Excuse me for top posting.

 > Well minded?

A polite lie. It doesn't do to be overly critical, old chap. :-)
Ever since Jeannie C. Riley gave us the low down on Harper Valley PTA. I 
have had my suspicions of the American Education system. :-)

It must be galling to see the takeover of such important institutions by 
fundamentalists. I wonder when they will start behaving like the...
(Guess who, I mean. They are in the news a lot recently.)


On 7/8/2015 4:56 AM, Patrick Elliott wrote:
> 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.
>


-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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