
The Risks of Homeschooling - TechBro8615
https://harvardmagazine.com/2020/05/right-now-risks-homeschooling
======
AnimalMuppet
Can kids be abused at home? Yes, they can, and they sometimes are. Can they
fail to get a good education there? Yes, they can, and they sometimes do.

Can kids be abused in public school? Yes, they can, and they sometimes are.
Can they fail to get a good education there? Yes, they can, and they sometimes
do. At higher rates than at home? Plausibly, but I have no data.

But all the outrage (at least in this article) is toward the possibility of
abuse at home, and inadequate education at home. Where is the outrage for the
possibilities of the same issues at school?

But sure, prohibit homeschooling, because that will fix all of these problems.
(This is the land of the free, and prohibitions are how we roll.) But you
know, maybe we ought to prohibit public school while we're at it. Same logic,
after all.

~~~
foogazi
That was my first thought too.

So kids have to go to school to be saved from abuse but then they get to go
home after school?

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3fe9a03ccd14ca5
I was wondering when the long knives would come out for homeschooling now that
so many people are giving it a try, even if by force.

Who, having been a product of public schools, defends our current system and
it’s incumbency?

I love how the graphic shows a homeschooled kid locked up. The reality is you
could spend 2 hours homeschooling a day and accomplish more than 8 hours at a
public school, and your child can go out and be free. The ones stuck in
regimented school hours are truly the ones behind bars.

Public education is extremely important, but that doesn’t mean public schools
aren’t cruel babysitting centers where teachers spend time focusing on the 10%
of the troubled students which consume 90% of the resources. It’s a challenge
to even suspend disruptive and violent students these days[1].

The idea that it’s important and it needs serious reform can and do coexist.

1\. [https://edsource.org/2019/california-to-ban-pushing-
students...](https://edsource.org/2019/california-to-ban-pushing-students-out-
of-school-for-disruptive-behavior/617326)

~~~
nkurz
> I love how the graphic shows a homeschooled kid locked up.

And not just locked up, but locked up in a house made of books while the other
children play outside. And the books are Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and
Bible. With Arithmetic misspelled.

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forgingahead
"Something ought to be done" sure is a sinister "we're coming for you" warning
as any. As other commenters have pointed out, this is a shill article, on par
with "Hairdresser with PHD wants cutting your hair at home to be regulated or
banned".

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foogazi
> But it’s also important that children grow up exposed to community values,
> social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and
> tolerance of other people’s viewpoints,” she says, noting that European
> countries such as Germany ban homeschooling entirely and that countries such
> as France require home visits and annual tests.

Can’t imagine nothing more invasive than the state preventing parents from
educating their own kids.

Annual tests just make it so you teach to the test and standardize

~~~
JeanMarcS
French here, having homeschooled my kids some years ago.

In France education is mandatory until 16yo. But you can choose to do it at
home as long as you tell it to the city and Education nationale (which is
state school administration)

Never heard of a year exam (apart from the mandatory ones around 11 and 17 yo)
but you (in theory, sometimes they don’t) get a yearly visit from an Education
nationale inspector to check if you are doing right and the kids are not left
too behind the cursus.

They have the power to force your kids back to school, but I’ve never heard it
happens to anyone in our (close) community

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tigerstripe
I wonder how advances in online teaching will affect homeschooling.

One thing I'm not sure about is the perspective that public education prevents
child abuse. There are probably other more cost-effective ways to do that than
with the current school system.

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rogerkirkness
This reads like it's out of an Ayn Rand novel. I was unschooled for all but
five boring years of my childhood. Maybe they are pissed that homeschoolers
are much more likely to get into Ivy Leagues than mediocre legacy candidates.
Few modern systems are more teleological, evidence lacking and abusive than
the education system. The only thing that matters are engaged mentors and low
student ratios. That applies to everyone, school, homeschooling or otherwise.
If we can't find a way to have more engaged mentors and lower ratios, school
will continue to destroy value and waste everyone's most impactful years.

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gmichnikov
Wow, all of the comments on HN so far and all of the comments on the article's
website say more or less that the article is terrible. Is there any merit to
the article's claim that homeschooling should be more regulated?

~~~
3fe9a03ccd14ca5
Ask yourself “Do I want homeschooling to look more like public school, or do I
want public schools to look more like home schooling?”

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jessaustin
I wish Bartholet had written TFA, rather than subjecting us to this ham-handed
repetitive "Bartholet argues" formulation. If this were an essay written by an
academic, we could hold its reason and argumentation to some sort of standard.
Like this, the reader is just supposed to assume that the sole source for TFA
is just correct about everything.

It seems unsurprising that a professor of child protective servicing would be
in favor of increased interference by child protective services.

~~~
TechBro8615
Here is the referenced paper by Bartholet [0] and its abstract [1]

FWIW, I find the premise to be rather outrageous. However I submitted it to HN
in the hopes of a lively discussion. She does actually make some valid points,
although her suggestions seem to be a prime example of “throwing the baby out
with the bathwater.”

[0]
[https://arizonalawreview.org/pdf/62-1/62arizlrev1.pdf](https://arizonalawreview.org/pdf/62-1/62arizlrev1.pdf)

[1] [https://arizonalawreview.org/homeschooling-parent-rights-
abs...](https://arizonalawreview.org/homeschooling-parent-rights-absolutism-
vs-child-rights-to-education-protection/)

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foogazi
If parents can provide a better education to their child why would they ever
want to settle for the standard?

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gregjor
Abuse? Authoritarian? That’s always possible. School can be just as toxic, and
useless. Schools obviously don’t prepare children for participation in
democratic society, because schools are designed to instill respect for
authority, conformity, and to crush independent thinking. Schools prepare
children for capitalism and consumerism.

Read “The Six Lesson Schoolteacher” by John Taylor Gatto. Or any of John
Holt’s books. Or “Deschooling Society” by Ivan Ilich. Then decide.

[https://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html](https://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html)

