The Purpose of Schooling

You go to school and learn how to read and write
So you can walk into a counter bank somewhere in life

- Steve Earle <3

 

Agreed. The constant bullying I recieved from my first year of school up until I left at 16, made me a lot more withdrawn, and more socially awkward, than if I'd have been if I was homeschooled, I feel very certain of that. The last couple of years of school, I was hardly there anyway, due to not going out of fear. My school experience was overwhelmingly a negative one, and I know this is the case for many other kids too.

The school envoirenment is beneficial to some, and counter-productive for others. It should not be treated as a one-size-fits-all tool for children's learning as it currently is.

 

This. I loved learning, but had to drop out of high school during my first year. As an extremely effeminate gay 14 y/o (most of the male and female students thought I was a girl), I just couldn't handle other dudes flirting with me, and the girls thinking I was weird because I never was seen in any of the bathrooms (I always waited until I got home).

Hell, even the gym teacher asked me what the hell I was doing there (first day of classes). Whenever I told clueless teachers and other students I was a boy - they thought I was just being a smart ass. When it finally dawned on them that I was a boy, I was treated like a freak and had to put up with verbal and physical abuse on a daily basis. And that's when I decided to drop out.

I used the public library to learn everything I needed to know about history, science, art, literature and current events. I'll admit that I'm still totally weak at math, but I doubt high school would have turned me into a math genius: The social stress made it impossible for me to focus and think clearly. So for me, I'm glad I was a drop out. I still managed to get a GED at 18, and ultimately attended college. And my grades were excellent because teachers and other students viewed me as a male (I started to become much more masculine as I grew older), so there was no hostility or abuse at all. In fact, I totally loved being a college student. But high school (for me) was a mistake. Big time.

QP

P.S. Awesome thread... :sunny:

 

I loved learning too, and I think this is why for me, the school envoirenment was counter-productive. The whole point of school, or at least it's primary reason for existing, is to be a place of learning for kids. And seeing as I was too stressed out and depressed to be able to concentrate on my learning, then going to school was literally a pointless excercise for me. I didn't get any benefit from going there. I failed all my exams, and didn't even bother sitting two of them, so left school without any qualifications whatsoever. Which wasn't because I was stupid, but because the school envoirenment I was in wasn't one that was conducive to me being able to learn anything in my classes.

 

I totally agree. I still say a public library is far superior to any high school (especially now that free internet use is there for anyone with a library card). It's a stress free environment, and I actually looked forward to being there several hours each week. Plus homework was never a chore: I was able to check out really cool books I'd never even heard of in high school. I kept a journal - and wrote hundreds of essays and book reviews.

Plus I discovered poetry. I learned Emily Dickinson was not the only poet to ever have existed. The library seemed like a sacred place to me. High school was pure hell.

QP

P.S. I like Emily Dickinson. But I discovered Allen Ginsberg and Sylvia Plath at the public library - not in high school.

 

Times are different. There is cyber bullying too, which is big at the moment and dangerous. Public school does not nessicarily gear you up for life in general. Wheres the social interaction? You dont talk to strangers, only those in your classes and teachers youve become comfortable with, once you leave then you are on your own again, back to square one. Without a classroom the oppurtunities are endless, so much you can do and learn just by going to the grocery store. I notice that for many kids, school is where they learn/work and everywhere else is where they dont, so this can automatically and subconciously stop children from learning (even by accident) when they are out and about. The homeschooled kids I have met will question everything, from 'how does this work' right down to wanting to know the anatomical structure of a certain leaf (a 7 year old asked me about that, on a daytrip/picnic in the park). I have not met any publicly schooled children like this.

I just believe that school can potentially shut a childs mind off from all these oppurtunities and great wonders right infront of them because they can associate learning with school, school with work, work with boredom. Its their only years of true freedom, where their minds are pure and actively seeking new things, I think it is a waste having all that potential crammed into a classroom.

Like I said before, school works for some, not for others. Homeschooling a child does not sheild them from the evils of the world, it gives them the chance to grow confident and use that confidence in real situations in the real world.

Education doesnt always mean school
School doesnt automatically = education.

 

The modern American school is the ultimate machine for turning out cookie cutter corporation employees not creative free thinking entrepreneurs....

 

Albert einstein was homeschooled

 

Yeah, parents are idiots. The state is soooo good, though. Public schools have done such a great job teaching our youth, which might explain why the American public is just so damn informed about what's going on in the world.

Did you write that yourself? Sounds like something you would read on the US Department of Education website or something.

Good by whose standards? Yours?

Lots of people have a hard time handling life, and who can blame them? They're usually the more intelligent, sane ones.

 

Can you spot anything wrong with this post?^^^

 

Well stated, honey.

 

False statistic.

 

I think Mr Rat is trying to tell us something

 

I actually had a good experience with school, despite the fact that I hate math.

 

Apparently not.

 

I don't need statistics. It's based on what I observe.

 

According to what source?