The details of this piece are not as important as being aware of the fight that is being picked:
The Twin Cities Creationist Home School Science Fair demonstrates one of the main negative outcomes of home schooling, and is evidence that we as a society should restrict home schooling to a reasonable degree. The mothers of these children have the same exact “mommy instinct” as the parents of other home schoolers … meaning, none … and have damaged these children socially and intellectually. Home schooling not only produces freakishly asocial miscreants but it also produces what we saw in this fair … a flagrant disregard for reality.
It was sad to see this. I wonder why the Minnesota Department of Education allows this sort of thing to happen.
“The mothers of these children have the same exact “mommy instinct” as the parents of other home schoolers … meaning, none…”
Wow. It is hard not to jump on an outrageous statement like that. But, getting caught up in the ‘culture wars’ helps politicians and political parties, not families.
HEM
Helen
Tracy
mark
marynix
ann-lahrson-fisher
valerie
sandi
david
Thank you for addressing this, Helen. “The Culture Wars” robbed me of making it to the finish line and homeschooling my kids all the way to college. It robbed me of a sense of accomplishment and pride in seventeen years of extremely difficult and equally rewarding work. It robbed my children of their extended family, pride in their own accomplishments, and being comfortable with who they are. I don’t really “fit” in either side, but both sides have been all too willing to reduce my family to a caricature so, for the good of the movement, we don’t talk much about our seventeen years of homeschooling and the pain of losing everything we cared about.
Your words are worth repeating, “both sides have been all too willing to reduce my family to a caricature.” You are right, and unfortunately, your family is not alone.
There is an inherent hypocrisy in embracing a view of others in ‘caricature,’ and then, turn around and demand respect for ourselves and our children as individuals. It is the height of cynicism to encourage this, so human of weaknesses, for personal or political advantage.
In my mind, the ‘movement’ would be better off to hear these stories and come to understand the forces that push our families around – inside, as well as, outside the movement.
Thank you for sharing.
One must be very careful to not so overly defend without even questioning the source of attack. It would appear obvious by the trite and wholly non-descriptive statements made that the speaker is frustrated by the presentation made since it does not agree with THEIR beliefs, and so, as is customary with all small minded and narrow thinking individuals, they seek to tear down the ideas of other instead of engaging in their best argument for their side which would be to EXPLAIN why they believe as they do. to judge any group wholly without being privy to each and every member as an individual should alert anyone within earshot that it is time to stop listening.
Laden is not talking about science. Laden is also not talking about children’s welfare. He is talking about politics.
The ID/creationists have a political agenda motivated by faith. Laden, Dawkins et al have a political agenda motivated by opposition to faith. At some point, we — as individuals and as the conveyers of culture to the next generations — must drag the covers off both sides and expose them for what they all are: powermongers.
This is one of those things I’ve learned to have a quick reply to. I’ve learned that when it comes to some of the stupid charges home school haters make, people who just plain don’t like home schoolers; it’s good to have snappy answers to stupid questions handy. For example, “what about socialization?” My answer, “socialization is exactly why my kids aren’t in school”. “What about religious indoctrination, abusive parents…?” My answer, “in a deschooled world, the Earth would not be paradise. You would still be able to get on the back of an angel, fly around the land and find kids in a bad situation. You haven’t proven anything by pointing that out. Forcing everyone to state sanctioned baby sitting centers isn’t the solution. That only makes things worse.” Well, snappy enough.
I guess I would say to some of the professors (and, some professors are walking filing cabinets of data about their field, and useless morons when it comes to all else; not all, but some), “how have schools turned people into inquisitive, clear thinking, critical thinking, math and science loving, literate wonders of learning?” Not to mention, these kids are growing up without being told what to think and when to think it all day every day between age 5 and 18. They have a better chance of escaping their parents indoctrination, because they’re not as rigorously trained in how not to think. But, some parents are “like that” and some kids are “like that” and that’s just the world, not who is or isn’t getting coerced instruction in standardized texts.
I don’t think there are “culture wars”. I think there is just an increasing anti-intellectual strain out there created by, you guessed it, mass schooling. In school, if you’re not good at math, you’re made to feel bad about it again and again and again and again. If you’re a little slow; if you don’t get things as often as others, if you’re not the life of the party, if you don’t mix well inter personally in large groups of people, maybe even if you’re just naturally not very likeable… you get to spend your childhood feeling horrible about yourself. Whom does that serve? What does that achieve? It creates pathological resentment. We’ve been cultivating this kind of division for all of the last century (to go along with the haves/have nots). Things really seemed to go down hill after WW2. Semiconductors are faster, but the culture is increasingly dysfunctional, sick, even mentally ill. Glenn Beck is popular because of all the people we’ve created with our schooled society who need badly to get revenge on intellectuals, on the wits, on the brainiacs. GH Bush was popular because comedians called him stupid. The more they did that, the more “folks” rallied around Bush. They were acting on their resentment, mostly unconscious. After all, the target of those comedians could be “them”. Sarah Palin could be President. She will be called “stupid” all the day long, and often by people who are just doing it to be on the side of the smart kids, not because they’re smart themselves.
So much for snappy.