Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-09-01 Thread jamesd

--
On 31 Aug 2001, at 11:59, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> First, you depend more than you think on government actions for 
> essentials even though they have private brand labels.
>
> Second, why do you think that when someone is a government
> employee they are automatically inferior to everyone in the
> private sector? That's irrational.

If someone in the private sector fails to please the customer, he
does not get any money.  If someone in the government sector
fails to please the customer, tough luck for the customer.  If
the customer tries to do anything about it, he has the customer
beaten up.

Unsurprisingly, you get better service and products from the
private sector.


--digsig
 James A. Donald
 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG
 a21eN5yt4PeF/lTnRV4tQl5qv2vdpoch9zmrNw3H
 4hJPCdOanWvOU31Y5QoQl0j0qowqJFwBL1WN8WEr7




Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-31 Thread Declan McCullagh

At 02:29 PM 8/31/01 -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>Some jobs do not attract the best and brightest but I think it's safe to
>assume that even in what you might consider the least likely places you
>will find some very sharp people. Your example of the Bush WH staffers
>is proof ;)

More seriously, this isn't a partisan thing. The Clinton WH folks I dealt 
on a day-to-day basis were just as sharp.

-Declan




Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-31 Thread Declan McCullagh

On Fri, Aug 31, 2001 at 11:59:04AM -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Second, why do you think that when someone is a government employee they
> are automatically inferior to everyone in the private sector? That's
> irrational.

Right. Folks in the policy arms of the federal government can be quite
bright. I was in a White House office less than an hour ago meeting
with two WH staffers and they were, as you might expect, smart and
educated and well-spoken.

Not sure how this observation translates to state governments or law
enforcement types.

-Declan




Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-31 Thread mmotyka

To : [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
>> Learn to read poopyhead (isn't that now the official CP insult?). 
>
>Actually, I think the currently "hip" term would be "twit" :-)
>
Dunno, I've seen both recently. Just trying to live up to my slave
training and conform.

>> Look at the part you snipped :
>> 
>>   I'm not saying that it (vouchers or other defunding)
>>   should be ruled out but you should at least think 
>>   about the implications a bit.  
>
>Which, in context, is clearly a justification of what follows it.
>
>> All I said was that actions can have unintended consequences. 
>
>No, you did not.  Nowhere was this said or implied.  What you said is
>above, so there is no need to  it here as well.
>

Here's the original :
>
>Another facet is that the well-to-do are attempting to remove their
>funds from the systems so they can use those funds to educate their
>children as they choose. A voucher system would surely benefit me
>financially. This is a reasonable desire but it will have a negative
>effect on the public school systems and a subsequent negative effect on
>the society as a whole. I know the masses are a bit thick but do you
>want them to be even thicker? And not all bright people come from
>priviledged backgrounds. Do you want to limit the opportunities for some
>of the brightest kids in the country before they've even had a chance?
>I'm not saying that it (vouchers or other defunding) should be ruled out
>but you should at least think about the implications a bit. 
>

I would summarize this paragraph, poorly written as it may be, as
follows :

1) Some people wish to remove their monies from the public schools and
make their own choices.

2) Here are some possible negative effects of that action.

3) I'm not against it but at least think about the implications before
acting.

Looks pretty simple to me. Doesn't really take a position other than
"fine, measure twice, cut once if you want my vote."

>I am not endowed with any expertise on this topic, so I cannot make any
>considered judgement on the example.  Having thrown out the required
>caveat, it seems to me that the deregulation was only a small part of the
>problem.  Of course, I am truly talking out of my ass on this topic, so I
>will leave it here...
>
I'm no expert on the details either but it looks like a chant of
"deregulate" didn't work out so well.

Expect to hear more chants of "deregulate" and "privatize" when it comes
to things like power and water. I'm not sure which I prefer, a corporate
dictatorship or a police state.

>The fact that you consider this a "knee jerk" response does not make it
>so: you have no way of knowing how much or little I have looked into this
>topic.  As someone who has had 4 kids in various public and private
>schools, as well as person who has personally attended two private and
>three public schools, I have had ample incentive to look at homeschooling
>when it began to cross my radar about three years ago.
>
>My beliefs regarding homeschooling are very definitely _not_
>knee-jerk reactions.  And my statements regarding the state of the public
>schools is from personal first hand experience, both as a student, and as
>a parent.
>
>> Try and do it in one fell swoop based on right-wing
>> war chants and I'll bet you do more harm than good.
>
>What "right wing war chants"?  Where the hell do you get the idea I'm a
>right wing type of guy?  Just because I believe that home schooling is a
>Good Thing and that the public schools are a life threatening repository
>of brainwashing and bad karma?  Last I heard, it took a LOT more than this
>to qualify as "right wing".
>
> I know the masses are a bit thick but do you 
> want them to be even thicker? 
> >
> >To be frank, sending kids to public schools is practically *requiring*
> >that they become "thick", merely in order to _survive_.
> >
> This statement is neither entirely true nor entirely false but it sure
> as hell is a knee-jerk reaction to the issue.
>
>Again with the knee jerk label.  If it's a view you disagree with, it's a
>knee-jerk reaction, huh?
>
>> Sounds like the sort of
>> foolishness that Rush Limbaugh vomits on the airwaves.
>
>I wouldn't know, I don't have much use for Rush, and have only heard
>*about* his show.  However, we again see the disparaging of view with
>which you disagree as terms such as "foolishness".  This "position" is
>hardly persuasive.  Perhaps you can enlighten us as to WHY it is so
>"foolish"?  Perhaps you can trade some FIRST HAND information you have on
>the state of the public schools, so that we may more readily examine the
>ISSUES before us, and not your assertions that all positions you disfavor
>are "knee jerk reactions"?
>
I would say that I use the term knee-jerk and right-wing war chants as
labels for the idea that all public schools are somehow seriously
inferior to private schools or home schooling. Maybe the term knee-jerk
is as poor as the idea of lumping all public schools into a single
assessment.

Furthermore, I th

Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-31 Thread mmotyka


Duncan Frissell wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 30 Aug 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> 
> > All I said was that actions can have unintended consequences. Make well
> > considered choices. Look at the power industry deregulation in CA. Too
> > much, too quickly and poorly crafted. By all means let's improve the
> > educational opportunities in this country but not with some stooopid
> > knee-jerk approach. Try and do it in one fell swoop based on right-wing
> > war chants and I'll bet you do more harm than good.
> 
> Since we don't depend on the government for food, steel, concrete, or
> medical care (60% private money not much actual government acre delivery);
> why would we think that teaching by government employees would be
> efficient.
> 
First, you depend more than you think on government actions for
essentials even though they have private brand labels.

Second, why do you think that when someone is a government employee they
are automatically inferior to everyone in the private sector? That's
irrational.

I've talked with several friends about pooling efforts and creating a
small private school. It ain't easy. It is something I would like to do.

The financial reform part is probably hopeless in the short term. Once
the hooks are into the green they don't like to let go.

> We can argue about payment later (although taxing the poor to pay for the
> college education of the rich seems unfair), but no rational person can
> argue that socialist provision of services is superior to market provision
> in case like this.
> 
What the fuck do I care how the services are provided? Show me the
services and I'll rate them myself without the benefit of your
ideological prerating system. That's what rational means. I do resent
the financial handcuffs.

> > This statement is neither entirely true nor entirely false but it sure
> > as hell is a knee-jerk reaction to the issue. Sounds like the sort of
> > foolishness that Rush Limbaugh vomits on the airwaves.
> 
> I can pick any public school teacher at random and cross ex them on the
> stand and establish that they don't know diddly squat.  The concept that
> one should institutionalize one's children for 8 hours a day so that
> public officials can attempt to modify their knowledge, understanding, and
> physical and psychological deportment is the worst kind of child abuse.
> At future war crimes trials America's parents will have to answer for
> their crimes.  (For those of you who attended slave schools, that last is
> a joke.)
> 
Big challenge, most people don't know diddly squat. 

It may be just as difficult to find or create alternative schools that
are affordable ( even with financial reforms ) and provide a good
education as it is to improve what we have. Out of the frying pan and
into the fire. And not everyone has the ability to home-school for
various reasons. All I said was that I don't think the solution to the
problem is as simple as throwing it all away.

> Can you seriously argue that governments do a better job of education or
> that it's safe to trust them with the souls (in the religious and
> non-religious sense) of the innocent.
> 
Do a better job of education than ...?

As for the religious bit, they're easily as dangerous as governments.

I usually get the new car before I get rid of the old one. All I said is
that before you dismantle what you don't like start building the
replacement, get a few prototypes to the working stage. 

> Apart from everything else one can say, attending slave schools subjects
> the child and the family to the full force of government record keeping.
> If you are not on the dole and you have no children in slave schools, your
> chances of having any sort of interaction with the minions of the coercive
> state apparatus are very substantially reduced.  Much safer.
> 
Moderately interesting point.

> > >While you claim to favor choices, you have just argued that these choices
> > >should not be available.
> 
> Yes, just like the employment choice of "slavery" should not be available
> because it's wrong (at least within my proprietary community).
> 
Your point?

> > Uh, nope, that's not what I said. I said I would be in favor of
> > carefully considered proposals. Proposals that are fair to individuals
> > and beneficial to the community. Again, the two goals are neither
> > completely compatible nor mutually exclusive.
> 
> What's the community got to do with it?  I should give up money and
> children because people who are demonstrably stupider than I am think it
> would be a good idea?  I don't give barbers who can't cut my hair the way
> I want my money or my hair.  Why on earth should I do it to my children?
> 
You live in a community. Been to a third world country? I don't really
want to see that here. In some ways we have progressed in that direction
over the past few decades...

One thing I disliked about CA's recent attempt at the voucher system is
that it would let some people take out more than they put in. It was

Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-31 Thread Duncan Frissell

On Thu, 30 Aug 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> All I said was that actions can have unintended consequences. Make well
> considered choices. Look at the power industry deregulation in CA. Too
> much, too quickly and poorly crafted. By all means let's improve the
> educational opportunities in this country but not with some stooopid
> knee-jerk approach. Try and do it in one fell swoop based on right-wing
> war chants and I'll bet you do more harm than good.

Since we don't depend on the government for food, steel, concrete, or
medical care (60% private money not much actual government acre delivery);
why would we think that teaching by government employees would be
efficient.

We can argue about payment later (although taxing the poor to pay for the
college education of the rich seems unfair), but no rational person can
argue that socialist provision of services is superior to market provision
in case like this.

> This statement is neither entirely true nor entirely false but it sure
> as hell is a knee-jerk reaction to the issue. Sounds like the sort of
> foolishness that Rush Limbaugh vomits on the airwaves.

I can pick any public school teacher at random and cross ex them on the
stand and establish that they don't know diddly squat.  The concept that
one should institutionalize one's children for 8 hours a day so that
public officials can attempt to modify their knowledge, understanding, and
physical and psychological deportment is the worst kind of child abuse.
At future war crimes trials America's parents will have to answer for
their crimes.  (For those of you who attended slave schools, that last is
a joke.)

Can you seriously argue that governments do a better job of education or
that it's safe to trust them with the souls (in the religious and
non-religious sense) of the innocent.

Apart from everything else one can say, attending slave schools subjects
the child and the family to the full force of government record keeping.
If you are not on the dole and you have no children in slave schools, your
chances of having any sort of interaction with the minions of the coercive
state apparatus are very substantially reduced.  Much safer.

> >While you claim to favor choices, you have just argued that these choices
> >should not be available.

Yes, just like the employment choice of "slavery" should not be available
because it's wrong (at least within my proprietary community).

> Uh, nope, that's not what I said. I said I would be in favor of
> carefully considered proposals. Proposals that are fair to individuals
> and beneficial to the community. Again, the two goals are neither
> completely compatible nor mutually exclusive.

What's the community got to do with it?  I should give up money and
children because people who are demonstrably stupider than I am think it
would be a good idea?  I don't give barbers who can't cut my hair the way
I want my money or my hair.  Why on earth should I do it to my children?

The slave school teachers of those making that argument did at least that
part of their work well.

DCF




Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-31 Thread mmotyka

[EMAIL PROTECTED]  wrote :


my old stuff :
>> Another facet is that the well-to-do are attempting to remove their
>> funds from the systems so they can use those funds to educate their
>> children as they choose. A voucher system would surely benefit me
>> financially. This is a reasonable desire but it will have a negative
>> effect on the public school systems and a subsequent negative effect on
>> the society as a whole.
>
>So I must educate my children according to the public good, and not the
>good of the kids themselves?  Fuck you.
>
Learn to read poopyhead (isn't that now the official CP insult?). 

Look at the part you snipped :

  I'm not saying that it (vouchers or other defunding)
  should be ruled out but you should at least think 
  about the implications a bit.  

All I said was that actions can have unintended consequences. Make well
considered choices. Look at the power industry deregulation in CA. Too
much, too quickly and poorly crafted. By all means let's improve the
educational opportunities in this country but not with some stooopid
knee-jerk approach. Try and do it in one fell swoop based on right-wing
war chants and I'll bet you do more harm than good.

>> I know the masses are a bit thick but do you
>> want them to be even thicker? 
>
>To be frank, sending kids to public schools is practically *requiring*
>that they become "thick", merely in order to _survive_.
>
This statement is neither entirely true nor entirely false but it sure
as hell is a knee-jerk reaction to the issue. Sounds like the sort of
foolishness that Rush Limbaugh vomits on the airwaves.

>> I wish there were more ( and better ) educational choices and that those
>> choices were reflected reasonably in the financial systems but every
>> proposal I've seen so far sucks moose bladder through a hairy straw.
>
>While you claim to favor choices, you have just argued that these choices
>should not be available.
>
Uh, nope, that's not what I said. I said I would be in favor of
carefully considered proposals. Proposals that are fair to individuals
and beneficial to the community. Again, the two goals are neither
completely compatible nor mutually exclusive.

>Make up your mind.
>
I have : good ideas, thumbs up, bad ideas, thumbs down. 

>-- 
>Yours, 
>J.A. Terranson
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Fuck you back,
Mike




Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-31 Thread measl


On Thu, 30 Aug 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]  wrote :
> 
> 
> my old stuff :
> >> Another facet is that the well-to-do are attempting to remove their
> >> funds from the systems so they can use those funds to educate their
> >> children as they choose. A voucher system would surely benefit me
> >> financially. This is a reasonable desire but it will have a negative
> >> effect on the public school systems and a subsequent negative effect on
> >> the society as a whole.
> >
> >So I must educate my children according to the public good, and not the
> >good of the kids themselves?  Fuck you.
> >
> Learn to read poopyhead (isn't that now the official CP insult?). 

Actually, I think the currently "hip" term would be "twit" :-)

> Look at the part you snipped :
> 
>   I'm not saying that it (vouchers or other defunding)
>   should be ruled out but you should at least think 
>   about the implications a bit.  

Which, in context, is clearly a justification of what follows it.

> All I said was that actions can have unintended consequences. 

No, you did not.  Nowhere was this said or implied.  What you said is
above, so there is no need to  it here as well.

> Make well
> considered choices. Look at the power industry deregulation in CA. Too
> much, too quickly and poorly crafted. 

I am not endowed with any expertise on this topic, so I cannot make any
considered judgement on the example.  Having thrown out the required
caveat, it seems to me that the deregulation was only a small part of the
problem.  Of course, I am truly talking out of my ass on this topic, so I
will leave it here...

> By all means let's improve the
> educational opportunities in this country but not with some stooopid
> knee-jerk approach. 

The fact that you consider this a "knee jerk" response does not make it
so: you have no way of knowing how much or little I have looked into this
topic.  As someone who has had 4 kids in various public and private
schools, as well as person who has personally attended two private and
three public schools, I have had ample incentive to look at homeschooling
when it began to cross my radar about three years ago.

My beliefs regarding homeschooling are very definitely _not_
knee-jerk reactions.  And my statements regarding the state of the public
schools is from personal first hand experience, both as a student, and as
a parent.

> Try and do it in one fell swoop based on right-wing
> war chants and I'll bet you do more harm than good.

What "right wing war chants"?  Where the hell do you get the idea I'm a
right wing type of guy?  Just because I believe that home schooling is a
Good Thing and that the public schools are a life threatening repository
of brainwashing and bad karma?  Last I heard, it took a LOT more than this
to qualify as "right wing".


> I know the masses are a bit thick but do you 
> want them to be even thicker? 
> >
> >To be frank, sending kids to public schools is practically *requiring*
> >that they become "thick", merely in order to _survive_.
> >
> This statement is neither entirely true nor entirely false but it sure
> as hell is a knee-jerk reaction to the issue.

Again with the knee jerk label.  If it's a view you disagree with, it's a
knee-jerk reaction, huh?

> Sounds like the sort of
> foolishness that Rush Limbaugh vomits on the airwaves.

I wouldn't know, I don't have much use for Rush, and have only heard
*about* his show.  However, we again see the disparaging of view with
which you disagree as terms such as "foolishness".  This "position" is
hardly persuasive.  Perhaps you can enlighten us as to WHY it is so
"foolish"?  Perhaps you can trade some FIRST HAND information you have on
the state of the public schools, so that we may more readily examine the
ISSUES before us, and not your assertions that all positions you disfavor
are "knee jerk reactions"?
 
> >> I wish there were more ( and better ) educational choices and that those
> >> choices were reflected reasonably in the financial systems but every
> >> proposal I've seen so far sucks moose bladder through a hairy straw.
> >
> >While you claim to favor choices, you have just argued that these choices
> >should not be available.
> >
> Uh, nope, that's not what I said. I said I would be in favor of
> carefully considered proposals. Proposals that are fair to individuals
> and beneficial to the community.

No.  Your post did make several statements which claimed to favor
proposals that were fair to the community, but NOT to
individuals.  Personally, I think the Good Of The Many depends totally
upon the Good Of The Few.  The macrocosmic must fail if the microcosmic is
broken.

> Again, the two goals are neither
> completely compatible nor mutually exclusive.

While I actually agree with this assertion to a degree, I would also
caveat it with (1) I can only supply a very weak degree of "confidence" in
the truth of this assertion, and (2) I am unable to compellingly argue
either for or against it.  T

Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-29 Thread mmotyka

 
David Honig <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> :
>At 09:13 AM 8/29/01 -0500, Jim Choate wrote:
>>http://www.Kuro5hin.org/story/2001/8/28/1868/27867
>
> I've been reading the cover article in Time magazine about home
> schooling, and it makes me wonder. One of the primary questions the
> article poses is this: "Home schooling may turn out better students, but
> does it create better citizens?" Also present is the accusation that home
> schooling threatens the current public education system:
>
>  "Home schooling is a social threat to public education," says
>  Chris Lubienski, who teaches at Iowa State University's
>  college of education. "It is taking some of the most affluent
>  and articulate parents out of the system. These are the
>  parents who know how to get things done with
>  administrators."
>
I think he's probably wrong here - I would guess that the most affluent
and articulate parents send their kids to private schools because
they're too busy keeping the lifestyle financed to run a school or
realize that they would probably suck at it. If I win the Lotto I'll
consider it. I'll risk $1 today.

>
>Funny that, a State employee putting home education down.
>
Funny that, the only people I've ever met who were home schooling their
kids were fundamentalist christians who objected to all kinds of
perceived immorality and wrong teaching like sex ed and evolution. In my
estimation they were poorly equipped to give their children a good
education. I have no doubt that there are many exceptions to what I've
seen but those who will do a really fine job of educating their children
are probably in the minority of homeschoolers.

>In any case, the notion that parents should sacrifice their children
>for the good of society is abhorrent.
>
You mean like when we send young males to war so the ones who stay home
will have less competition?

Keep an open mind about the home schooling/private schooling vs. public
schooling discussion.

One facet that I see is that fundamentalists via a strong influence on
the republican party are trying to divert public funds to religious
organizations. My reading of the 1st is that the state may not establish
a religion. Giving money to a religious organization is tantamount to
establishment. My reading of the 1st also leads me to the conclusion
that the tax-exempt status of the churches is wrong. They should pay
their fair share of the fucking property taxes like every other victim.

Another facet is that the well-to-do are attempting to remove their
funds from the systems so they can use those funds to educate their
children as they choose. A voucher system would surely benefit me
financially. This is a reasonable desire but it will have a negative
effect on the public school systems and a subsequent negative effect on
the society as a whole. I know the masses are a bit thick but do you
want them to be even thicker? And not all bright people come from
priviledged backgrounds. Do you want to limit the opportunities for some
of the brightest kids in the country before they've even had a chance?
I'm not saying that it (vouchers or other defunding) should be ruled out
but you should at least think about the implications a bit. 

Aimee style question : 

  How many of you were home schooled?
  How many went to private schools?
  How many went to public schools?

I would guess roughly 1% 9% 90%

I wish there were more ( and better ) educational choices and that those
choices were reflected reasonably in the financial systems but every
proposal I've seen so far sucks moose bladder through a hairy straw.

Mike




Re: kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-29 Thread David Honig

At 09:13 AM 8/29/01 -0500, Jim Choate wrote:
>http://www.Kuro5hin.org/story/2001/8/28/1868/27867

 I've been reading the cover article in Time magazine about home
 schooling, and it makes me wonder. One of the primary questions the
 article poses is this: "Home schooling may turn out better students, but
 does it create better citizens?" Also present is the accusation that home
 schooling threatens the current public education system:

  "Home schooling is a social threat to public education," says
  Chris Lubienski, who teaches at Iowa State University's
  college of education. "It is taking some of the most affluent
  and articulate parents out of the system. These are the
  parents who know how to get things done with
  administrators."


Funny that, a State employee putting home education down.

In any case, the notion that parents should sacrifice their children
for the good of society is abhorrent.






 






  







kuro5hin.org || How Home-Schooling Harms the Nation

2001-08-29 Thread Jim Choate

http://www.Kuro5hin.org/story/2001/8/28/1868/27867
-- 

 --


natsugusa ya...tsuwamonodomo ga...yume no ato
summer grass...those mighty warriors'...dream-tracks

Matsuo Basho

   The Armadillo Group   ,::;::-.  James Choate
   Austin, Tx   /:'/ ``::>/|/  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   www.ssz.com.',  `/( e\  512-451-7087
   -~~mm-'`-```-mm --'-