We homeschooled our 3, now 28-38. We taught them to learn - sure, we learned specific stuff but mostly we taught them how to learn anything they wanted to know. The oldest did an apprenticeship when she graduated. The “middlest” (as she calls herself) graduated high school at 15 - she is a student at heart and could happily take classes for the rest of her life. She graduated univ with honors and is happily a stay at home homeschool mom. I tried to talk the youngest out of going to college when he graduated high school at 16 but fortunately he was in a business oriented frat and in the business school, so he wasn’t exposed to too much crap. All are doing great and (more importantly) are wonderful people.
What we did do is say, “State schools only and no loans.” Even with *some* woke garbage it wasn’t egregious when they were there. They came out with no debt, a paid for car, and got on with life.
Our homeschool philosophy - education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire - is usually attributed to Yeats but was (basically) Plutarch. We taught our kids how to learn and to enjoy learning stuff just to know it. We mostly did unit studies until high school level, spending however much time as they were interested in all kinds of subject, looking at all kinds of angles. For instance, if you like golf you can learn everything from physics to mechanical engineering to geography to history to botany. They are all still great researchers.
We were blessed to have kids who went to college with a truly meaningful purpose. Well, one was possibly looking for a spouse but ended up majoring in something that she will use and pay-forward all of her life. The 2nd went to a "trade school" which he loved and learned about "materials," he is an engineer, majored in metallurgy and an officer in the Navy where he has taught (must have the "teaching genes" of me and his dad) and then did a 3 year stint at MIT earning 2 masters' degrees (sp?), both related to his work (e.g. Naval Architecture which is good because he basically builds boats). The 3rd is autistic and will never ever worry about where his next meal is coming from or if/when his loving parents/friends will disappear. While some things might not register with him, the school system failed him, and therefore so did I, by not teaching him at home but his temper with autism was beyond my ability to handle plus I needed to work to supplement our income. I have pulled the 2 older ones out of schools they were in because of the different schools' politics but sadly, did not home school because I worked to help pay the basics.
I know what you will say "you could have made it work." But we were in an unpredictable circumstance where someone was causing our finances to suffer (which I cannot explain).
This sounds good. But what you don't take into account is parents, or more accurately, the lack thereof. Kids with two high achieving parents at home will probably thrive in this proposed system. Kids living with single moms just barely hanging on economically, who are also products of this failed education system, will not know where to begin. And unfortunately, that's the majority of kids these days. A major reason that schools have become daycares is because that's what moms need in order to be part of the workforce, which the vast majority of them are. Things have gotten this bad because most parents simply aren't paying attention.
how could these kids be less well served by a system that at least demands quality than by the system we have today? could it provide worse education, outcomes, and guidance? nothing is going to make a 30th percentile kid a star, but at least this could give them a chance. competition breeds competence. very fee people know much about microwave ovens, but competition ensures that it's basically impossible to buy a bad one. all products, including schools, benefit from such systems.
I'm not claiming the current system is serving anyone other than administrators. But as long as parents continue to see the current system as "free" childcare they won't want to see it dismantled without understanding how a new system will serve that same purpose. They will still want their kids to go somewhere they are supervised for 9 hours a day, regardless of how the education is delivered. And most young parents are products of the same broken system, so have no idea just how bad it is. I'm all for privatization and competition. And I'm married to a college professor and sister to a 4th grade teacher, so I know how abysmal the outcomes currently are. The fact that Harvard is now teaching remedial math to the supposed "cream of the crop" is not a surprise. In 2026 there will be a significant decrease in the number of high school seniors applying for college; there was a precipitous drop in the birthrate following the 2007 recession and it has not recovered. As colleges compete for a shrinking pool of students and revenue, I don't think they will respond by making their curriculums more challenging, unfortunately. My husband's solution has always been employer testing. Let the employers set the standard for what they want employees to know. Unfortunately, with the current EEO standards in place, those tests would soon be branded as racist or sexist or some other "ist". There are a lot of things that have to change to move to a true meritocracy.
I agree with what you're saying but it's just not realistic for some families to homeschool children.
I do have a modest proposal though:
End the government monopoly on K-12 and force schools to compete for students by funding students. Freedom can be messy, but competition will quickly winnow the successful from the losers.
This one simple change, which could be implemented right now, will unleash the wisdom of millions as the power of free people freely interacting with other free people transforms public education. Every student will gain, as will almost every teacher. Teachers want to be paid what they are worth? This is guaranteed to accomplish that.
Based on the success of competition everywhere else, it's likely to work. It can be done quickly. And it doesn’t cost an extra dime on a net basis.
>This one simple change, which could be implemented right now,
That depends on where you are; here in WA State the state constitution states
"ARTICLE IX - EDUCATION ... SECTION 2 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The legislature shall provide for a general and uniform system of public schools..."
So no, not simply changed. And before you get all excited about "funding students", note the provision doesn't say "shall provide for the public to become educated", leaving the means open, it says "shall provide public SCHOOLS".
Hell will freeze over, to quite a depth, before the Soviet of Washington passes a Constitutional Amendment changing that provision.
Wherever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to insure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery.
Nowhere does ARTICLE IX state that all students MUST ATTEND the state provided school system. Neither does it state that every school must be uniform, only state schools. So, you could have as few as two public schools (system) which must be uniform, and all other schools could be private with no uniformity requirements. Nor does it state HOW these schools must be funded - by institution or by student enrollment. We have the same type of Article in the Florida Constitution.
Unfortunately, the next move in states like this would be to outlaw homeschooling. I would also guarantee Washington state does not allow any type of voucher program to attend parochial private schools. These leeches will stop at nothing to keep control of your kids, and to keep the money spigot open.
Exactly, and if you are in a state hopelessly controlled by democrats, the legislation will always grow the power and hold of the state over as many aspects of your life as possible.
But i still think my proposal would work. Unfortunately it would end up with people walking away from states that continue the same asinine policies to red states.
Yes, however the lefties running the state are well-known for either disobeying it outright, leveraging the courts to find some "i" that wasn't dotted or "t" that wasn't crossed to invalidate it, or otherwise pervert the intention of the voters.
I think you mean Initiatives -- referenda are where the public intervenes in a piece of legislation and requires a public vote before it becomes law, whereas initiatives themselves contain the new proposal to be voted on by the public.
As far as I can tell there is no provision for the public to start the amendment process; constitutional amendments have to begin with the legislature.
Thanks for the correction! Yes, I meant initiatives. My state has them, but I think most do not. It's one nice check and balance I wish were universal.
A very big, but less obvious benefit of voucher system funding, is that there will be market incentives to provide education to each niche that can be profitably addressed. Special ED, boys only, girls only, faith specific, university track, trades track, business track, military track (we have those already), STEM track, top 1% track, etc. No more "one size fit's all education system", since today's size is XXS.
It's b been done in places. Louisiana has mostly charter schools. They have a fixed per-student compensation. At least one used to be one of the outstanding high schools in the country: Ben Franklin. About 10-12 years ago, 50--FIFTY!!--out of a graduating class of 150 were National Merit Scholars. One out of every three. And it's a public school.
Unfortunately, teachers decided to join a national union. Things went downhill after that. Not sure how far--I lost touch with it during covid. But I still lurk via back channels--it was my high school. Its neo-wokeness depresses me.
I think even the less capable parents will quickly learn how to follow the herd. In a vacuum, they would likely stumble, but when they see their peers kids doing well they are surely smart enough to ask “where does Jane go to school?” Maybe some aren’t, but when it comes to the well being of their children reinforced by peer results, I think the vast majority would figure it out,
EGM "*is* taking that into account, I think. He is saying that those kids are screwed no matter what, so stop wasting money on something that does not work, and stop landing the kids in debt.
Why the fuck should students like me have to suffer through twelve years of a bullshit fake and gay school system just because some other loser's parents couldn't stay together?
At some point we as a society just have to nut up and say "fuck 'em, there's no room for failure here, we have to cut our losses".
Hell, maybe a credible threat of their children being failures would prompt parents to be a little bit more responsible about their relationships before having those kids.
I think in many states that embrace school choice programs this is working itself out organically. Where I live the school district has been bleeding students since Covid with no end in sight. Homeschooling has erupted and our voucher program gives parents options. So the public schools are being left with the kids whose parents simply don’t care enough. No system can correct terrible parenting. I smile every time I read about another underenrolled pubic school, and the boarding up of another failed public school.
You are hitting on a much bigger societal problem that will be even more difficult to address than education.
The war on poverty and government programs, feminism and sexual revolution, DEI, quotas, post modernism and move away from a family centric society based on Christian morality and other variables have all led to epidemic of single parent homes.
The weakness of men is another huge factor. Even in two parent homes, the indifference of fathers over the past several decades has led us down the path we are fighting to veer off of now. As a Christian I think revival within the church is essential and I am hopeful that it will lead to a cultural change beyond the church. I do see changes in my male non-religious friends as we now agree more than ever on the importance of strong men, marriages, and families.
I agree with EGM that competition in education will improve it significantly, but without cultural change and return to family centric society and values many won’t be impacted- that goes back to your point and I would agree with you.
Yep. Single mothers are often most in need of 8-hour daycare while they slave away while the father abdicates his parental responsibility. I'm not bright enough to know the complex causes of this social breakdown but I've watched it unfold. In my small Louisiana hometown married couples didn't divorce unless there was violence, alcoholism, etc. You just toughed it out with the spouse. Old-fashioned, but it helps the kids, eventually, to not come from a 'broken home'.
I know many fathers that are forced by the courts to abdicate responsibility. All you have to look at is which parent is demanding the sex changes and getting it. I have yet to see a dad forcing a sex on change on the son while a mom is in court trying to stop him.
Yes, Dave, and my bad for not acknowledging how often dads are locked out of parenting by a variety of factors, including courts, unreasonable demands by the other spouse, dirty lawyering, etc. Divorce is so often brutal on the kids AND parent(s).
You point to a painful root of the problem which most don’t want to address: single parent households. Last statistic I saw revealed that the US has the highest single parent household rate in the West. This is a byproduct of the Left and it’s most insidious. This needs to be addressed by rewarding stable two parent households and making rearing productive, healthy, independent children the true goal of parenthood. Instead the State rewards the opposite because it furthers the goal of dependency. We homeschooled both our children. This meant my wife was a stay at home mom and we managed on my sole income. No fancy European or Caribbean vacations or spring break holidays. But our children are in their thirties now and independent and productive loving people.
Perhaps there's another agenda in play? It has been discovered that with a dull urban population, all formed under a mechanical system of State education, a suggestion or command, however senseless and unreasoned, will be obeyed if it be sufficiently repeated.
HIllsdale College! It works with local groups to start Hilldale Academies which provide a classical education. Check it out at https://k12.hillsdale.edu/.
I have a 9-month old granddaughter with another due in August. I've been suggesting to my son and his wife to look at Catholic or other private. My son's wife, a product of a neighboring county's public schools, said they will decide where they go to school - and she herself turned out just fine, she believes. Fair enough. But do some investigating! Their local county elementary school has Gender Queer and Lawn Boy in their library. Elementary school!! My son went to private the whole time and has no problem with the idea, it's just the cost. I even offered to pay most/all of the tuitions. I didn't know about Hillsdale Academies, so thanks for posting that! I'm not sure I could homeschool the girls through high school but I could maybe do the first few years.
Many Catholic and private schools are great, but you have to be vigilant as they can change from year to year. HIllsdale College resolves that problem by keeping an eye on the schools that use their curriculum.
But if I don't go to Harvard how will I meet people to work at my NGO? How will I learn to erect a scaffold of false fronts to siphon money from the flyover deplorables?
In early elementary school we learned about the Revolution. "Well regulated" was explained as uniformly supplied so all soldiers had interchangeable equipment. First two rows were generally well armed, third row often had only farm tools, but would pick up front row weapons as they fell. All too often, the hand made rifles were different calibers so the plan didn't work, where the Regulars all had the exact same stuff.
We learned about the first ten amendments and why. We also learned that Revere, Dawes and Sam Prescott didn't shout The British are coming! The colonists were British themselves.
They shouted, The Regulars are coming! The Regulated Army marches to Concord!
Granted, most of the teachers knew George Washington, but that's how far we've fallen.
The poem was written 150 years after the revolution. Revere was captured very early. It was Prescott who got through to warn the Colonists. Maybe too hard to rhyme anything with Prescott. Poetic license?
Go back to schools teaching only reading writing and math for the first few years. Drop all the other bullshit from the curriculum. Find teachers with knowledge rather than a degree from a diploma mill.
Kind of what home schooling does.
We did it for a year with our daughter while we traveled as a family and learned quickly how little time it took
Public Schools are little more than glorified baby sitting services and indoctrination centers for uninterested parents.
Here in NYS it's called " No child left behind". Translation - move 'em up and out.
I have friends from college when I was in engineering, who both teach and she complains that the students give excuses for shoddy work, and her admin wants her to acquiesce . These are the next gen of building and bridge designers.
Visiting family in the SE last week, we were on a walk and one mentioned that the schools were not the greatest there, and if she has children she wants them in private school. Now she graduated from a university that has an education program, many of whom moved to this city to teach in gov't schools. I said, "what about homeschooling"? She said no, because they come out weird. Not wanting a fight on a walk, I gently asked for her evidence, but she just repeated her answer. Sorry, but where we're here in NYS, and since I'm retired from medicine and the military, I've offered to homeschool our grandchildren that are close by. I'm not sure I'd even send them to the charter school honors program I attended due to how the gov't school programs have devolved.
Well, we're going to need ten years of Trump as President to do it.
Remember that "black jobs" and the hysteria generated over it? That was both reality and an excellent metaphor. Too many kids destroyed by the gangster factory when they might've been prepared for work to their capabilities and released into the earning class by age 16.
Look--I never could've made it to a college degree. I cannot do algebra. And if I'd been forced into remedial classes I'd've sat there in rage and hatred wondering why I was allowing myself to be tortured. I'm sufficiently prepared for life by being able to balance my checkbook, and unit pricing in the grocery stores has been quite useful.
But the thing is, you need enough parents to care from the get-go. Those 30 schools you cite--how many parents does that add up to even if you count only one parent per pupil?
Every single thing about society's success or failure starts in the home. Fix that and the damn schools get fixed.
Remembering a (required though relatively elementary) math-heavy class, after high school, where there was an accompanying workbook to the textbook. As the ‘teacher’ of the class simply regurgitated an outline of the assigned text each day, and being a voracious reader, trouble brewed due to plowing ahead in the workbook (reducing boredom). Must-stay-with-the-class message received. Personally thought end-of-year test should be available to anyone at any time to determine comprehension. And this was in the 1970’s - the downhill slide began years ago, even thereafter soon to include the ‘revered’ SAT testing.
I’ve been recommending that everyone who wants to see education improved in this country stop using the term “public schools”. Call them what they are: “government schools”. It changes the whole tone of the discussion.
Home/Unschooling families who’ve been around (and the HSLDA itself) oppose any “fund the child” initiatives that affect homeschoolers. They WILL come with strings, even if it’s just punitive paperwork.
Vouchers do the same-in my state of small towns where there are no schools there are a lot of tuition credits, and it chains every little private school to the crooked patronage system, forcing vaccine mandates and political propaganda.
One of the best programs in the state was a non school where the kids just had basic 80s childhoods-outdoors all year, real risks with fires, tools, etc, just enough supervision, no curriculum.
But they couldn’t raise any grants because they didn’t fit any protected niche; crunchy genteel-poverty white kids whose parents get by on good values and hard work and one income aren’t USAID targets.
the argument for the money following the student was a 2x4 to my head when i first heard about DeSantis' plan for FL. What a great idea and whoever was the first 'outside the box' thinker who got the idea should be given the nobel prize for something. this alone will fix much, not all as you point out, but it will go far to remedying the problem. allow the money to be spent by the students. what a glorious idea.
I'm not overly familiar with Florida's surplus, but Idaho's surplus was returned to its taxpayers. You'll never see that in a Democrat state. If only they'd git rid of their income tax so I could shift my residence to my property there.
I simply do not understand the knee jerk opposition to statistics that clearly demonstrate our children not learning and mastering “ Reading, Riting and Rithmatic” anywhere near their grade level. Why so adverse to change? Big believer here in “ If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”…. But our educational system like so many other issues Trump is addressing is clearly very broken and anyone who argues that it isn’t or it’s “ not that bad” is a part of the problem…. Geeeesh…
We homeschooled our 3, now 28-38. We taught them to learn - sure, we learned specific stuff but mostly we taught them how to learn anything they wanted to know. The oldest did an apprenticeship when she graduated. The “middlest” (as she calls herself) graduated high school at 15 - she is a student at heart and could happily take classes for the rest of her life. She graduated univ with honors and is happily a stay at home homeschool mom. I tried to talk the youngest out of going to college when he graduated high school at 16 but fortunately he was in a business oriented frat and in the business school, so he wasn’t exposed to too much crap. All are doing great and (more importantly) are wonderful people.
What we did do is say, “State schools only and no loans.” Even with *some* woke garbage it wasn’t egregious when they were there. They came out with no debt, a paid for car, and got on with life.
Following in Henry's footsteps: The object of education is not to fill a man's mind with facts; it is to teach him how to use his mind in thinking.
Henry Ford
Our homeschool philosophy - education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire - is usually attributed to Yeats but was (basically) Plutarch. We taught our kids how to learn and to enjoy learning stuff just to know it. We mostly did unit studies until high school level, spending however much time as they were interested in all kinds of subject, looking at all kinds of angles. For instance, if you like golf you can learn everything from physics to mechanical engineering to geography to history to botany. They are all still great researchers.
We were blessed to have kids who went to college with a truly meaningful purpose. Well, one was possibly looking for a spouse but ended up majoring in something that she will use and pay-forward all of her life. The 2nd went to a "trade school" which he loved and learned about "materials," he is an engineer, majored in metallurgy and an officer in the Navy where he has taught (must have the "teaching genes" of me and his dad) and then did a 3 year stint at MIT earning 2 masters' degrees (sp?), both related to his work (e.g. Naval Architecture which is good because he basically builds boats). The 3rd is autistic and will never ever worry about where his next meal is coming from or if/when his loving parents/friends will disappear. While some things might not register with him, the school system failed him, and therefore so did I, by not teaching him at home but his temper with autism was beyond my ability to handle plus I needed to work to supplement our income. I have pulled the 2 older ones out of schools they were in because of the different schools' politics but sadly, did not home school because I worked to help pay the basics.
I know what you will say "you could have made it work." But we were in an unpredictable circumstance where someone was causing our finances to suffer (which I cannot explain).
This sounds good. But what you don't take into account is parents, or more accurately, the lack thereof. Kids with two high achieving parents at home will probably thrive in this proposed system. Kids living with single moms just barely hanging on economically, who are also products of this failed education system, will not know where to begin. And unfortunately, that's the majority of kids these days. A major reason that schools have become daycares is because that's what moms need in order to be part of the workforce, which the vast majority of them are. Things have gotten this bad because most parents simply aren't paying attention.
how could these kids be less well served by a system that at least demands quality than by the system we have today? could it provide worse education, outcomes, and guidance? nothing is going to make a 30th percentile kid a star, but at least this could give them a chance. competition breeds competence. very fee people know much about microwave ovens, but competition ensures that it's basically impossible to buy a bad one. all products, including schools, benefit from such systems.
I'm not claiming the current system is serving anyone other than administrators. But as long as parents continue to see the current system as "free" childcare they won't want to see it dismantled without understanding how a new system will serve that same purpose. They will still want their kids to go somewhere they are supervised for 9 hours a day, regardless of how the education is delivered. And most young parents are products of the same broken system, so have no idea just how bad it is. I'm all for privatization and competition. And I'm married to a college professor and sister to a 4th grade teacher, so I know how abysmal the outcomes currently are. The fact that Harvard is now teaching remedial math to the supposed "cream of the crop" is not a surprise. In 2026 there will be a significant decrease in the number of high school seniors applying for college; there was a precipitous drop in the birthrate following the 2007 recession and it has not recovered. As colleges compete for a shrinking pool of students and revenue, I don't think they will respond by making their curriculums more challenging, unfortunately. My husband's solution has always been employer testing. Let the employers set the standard for what they want employees to know. Unfortunately, with the current EEO standards in place, those tests would soon be branded as racist or sexist or some other "ist". There are a lot of things that have to change to move to a true meritocracy.
The main problem is lack of father's or disengaged father's.
Thats about half of men. That alone would solve many of the legitimate concerns you bring up.
I agree with what you're saying but it's just not realistic for some families to homeschool children.
I do have a modest proposal though:
End the government monopoly on K-12 and force schools to compete for students by funding students. Freedom can be messy, but competition will quickly winnow the successful from the losers.
This one simple change, which could be implemented right now, will unleash the wisdom of millions as the power of free people freely interacting with other free people transforms public education. Every student will gain, as will almost every teacher. Teachers want to be paid what they are worth? This is guaranteed to accomplish that.
Based on the success of competition everywhere else, it's likely to work. It can be done quickly. And it doesn’t cost an extra dime on a net basis.
I agree. Plus a big benefit will be that the current teachers unions will begin to self-destruct as the incompetents fail to find a teaching position.
> End the government monopoly on K-12 ...
>This one simple change, which could be implemented right now,
That depends on where you are; here in WA State the state constitution states
"ARTICLE IX - EDUCATION ... SECTION 2 PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The legislature shall provide for a general and uniform system of public schools..."
So no, not simply changed. And before you get all excited about "funding students", note the provision doesn't say "shall provide for the public to become educated", leaving the means open, it says "shall provide public SCHOOLS".
Hell will freeze over, to quite a depth, before the Soviet of Washington passes a Constitutional Amendment changing that provision.
Wherever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to insure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery.
Benjamin Disraeli
SPOT ON. another perfect quote!
THANKS! And I'll raise you one: The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.
Benjamin Disraeli
Nowhere does ARTICLE IX state that all students MUST ATTEND the state provided school system. Neither does it state that every school must be uniform, only state schools. So, you could have as few as two public schools (system) which must be uniform, and all other schools could be private with no uniformity requirements. Nor does it state HOW these schools must be funded - by institution or by student enrollment. We have the same type of Article in the Florida Constitution.
Unfortunately, the next move in states like this would be to outlaw homeschooling. I would also guarantee Washington state does not allow any type of voucher program to attend parochial private schools. These leeches will stop at nothing to keep control of your kids, and to keep the money spigot open.
So it's not a constitutional problem, it's a legislator problem.
Exactly, and if you are in a state hopelessly controlled by democrats, the legislation will always grow the power and hold of the state over as many aspects of your life as possible.
Yeah that's another can of worms.
But i still think my proposal would work. Unfortunately it would end up with people walking away from states that continue the same asinine policies to red states.
Not so unfortunate!
Does Washington State allow public referenda?
Yes, however the lefties running the state are well-known for either disobeying it outright, leveraging the courts to find some "i" that wasn't dotted or "t" that wasn't crossed to invalidate it, or otherwise pervert the intention of the voters.
For sure! Remember $50 car tabs? We finally got the Iniative passed and a year or two later they simply raised them back up!
I think you mean Initiatives -- referenda are where the public intervenes in a piece of legislation and requires a public vote before it becomes law, whereas initiatives themselves contain the new proposal to be voted on by the public.
As far as I can tell there is no provision for the public to start the amendment process; constitutional amendments have to begin with the legislature.
Thanks for the correction! Yes, I meant initiatives. My state has them, but I think most do not. It's one nice check and balance I wish were universal.
A very big, but less obvious benefit of voucher system funding, is that there will be market incentives to provide education to each niche that can be profitably addressed. Special ED, boys only, girls only, faith specific, university track, trades track, business track, military track (we have those already), STEM track, top 1% track, etc. No more "one size fit's all education system", since today's size is XXS.
It's b been done in places. Louisiana has mostly charter schools. They have a fixed per-student compensation. At least one used to be one of the outstanding high schools in the country: Ben Franklin. About 10-12 years ago, 50--FIFTY!!--out of a graduating class of 150 were National Merit Scholars. One out of every three. And it's a public school.
Unfortunately, teachers decided to join a national union. Things went downhill after that. Not sure how far--I lost touch with it during covid. But I still lurk via back channels--it was my high school. Its neo-wokeness depresses me.
The parents do not have to be "high achieving" but they certainly must be paying attention.
They have to demand to be treated like they're the customer.
How about a money-back guarantee? And a free 40 oz. Stanley Cup. That might sell me.
School Merch Wars. I love it!
Hey, it works for colleges.
I think even the less capable parents will quickly learn how to follow the herd. In a vacuum, they would likely stumble, but when they see their peers kids doing well they are surely smart enough to ask “where does Jane go to school?” Maybe some aren’t, but when it comes to the well being of their children reinforced by peer results, I think the vast majority would figure it out,
EGM "*is* taking that into account, I think. He is saying that those kids are screwed no matter what, so stop wasting money on something that does not work, and stop landing the kids in debt.
Why the fuck should students like me have to suffer through twelve years of a bullshit fake and gay school system just because some other loser's parents couldn't stay together?
At some point we as a society just have to nut up and say "fuck 'em, there's no room for failure here, we have to cut our losses".
Hell, maybe a credible threat of their children being failures would prompt parents to be a little bit more responsible about their relationships before having those kids.
I think in many states that embrace school choice programs this is working itself out organically. Where I live the school district has been bleeding students since Covid with no end in sight. Homeschooling has erupted and our voucher program gives parents options. So the public schools are being left with the kids whose parents simply don’t care enough. No system can correct terrible parenting. I smile every time I read about another underenrolled pubic school, and the boarding up of another failed public school.
You are hitting on a much bigger societal problem that will be even more difficult to address than education.
The war on poverty and government programs, feminism and sexual revolution, DEI, quotas, post modernism and move away from a family centric society based on Christian morality and other variables have all led to epidemic of single parent homes.
The weakness of men is another huge factor. Even in two parent homes, the indifference of fathers over the past several decades has led us down the path we are fighting to veer off of now. As a Christian I think revival within the church is essential and I am hopeful that it will lead to a cultural change beyond the church. I do see changes in my male non-religious friends as we now agree more than ever on the importance of strong men, marriages, and families.
I agree with EGM that competition in education will improve it significantly, but without cultural change and return to family centric society and values many won’t be impacted- that goes back to your point and I would agree with you.
Yep. Single mothers are often most in need of 8-hour daycare while they slave away while the father abdicates his parental responsibility. I'm not bright enough to know the complex causes of this social breakdown but I've watched it unfold. In my small Louisiana hometown married couples didn't divorce unless there was violence, alcoholism, etc. You just toughed it out with the spouse. Old-fashioned, but it helps the kids, eventually, to not come from a 'broken home'.
I know many fathers that are forced by the courts to abdicate responsibility. All you have to look at is which parent is demanding the sex changes and getting it. I have yet to see a dad forcing a sex on change on the son while a mom is in court trying to stop him.
Yes, Dave, and my bad for not acknowledging how often dads are locked out of parenting by a variety of factors, including courts, unreasonable demands by the other spouse, dirty lawyering, etc. Divorce is so often brutal on the kids AND parent(s).
THIS is the problem.
You point to a painful root of the problem which most don’t want to address: single parent households. Last statistic I saw revealed that the US has the highest single parent household rate in the West. This is a byproduct of the Left and it’s most insidious. This needs to be addressed by rewarding stable two parent households and making rearing productive, healthy, independent children the true goal of parenthood. Instead the State rewards the opposite because it furthers the goal of dependency. We homeschooled both our children. This meant my wife was a stay at home mom and we managed on my sole income. No fancy European or Caribbean vacations or spring break holidays. But our children are in their thirties now and independent and productive loving people.
Perhaps there's another agenda in play? It has been discovered that with a dull urban population, all formed under a mechanical system of State education, a suggestion or command, however senseless and unreasoned, will be obeyed if it be sufficiently repeated.
Hilaire Belloc
If I was a young parent today I would never put my children in public eduction
I’ve never had so many acquaintances say their kids or grandkids are not enrolled in public schools
Had one friend had a child that was into cutting herself due to all the woke in the school
She transferred to a parochial school and within months her self harm was over
HIllsdale College! It works with local groups to start Hilldale Academies which provide a classical education. Check it out at https://k12.hillsdale.edu/.
Also, the college offers a Master's degree in Teaching Classical Education. Check this out at https://classicalgrad.hillsdale.edu/?
By the way, the college takes no federal money and their students do not use government loans or grants.
I have a 9-month old granddaughter with another due in August. I've been suggesting to my son and his wife to look at Catholic or other private. My son's wife, a product of a neighboring county's public schools, said they will decide where they go to school - and she herself turned out just fine, she believes. Fair enough. But do some investigating! Their local county elementary school has Gender Queer and Lawn Boy in their library. Elementary school!! My son went to private the whole time and has no problem with the idea, it's just the cost. I even offered to pay most/all of the tuitions. I didn't know about Hillsdale Academies, so thanks for posting that! I'm not sure I could homeschool the girls through high school but I could maybe do the first few years.
Many Catholic and private schools are great, but you have to be vigilant as they can change from year to year. HIllsdale College resolves that problem by keeping an eye on the schools that use their curriculum.
But if I don't go to Harvard how will I meet people to work at my NGO? How will I learn to erect a scaffold of false fronts to siphon money from the flyover deplorables?
Oh Possum, there are so, so many ways.
In early elementary school we learned about the Revolution. "Well regulated" was explained as uniformly supplied so all soldiers had interchangeable equipment. First two rows were generally well armed, third row often had only farm tools, but would pick up front row weapons as they fell. All too often, the hand made rifles were different calibers so the plan didn't work, where the Regulars all had the exact same stuff.
We learned about the first ten amendments and why. We also learned that Revere, Dawes and Sam Prescott didn't shout The British are coming! The colonists were British themselves.
They shouted, The Regulars are coming! The Regulated Army marches to Concord!
Granted, most of the teachers knew George Washington, but that's how far we've fallen.
I wonder when and why they changed the quotes.
The poem was written 150 years after the revolution. Revere was captured very early. It was Prescott who got through to warn the Colonists. Maybe too hard to rhyme anything with Prescott. Poetic license?
"Listen childern and you will hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere."
Sounds a lot better than:
"Listen children and grab your ascot
For the midnight ride of Samual Prescott."
Go back to schools teaching only reading writing and math for the first few years. Drop all the other bullshit from the curriculum. Find teachers with knowledge rather than a degree from a diploma mill.
Kind of what home schooling does.
We did it for a year with our daughter while we traveled as a family and learned quickly how little time it took
Public Schools are little more than glorified baby sitting services and indoctrination centers for uninterested parents.
They also need physical activity imo.
True
It was never an issue when I was that age
Here in NYS it's called " No child left behind". Translation - move 'em up and out.
I have friends from college when I was in engineering, who both teach and she complains that the students give excuses for shoddy work, and her admin wants her to acquiesce . These are the next gen of building and bridge designers.
Visiting family in the SE last week, we were on a walk and one mentioned that the schools were not the greatest there, and if she has children she wants them in private school. Now she graduated from a university that has an education program, many of whom moved to this city to teach in gov't schools. I said, "what about homeschooling"? She said no, because they come out weird. Not wanting a fight on a walk, I gently asked for her evidence, but she just repeated her answer. Sorry, but where we're here in NYS, and since I'm retired from medicine and the military, I've offered to homeschool our grandchildren that are close by. I'm not sure I'd even send them to the charter school honors program I attended due to how the gov't school programs have devolved.
Well, we're going to need ten years of Trump as President to do it.
Remember that "black jobs" and the hysteria generated over it? That was both reality and an excellent metaphor. Too many kids destroyed by the gangster factory when they might've been prepared for work to their capabilities and released into the earning class by age 16.
Look--I never could've made it to a college degree. I cannot do algebra. And if I'd been forced into remedial classes I'd've sat there in rage and hatred wondering why I was allowing myself to be tortured. I'm sufficiently prepared for life by being able to balance my checkbook, and unit pricing in the grocery stores has been quite useful.
But the thing is, you need enough parents to care from the get-go. Those 30 schools you cite--how many parents does that add up to even if you count only one parent per pupil?
Every single thing about society's success or failure starts in the home. Fix that and the damn schools get fixed.
Oh shut it. You're one of the smartest people on these stacks.
This was sort of my point...
It is necessary to gain the common people to our order. The best means to that end is influence in the schools.
Adam Weishaupt
Remembering a (required though relatively elementary) math-heavy class, after high school, where there was an accompanying workbook to the textbook. As the ‘teacher’ of the class simply regurgitated an outline of the assigned text each day, and being a voracious reader, trouble brewed due to plowing ahead in the workbook (reducing boredom). Must-stay-with-the-class message received. Personally thought end-of-year test should be available to anyone at any time to determine comprehension. And this was in the 1970’s - the downhill slide began years ago, even thereafter soon to include the ‘revered’ SAT testing.
A good teacher is one who can understand those who are not very good at explaining, and explain to those who are not very good at understanding.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I’ve been recommending that everyone who wants to see education improved in this country stop using the term “public schools”. Call them what they are: “government schools”. It changes the whole tone of the discussion.
i like this framing very much.
And keep going, government medicine, government food , government vaccines,government retirement, government news, ...
Home/Unschooling families who’ve been around (and the HSLDA itself) oppose any “fund the child” initiatives that affect homeschoolers. They WILL come with strings, even if it’s just punitive paperwork.
Vouchers do the same-in my state of small towns where there are no schools there are a lot of tuition credits, and it chains every little private school to the crooked patronage system, forcing vaccine mandates and political propaganda.
One of the best programs in the state was a non school where the kids just had basic 80s childhoods-outdoors all year, real risks with fires, tools, etc, just enough supervision, no curriculum.
But they couldn’t raise any grants because they didn’t fit any protected niche; crunchy genteel-poverty white kids whose parents get by on good values and hard work and one income aren’t USAID targets.
the argument for the money following the student was a 2x4 to my head when i first heard about DeSantis' plan for FL. What a great idea and whoever was the first 'outside the box' thinker who got the idea should be given the nobel prize for something. this alone will fix much, not all as you point out, but it will go far to remedying the problem. allow the money to be spent by the students. what a glorious idea.
Isn't it amazing. We need 50 governors like DeSantis.
Leadership counts and thats why Florida has a budget surplus of nearly $1 billion that he is returning to the feds.
I doubt that's ever happened because its anathema to bureaucrats.
I'm not overly familiar with Florida's surplus, but Idaho's surplus was returned to its taxpayers. You'll never see that in a Democrat state. If only they'd git rid of their income tax so I could shift my residence to my property there.
Nice
Our best protection against bigger government in Washington is better government in the states.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Why would they do that? Why not prorate it back to Florida federal tax payers. I'd never give it back.
A variation of the old Soviet joke: We pretend to learn, and they pretend to teach.
The west is being sovietized a la 1975…
There is a young woman suing her high school from which she graduated with honors. She can’t read
You have to be kidding me. Unreal
Well, at least she won't have to worry about earning a living if things go her way.
In Connecticut
I simply do not understand the knee jerk opposition to statistics that clearly demonstrate our children not learning and mastering “ Reading, Riting and Rithmatic” anywhere near their grade level. Why so adverse to change? Big believer here in “ If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”…. But our educational system like so many other issues Trump is addressing is clearly very broken and anyone who argues that it isn’t or it’s “ not that bad” is a part of the problem…. Geeeesh…