Comments on: The War on Teachers: Mr. Gradgrind’s Rhee-education for teachers http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/ History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present Sun, 19 May 2013 00:04:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: becca http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-817993 becca Sun, 24 Apr 2011 03:58:37 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-817993 <i>"I still think homeschooling is a crappy deal for everyone. Which families can afford to sacrifice the labor of one adult? Oh, yeah–the ones who can probably also afford the time and money it might take to find a suitable public or private school option! (And yes–I’ve NEVER in my life met or even heard of a full-time homeschooling father.)"</i> Well, my father was a full-time homeschooling father. What kind of family were we? The kind that had no choice but to sacrifice the labor of one adult- due to a bout of serious medical problems. But we were also the kind who had no affordable suitable private school option (despite a plethora of superb independent schools in a nearby major city... that were simply financially impossible at our near-national-median family income). Of course, our homeschooling group *also* had a homeschooling father who was an O-chem professor (at a teaching oriented university), so I'm not so sure it's as impossible as it might seem, even for people that didn't already have a house-husband. The time-obligation is intensive, but less so than many people who are unfamilar with unschooling imagine. Now, even though many generalizations about homeschoolers drive me batty, one thing you *can* say about homeschooling is that it'd be a terrible solution to national educational problems- it doesn't scale, and the people who most need things to change are also not going to be able to do homeschooling. “I still think homeschooling is a crappy deal for everyone. Which families can afford to sacrifice the labor of one adult? Oh, yeah–the ones who can probably also afford the time and money it might take to find a suitable public or private school option! (And yes–I’ve NEVER in my life met or even heard of a full-time homeschooling father.)”
Well, my father was a full-time homeschooling father. What kind of family were we? The kind that had no choice but to sacrifice the labor of one adult- due to a bout of serious medical problems. But we were also the kind who had no affordable suitable private school option (despite a plethora of superb independent schools in a nearby major city… that were simply financially impossible at our near-national-median family income).

Of course, our homeschooling group *also* had a homeschooling father who was an O-chem professor (at a teaching oriented university), so I’m not so sure it’s as impossible as it might seem, even for people that didn’t already have a house-husband.

The time-obligation is intensive, but less so than many people who are unfamilar with unschooling imagine.

Now, even though many generalizations about homeschoolers drive me batty, one thing you *can* say about homeschooling is that it’d be a terrible solution to national educational problems- it doesn’t scale, and the people who most need things to change are also not going to be able to do homeschooling.

]]> By: Link love « Grumpy rumblings of the untenured http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-817748 Link love « Grumpy rumblings of the untenured Sat, 23 Apr 2011 07:32:12 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-817748 [...] Historiann had a series on the US education system that are well worth reading.  Here’s one of the posts. [...] [...] Historiann had a series on the US education system that are well worth reading.  Here’s one of the posts. [...]

]]> By: Nicole http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-817536 Nicole Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:06:15 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-817536 All righty, it is up, FWIW. I wonder if we will lose any of our home schooling readers... http://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/this-thread-depresses-me/ All righty, it is up, FWIW. I wonder if we will lose any of our home schooling readers…

http://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/this-thread-depresses-me/

]]> By: BABE IN CHRIST » Blog Archive » Hammer Time: (WITF) What in the Freak is going on in this world today? Teacher Hits Student in the Head With a Hammer: http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-816746 BABE IN CHRIST » Blog Archive » Hammer Time: (WITF) What in the Freak is going on in this world today? Teacher Hits Student in the Head With a Hammer: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:56:07 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-816746 [...] “The War on Teachers: Mr. Gradgrind’s Rhee-education for teachers” and related pos... (historiann.com) [...] [...] “The War on Teachers: Mr. Gradgrind’s Rhee-education for teachers” and related pos… (historiann.com) [...]

]]> By: Retrochef http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-816725 Retrochef Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:23:40 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-816725 A very good friend of mine has two kids, and her husband lost his full-time job a few years ago due to health problems. He was able to get part-time 3rd shift work after a mostly full recovery; he used his free daytimes to tutor their two kids. This wasn't a full "home-school" program; they went to regular public school until around 2:30 and then spent a couple hours doing extra work (in addition to whatever minimal homework assignments from school-school) but he had lesson plans, workbooks, additional enrichment activities, etc. (He also frequently volunteered at the school itself during the day, tutoring other kids etc.) At root, they are dissatisfied with their school district's ability to get educational fundamentals in place. Now that he has a full-time day job again, he's cut back somewhat; he often says if they could afford to live on just one salary, he'd home-school them full time. But it's just not feasible for them, and probably won't be ever. He's the only father I've ever met that came close to being a home-school teacher. A very good friend of mine has two kids, and her husband lost his full-time job a few years ago due to health problems. He was able to get part-time 3rd shift work after a mostly full recovery; he used his free daytimes to tutor their two kids.

This wasn’t a full “home-school” program; they went to regular public school until around 2:30 and then spent a couple hours doing extra work (in addition to whatever minimal homework assignments from school-school) but he had lesson plans, workbooks, additional enrichment activities, etc. (He also frequently volunteered at the school itself during the day, tutoring other kids etc.) At root, they are dissatisfied with their school district’s ability to get educational fundamentals in place.

Now that he has a full-time day job again, he’s cut back somewhat; he often says if they could afford to live on just one salary, he’d home-school them full time. But it’s just not feasible for them, and probably won’t be ever. He’s the only father I’ve ever met that came close to being a home-school teacher.

]]> By: token undergrad http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-816361 token undergrad Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:15:44 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-816361 Homeschooling is not particularly practical for young children who do actually need supervision and a structured "school day," but I think it's more worth taking seriously for high-school students who can learn on their own. It's a reasonably popular solution for kids who were bullied or otherwise had a hard time in the environment of a huge public high school, for example. (Many large districts now have homeschooling centers where students can check in a few times a week to meet with a tutor and be assigned work to complete on their own time.) And while I did all four years of high school in my local tests-and-standards-obsessed public behemoth (in which I was threatened with disciplinary action for exercising my legal right to opt out of the state standardized tests!), most of what I learned that prepared me for elite east-coast college was self-taught--homeschooling of a different kind. Homeschooling is not particularly practical for young children who do actually need supervision and a structured “school day,” but I think it’s more worth taking seriously for high-school students who can learn on their own. It’s a reasonably popular solution for kids who were bullied or otherwise had a hard time in the environment of a huge public high school, for example. (Many large districts now have homeschooling centers where students can check in a few times a week to meet with a tutor and be assigned work to complete on their own time.) And while I did all four years of high school in my local tests-and-standards-obsessed public behemoth (in which I was threatened with disciplinary action for exercising my legal right to opt out of the state standardized tests!), most of what I learned that prepared me for elite east-coast college was self-taught–homeschooling of a different kind.

]]> By: Historiann http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-816336 Historiann Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:51:29 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-816336 Nicole--I think most of my readers would be interested in a post like that. Be sure to e-mail me to let me know when it's up so I can send you some traffic. Nicole–I think most of my readers would be interested in a post like that. Be sure to e-mail me to let me know when it’s up so I can send you some traffic.

]]> By: Nicole http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-816326 Nicole Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:30:24 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-816326 I keep moving back our post on homeschooling because we can sort of only handle so much controversy in a week, but I think I'll leave it for April 22nd... we're exactly talking about this issue of moms sacrificing their careers and occasionally sanity for the sake of their kids. Maybe it won't be so controversial after all. I keep moving back our post on homeschooling because we can sort of only handle so much controversy in a week, but I think I’ll leave it for April 22nd… we’re exactly talking about this issue of moms sacrificing their careers and occasionally sanity for the sake of their kids. Maybe it won’t be so controversial after all.

]]> By: Shelley http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-816283 Shelley Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:17:16 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-816283 Thanks for this post. One of the many "elephants in the room" (the other is that Rhee and her ilk are corporate-backed) in the War On Teachers is that the panacea of "evaluation" is merely a way of subjecting teachers even more to the bizarre off-center education-irrelevant egomaniacal bullying of administrators. Thanks for this post. One of the many “elephants in the room” (the other is that Rhee and her ilk are corporate-backed) in the War On Teachers is that the panacea of “evaluation” is merely a way of subjecting teachers even more to the bizarre off-center education-irrelevant egomaniacal bullying of administrators.

]]> By: Historiann http://www.historiann.com/2011/04/17/the-war-on-teachers-mr-gradgrinds-rhee-education-for-teachers/comment-page-1/#comment-816226 Historiann Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:29:38 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=14914#comment-816226 Perpetua--your response is the non-snarky, well-reasoned reply I intended, but for some reason I went with the snark. I still think training teachers well, paying them living wages, and letting them do their jobs without undue interference is the best way to go for everyone's children. But that, of course, doesn't solve the problems that many parents face now, today, with a growing child who can't wait for my utopian society to arrange itself. I still think homeschooling is a crappy deal for everyone. Which families can afford to sacrifice the labor of one adult? Oh, yeah--the ones who can probably also afford the time and money it might take to find a suitable public or private school option! (And yes--I've NEVER in my life met or even heard of a full-time homeschooling father.) Perpetua–your response is the non-snarky, well-reasoned reply I intended, but for some reason I went with the snark.

I still think training teachers well, paying them living wages, and letting them do their jobs without undue interference is the best way to go for everyone’s children. But that, of course, doesn’t solve the problems that many parents face now, today, with a growing child who can’t wait for my utopian society to arrange itself.

I still think homeschooling is a crappy deal for everyone. Which families can afford to sacrifice the labor of one adult? Oh, yeah–the ones who can probably also afford the time and money it might take to find a suitable public or private school option! (And yes–I’ve NEVER in my life met or even heard of a full-time homeschooling father.)

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