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Re: Public Schools
>
> 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.
As I indicated (or at least tried to) I am not satisfied with the
way that schools are run. I _don't_ think that this seperation into classes
by age is a good idea, I don't believe that self esteem is more important
than learning.
However I DO believe that socialization is necessary. I do believe that
the torture we all endured (and I as much or more than most) from our
fellow students helps us later in life. If nothing else it teaches us that
our fellow "humans" are not "humane".
I think a more more market oriented model would be a good idea, assuming
that you mean a model designed to produce a product--well educated young
adults--and not simply "worker factories".
Petro, Christopher C.
[email protected] <prefered for any non-list stuff>
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