are plenty of opportunities for socialization.

[MissMelsWell]

My kids are in high-school...socializing is hardly an argument, based on some of the morons I see there...

Which is pretty much why my daughter left public HS (after 5 weeks) after being homeschooled all her life. She figured if that was socialization, she didn't want anything to do with it. LOL.

But yes, it is important that kids learn social skills, no doubt.

Mine gained her social skills with adults. She was pretty smooth (or smooove as we called it hahaha) in interacting with adults by the time she was 7 or 8. She had very little patience for kids. She doesn't feel she lost in any way shape or form. She went to a couple of proms with guy pals that were in HS, she did a few things with the local school once in a while, but mostly, she found those kids and those events to be mostly insipid (or way over-dramatic. LOL).

I think the whole socialization "issue" is a non-issue... In fact, it's probably one of the biggest myths about homeschooling. Are homeschooled kids different in a social setting? Yes, they are... they're usually impatient, annoyed, and irritated by their peer's lack of sophistication. This makes them "seem" weird and anti-social... but they aren't, they're annoyed in most cases. LOL.

[cerberusxp]

For those of you who would like your kids to attend a great college here is one that requires courses on the constitution. Hillsdale While your at it request the Imprimis news letter, an education in itself. They do have a scholarship program. They do not except pell grants or Gov. subsidies. Stumbled on this check it out.

[Princess Serenity]

Mom homeschooled me and I wasn't at the reading level I should have been. (I even got to be front page of the local news paper that was doing an article about the subject. I still have it somewhere. >>) Also I was being held back, I had to repeat third grades few times. ><; My mom and stepdad was looking for a private school and found one in Elkridge. I skipped a grade when I was enrolled and finally got to graduate when I was 19. I have to say being homeschooled and gone to private school was the best decision my mother ever made.

The government shouldn't be controlling what kids should be doing. Its the PARENTS JOB to do so.

Edit:

Corrected my age.

Edited March 3, 2010 by Moon Princess

[J.B.]

Governments are built to reduce people into stats. Into tiny, usable units that they can stick wherever they want. When you keep kids as far from Government control as possible, you do the kids a favor. Of course, certain governments /Cough *Germany* Cough/ want kids under their thumbs. . .

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

It's a tricky one.

On the one hand, it's doing folks like me out of work on another, it's running the risk of disadvantaging the children if the parents don't have the knowledge, skill or inclination to do so well.

However, I've seen how well equipped for life kids who've come out of homeschooling can be.

[J.B.]

And I know that this family crossed into U.S. borders, but considering the international nature of the news and that the problem's over in Germany, maybe this thread should go into the World News section instead. . .

[Mekorig]

I think the USA is the only place in the world were i see people complaining of governments implementing national educational systems. I understand the individualist (and very liberal) mindset of some on the USA, but sometimes, it reaches comic levels.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

I think the USA is the only place in the world were i see people complaining of governments implementing national educational systems.

Nope, it's happening in Oz too, and there's a stink being kicked up over it.

Espeically seeing as previous governments has said "national syllabi don't work, and disadvantage children on the grounds of lacking a socio-cultural context to the outcomes"

[J.B.]

Micromanagement, which is what happens whenever a government steps outside its bounds and tries to run anything /except/ interstate and foreign relations, invariably causes more fuss and harm than good. There are serious bugs in the human software of our brains which need to be worked out, and until they are, we're going to have the government stepping in to run everything because they think they're better than what happens when you let citizens run themselves.

But, once those bugs get worked out, either in this species or the one that may one day replace us, governments will no longer be the "Unnecessary evil" which they are viewed as now. They will be obsolete.

[eqgumby]

I think the USA is the only place in the world were i see people complaining of governments implementing national educational systems. I understand the individualist (and very liberal) mindset of some on the USA, but sometimes, it reaches comic levels.

I think your mistaken. It's more that people in the US don't want their children indoctrinated. Teache them, don't turn them into good little government slaves/clones.

Are kids in Argentina politically indoctrinated at school? Or do they learn science, math, literature?

[Mekorig]

They learn science, math, literature, history, geography, civic education, the common things.

[Pseudo Intellectual]

Yes, all the while the teacher tells them how if them Americans don't stop releasing that gas essential to life (CO2), we're all going to die.

[J.B.]

Oy. That's still in scientific debate. It's valid until you shut off the scientists who are saying it. And since just about every actual environmentalist agrees with it. . . that'll take a while.

FYI, I did say "Just About" every one of them. That still leaves room for the few who fight it.

[Pseudo Intellectual]

Point is, global warming has been politicized. If it wasn't politicized, it would've been quickly dismissed as unscientific gibberish. Same with history, politics, etc. If you teach those in schools, there will always be a big chance that the teacher will try to brainwash the students. Look at the US public education system. I have met products of that very system who believe Marxism is perfect and America has always been an imperialistic, racist empire. Not really an education if you ask me. More like indoctrination.

[J.B.]

The debate went on quietly for decades before the media made a hash of it. It wasn't dismissed by scientists as unscientific, even back then. It was seriously debated, but not dismissed. It wasn't on its way out before the media got ahold of it, it just wasn't mainstreamed.

It wasn't a "The science is settled" thing before the politicizing, but it was very much alive.

Edited March 9, 2010 by J.B.