Re: Public Schools

[Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>]

On Sun, 22 Sep 1996, snow wrote:
>I would agree that parents can do as good or better at _most_ 
>subjects thru about the 3rd or 4th grade, and I do agree that 
>most of todays schools are shit, however there is one area--
>social skills--that homeschooling simply can't compete. 

>From John Holt's "Teach Your Own"

"If there were no other reason to homeschool your children, protecting them
from the 'valuable social atmosphere' of the schools would be sufficient."  

John was a commie liberal BTW.  He felt that the schools had a very nasty
and artificial social environment with rigid age segregation that bore no
resemblance to real life where there are people of wider age ranges.
Certainly, most people suffer worse mistreatment from their "peers" at
school than they do later in life.     

As a libertarian, I would add that the social atmosphere of a Stalinist
"brain factory" is not exactly the socialization I would choose for my
children.  I would choose a more market oriented model.

DCF

"Even if they manage to teach nothing else, the very existence of
government schools teaches State supremacy."