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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Carty, may I call you Carty? Carty, no doubt you could have benefited from an honors class or two. You're obviously very intelligent, and though your arguments are poorly formed, they are articulate. The public school system let you down in terms of finding a stimulating environment for you to thrive in. But let's face it. You're doing great. You obviously have a job the allows you to while away the hours for days at a time (I just counted how many times you posted to Salon--WOW!). After all, you made a near perfect score on your SAT's at the precious age of 16 (even though the SAT is nothing if not a test that rewards those who can regurgitate what the administrators want to hear.) And you are obviously blessed with a special knowledge of semantics because as you pointed out "homeschooling" is pronounced as one word, though every time I try and say it, it comes out as two (point being we were disscussing spelling, not pronunciation). So c'mon Carty, public school was OBVIOUSLY a boon to your development! You should be proud.
Next time, Joan, just take a Midol and sit on your column for 24 hours. Editor, edit thyself.
P.S.--You just know Joan has a poster of Janis Ian over her bed.
It is wholly possible that Cartman could be blowing smoke out his ass AND public schools could be a real mess.
I think you are missing something.
Caitlin Flanagan is a woman-basher. She of great privilege and dubious stay-at-home credentials hits those of us who admit to be working mothers with the most unkind cuts of all. we don't love our children as much as she loves hers. our husbands don't love us and would not carry us to chemotherapy the way hers did.
And not only does she bash, but she has been given the most coveted fora in which to do so.
I don't blame people for getting upset. In fact, I can't imagine a more natural response. People tell me I am not a good mom or a good wife, I tend to get a little -- warm.
It's obvious that when someone is unable to decide weather a word is a compound word or not, that public schools are in dire straits. My sarcasm (and I apologize for it) was trying to point to that. But I wrote out of childishness. And by the way I went to both private and public schools, and for what it's worth, private school is where it's at.
some are bad, some great, many need work but certainly should not be abandoned.
I know plenty of really smart kids who are challenged in public schools. I know national merit scholars, I know kids taking advanced math and science, ap, college courses .....
Many areas now have charter schools, which have many features that distinguish them from traditional public schools. But charter schools still have to accept all kinds of kids, and that's what Cartman is upset about. He doesn't like those unruly children!! He's a grown man with kids of his own and he still hates the kids he went to school with. Sad.
Ho fuggin' hum. Upwards of 90% of the folks on this planet (FAR upwards) don't a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, much less time to out-douchebag-dilletante one another. Caitlin is a sorority girl with a good vocabulary and a whole staff of domestics to prop her bony ass up. Woo hoo. What's the more revolting is the amount of bile, mine included, that rises to this stinking bait. I choose to ignore Ms. Flanagan, closet republikan. She's only one short step removed from the botoxed babes that appear on fuxxsnooze and the 700 club.
Apparently private schools don't teach the difference between "weather" and "whether," but who cares? Spelling is totally gay anyway.
Actually, I do have a job that lets me post on Salon frequently --- I run a home- (well, dorm-)based online business. All of the skills involved in this business were learned outside of school, because luckily the horrid education I received only motivated me to learn on my own.
FYI.
You're welcome.
It works well for parents who can do it well, but often it's not done well at all.
My FIL is a long-time professor at an elite college. He reports that he can often spot home schoolers because they they simply won't do what they don't feel like doing. Fine, I suppose, if it's weeding out busywork, but in this case it's doing chemistry experiments, and precision is critical. As he says, kids who don't want to be precise and work hard should not be taking chemistry.
He also finds that they call their parents if they don't like their grades, and he gets calls from these parents demanding that he change their children's grades. Not a pretty picture.
Of course, as he is the first to say, he sees the ones that are trouble. He doesn't know the educational background of most of the kids he teaches. However, he's noticed the problems enough to reach a conclusion that many home schooled kids do not function well in the elite college environment.
I've considered home schooling, and I like it for many reasons, but at the same time I don't want to promote this sort of nannying and dependence. I'm not sure what we'll do.
thank you, no name, for the, uh, cunnection I was missing. Two points: homeschooling is dominated by reichwing babbdists, but is not inherently ineffective. If your dad is Socrates and you mom is Mary Poppins, cool. Otherwise, it narrows and divides. Public school is in dire trouble, admittedly, but because we have been complicit in its wreckage. Lastly: if you have the luxury of choice, there is absolutely some validity to not sub-contracting your parenthood. There is a bond, both maternal and paternal, that is vital and difficult, if not impossible, to replace with surrogates. Most of the world can't choose. They don't need child care because the children are working too- on Ms. Flanagan's Nikes, for example. By definition, if we are involved in internet banter we ARE elite. It would be of some help to recognize that, Fartman.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
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