On 7/6/2015 11:22 PM, Stephen wrote:
>> One of the myriad of things outside any area of study I had in school
>> that I've picked up over the years. :)
>>
> Mostly school boards are well minded. But there are more things in
> Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in their philosophies.
>
>

Well minded? Elected, not required to have teaching credentials, picked 
based on local ideology and politics, often, in recent years, also 
heavily dependent on the theory that schools are like factories, or 
other sorts of business, rather than a service (not that being a service 
would save them from having corners cut, and shoddy product exchanged in 
favor of what is best for the customer). So.. you have people with no 
skill, no knowledge, possibly/probably ideologically driven, and, if you 
are lucky, the combination will be something other than, "religious, 
ignorant, science denying, micromanaging, plutocrats, who think that the 
schools, like health care, the EPA, social security, and anything else 
'public' is a waste of money", and that, "Private institutions would 
automatically do better."

Yeah.. I am a real believer in the idea that the "school boards" are the 
ones who are "well minded" in this equation...

As to the bad name for home schooling.. To argue that its a legitimate 
solution is a bit like arguing, from the privileged status of someone 
living in Florida, that one shouldn't bother buying a coat in Alaska. 
Its only a valid solution for the small percentage of people who have 
the time, the resources, or the skill, necessary to do it correctly. If 
any one of these is lacking, its a failure. And, the most dangerous one 
to be "missing" is "resources", because if one does not know enough, 
themselves, to a) find, b) vet, and c) acquire said resources, those 
available, and most directly accessible, via "home schooling" sources 
are nearly universally from the "Christian Fundamentalist" category, or 
equally questionable sources, filled with misinformation, and delusional 
nonsense.

I would "love" to be able to say that home schooling was a viable option 
for anyone except those with the rare combination of traits to both 
provide it, and do so without being duped by those peddling bad 
information. But, since there is no official, well controlled, reliable, 
and recognized "source" for materials, nor is it even possible for 
everyone that might benefit from it to receive such education, the net 
result is that **most** of those receiving such are doing so with 
invalid materials, chosen by those who either do not know they are 
useless, or, worse, chose it intentionally, because they believe it to 
be accurate. I.e., one the whole, it has the reputation it does for 
entirely good reasons, regardless of the much rarer exceptions.

-- 
Commander Vimes: "You take a bunch of people who don't seem any 
different from you and me, but when you add them all together you get 
this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem."

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