Posted by Rick Denney on September 10, 2002 at 09:36:17:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Why should we have to defend teachers? posted by Wait a minute 2 ... on September 10, 2002 at 03:29:50:
You do not have to apologize for agreeing with me, heh, heh.
If the testing is the same, then there is no formal double standard and I'm happy. Judging at least from Doug's post, that isn't the case everywhere. There is so much variability in how home-schooling is handled around the country one almost has to list the whole set of rules before there can be useful discussion.
There are good teachers and bad teachers. I've met many of both kinds. I admire the former and shake my head at the latter. If parents are bad teachers, then we would see evidence that would go beyond anecdotes. That evidence would suggest that home-schooled students by and large don't keep up with their public-school peers. But we don't see that. In fact, we see just the opposite. Now, is that because home schooling is wonderful or because public schools are so bad? I think it's a little of both. Only the most motivated parents (again, by and large) take on the big challenge of teaching their kids, so that population is likely skewed towards those who would do it well. That's fine: Home schooling is certainly no panacea, and it is no solution for parents who can't or won't devote what is required to do it well. That exclusion may apply even to me when the time comes.
The double standard is when we judge professional teachers by the best examples, and parent teachers by the worst examples (or vice versa). From the perspective of parents, though, there is a big difference: They know themselves and how hard they will work. They often don't know who their kids' teachers are going to be, or have much say in their selection. So, it is a way to take control over a situtation that otherwise seems out of control to parents.
I don't think you have read my other posts on this subject--I'm not blaming teachers. As I said before, I want to remove the roadblocks from in front of good teachers, both those in schools and those at home. I believe that the education establishment puts up a lot of those roadblocks, for reasons that have nothing to do with learning, and the teachers are caught in the middle. I can't find anything in your post to argue against this position.
Rick "who doesn't judge teachers based on the actions of the NEA" Denney