The OBA factor (county, public school, homeschooled, exam)

[modeerf]

If your old enough, you've heard the saying that ONE BaD APPle spoils the whole bunch.

The OBA Factor is partly responsible for the dumbing down of our youth, and taking the joy of freedom away from them and society.

It is infecting the rest of society to a stifling degree.

Learned behaviours (brainwashing) in public school have not served our nation well.

It's a curve of failure.

Simplified: We have taken any morality that existed and put it in the porno bin. Treating right and wrong like it is an old idea, passe' even.

Most of the rules, restrictions, and daycare atmosphere of Public school lives long after the student goes into the real world.
Where they find that their freedoms of expression, creativity, and uniqueness are under a microscope of correctness.

If one kid messes up, then the rest are punished.

Recent example of the overall brokeness:

In the real world one individual wrecks a bathroom at a Rite-Aid Store and now everyone else can't use the toilet. Signs are posted "NO PuBlic REstrooms.

What a joke. OBA FACTOR is part of our ignorance.

Homeschoolers have realized the benefits of escaping the OBA's

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by modeerf

Homeschoolers have realized the benefits of escaping the OBA's

Or you could argue that homeschoolers are throwing out the whole bunch because of the bad apple of their experience. (God knows it's been said here often enough.)
The problem with metaphor is that it's all bendy, and you can make it do what you want.
The cool thing about school choice is that...well, it means there's a choice. And some people will choose public school. Whatever fits your individual kid is what you need to do-- and if it fits your kid well enough, you don't need to justify it by taking digs at the things you didn't choose.

[purehuman]

Yes...Aconite's probably right....best kept under the hat!!!

[modeerf]

Originally Posted by Aconite

Or you could argue that homeschoolers are throwing out the whole bunch because of the bad apple of their experience. (God knows it's been said here often enough.)
The problem with metaphor is that it's all bendy, and you can make it do what you want.
The cool thing about school choice is that...well, it means there's a choice. And some people will choose public school. Whatever fits your individual kid is what you need to do-- and if it fits your kid well enough, you don't need to justify it by taking digs at the things you didn't choose.

That is part of the post, and i respect your view in regards to metaphor, it is bendy, but it's useful to frame a subject. What about the other parts?
In regards to Homeschooling, i think the parents choose to have something better for them. It use to be not long ago, they had no choice.
OBA is not an issue in your experience?

Punish the whole because of the few is not on your radar?

[Aconite]

Originally Posted by modeerf

That is part of the post, and i respect your view in regards to metaphor, it is bendy, but it's useful to frame a subject. What about the other parts?
In regards to Homeschooling, i think the parents choose to have something better for them. It use to be not long ago, they had no choice.
OBA is not an issue in your experience?

Punish the whole because of the few is not on your radar?

Punish the whole because of the few happens in a number of situations at random times. And in fact, I don't see it happening wholesale in schools.

My kids are dually enrolled at the moment, though at times I've been a public school parent, a homeschooling parent, and a private school student. So for some things we homeschool. Some things we use coop classes for, and some classes they take at one of the county schools. That works pretty well for us (vive la choice, as I said before). I figure this is a classic example of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, frankly.

I think any parent who actively chooses an educational path for their child does so with the idea that it's the best option for their family. Certainly the default is public schooling, and if you don't choose, that's where you end up. So yeah, there are people who are simply there because it's the path of least resistance. But that's not to say that there are not also families who have looked at the options available, and concluded that Neighborhood Elementary or County High School is their child's best option.
Homeschool isn't the across-the-board best option. It's the best option for some families. If every parent homeschooled, overall it would suck as much as any other one-size-fits-all system.

Short answer, though, is that I simply don't care for painting with broad brushes. And I get weary of people justifying a choice by saying "it's better because it's not That Evil Horrible Thing Over There". It's not better because it's not something else. That's damning with faint praise. If it's better, it's because of its own merits.