Fairfax County Public Schools has crossed the line with their "depression survey"

[michgc]

Originally Posted by Tone509

Not to get off-topic, but: yes, last year.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Congrats, Tone! Wishing you many happy years together.
And now back to the subject of depression.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

Homeschooling in Fairfax is like going to a swimming pool at the beach.

Just my opinion

Which can be a very lovely, almost sublime experience (ILD remembers fondly the infinity pool at the Ritz in Jimbaran Bay, overlooking a gorgeous private beach).

More seriously, some of us homeschool not just for greater individual attention and superior academics but also for proper value inculcation (and to prevent state-sponsored indoctrination).

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

That's one of those things like how we love our Congressman but hate everyone else's. We're fine with assessing other peoples' kids, not just our own since there's no possible way they could have a problem.

Good one.

To me, this is yet another sign that public schools are increasingly less about basic education, but more about social indoctrination and harmonization. Eek.

[Hersh]

As a parent of two kids, I think that as long as the school protects the privacy of students, and parents have the right to opt out, this could be a good thing.

This country seems to have a phobia against identifiying and dealing with severe mental health issues. Over and over with mass murders, we hear that the perp had severe mental health issues that were either untreated, or worse, unidentified. We need a way to screen people for severe mental illness early, and schools seem to be the logical place to do it.

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by newgatedenizen

We were at the beach a few years ago during a sea jelly invasion. It was nice to have a beach house with a pool that week. Likewise, during a difficult period we took the option of home-schooling one of our kids for a few years. Although the child is back in the FCPS (and doing well) we feel it was the right move and worked out extremely well.

My restriction on responding is lifted!

So what you are saying what I said is EXACTLY accurate then? Homeschooling Fairfax is literally the same as going to a pool at the beach. It was just a joke, I am sure there are situations for both of course.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

My restriction on responding is lifted!

So what you are saying what I said is EXACTLY accurate then? Homeschooling Fairfax is literally the same as going to a pool at the beach. It was just a joke, I am sure there are situations for both of course.

I think you meant to mock with your statement about pools and beaches and then realized that there may be situations beyond what you intended to mock earlier.

BTW, you do know that homeschooling is very popular in this area, right?

[looktowindward]

Originally Posted by Hersh

As a parent of two kids, I think that as long as the school protects the privacy of students, and parents have the right to opt out, this could be a good thing.

This country seems to have a phobia against identifiying and dealing with severe mental health issues. Over and over with mass murders, we hear that the perp had severe mental health issues that were either untreated, or worse, unidentified. We need a way to screen people for severe mental illness early, and schools seem to be the logical place to do it.

The problem is that I don't think this effort will do it. Really severe mental illness generally surfaces from ages 18 to 25. Its very tough to tell if a high school or middle school aged teenager is actually suffering from major depression or suffering from being a teenager. Schizophrenia rarely surfaces in school aged children, and when it does, you don't need a screening to figure it out. I'd guess that the top 30% of "popular" kids in middle school exhibit signs of what would, in adults be considered borderline personality disorder. The list goes on.

I don't think there's much harm in this effort, so long as its handled intelligently - but with school systems, there is no promise of that. Can they ensure privacy - i.e. guidance counselors not gossiping with classroom teachers about the result? Are the results protected by HIPAA? Will kids who are already under mental health treatment be forced to jump through hoops to prove they are "safe"?

After Columbine, we saw some really horrendous profiling of kids who were absolutely harmless but were simply unhappy, loners, or off-beat. Kids were suspended, expelled, forced into therapy, or otherwise persecuted because they were different. I simply don't have the faith that school administrators have the wisdom to properly handle this sort of situation - these are the people who came up with zero-tolerance polices resulting in kids getting expelled for possessing swiss army knives or leatherman tools.

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

I think you meant to mock with your statement about pools and beaches and then realized that there may be situations beyond what you intended to mock earlier.

BTW, you do know that homeschooling is very popular in this area, right?

Thats cool, it is a shame seeing as Fairfax is one of the highest rated schools systems in the country... many people move here just to have their kids enrolled in the public schools. Sounds like it would be a lot cheaper to live in another county if you were going to home school anyways.

I don't care to mock anything. If you want to homeschool feel free, especially if whoever is teaching the child has strong grasp of science and mathematics and provides one on one attention. You can't ignore the fact that it is a bit odd to be living in one of the highest rated school districts and to do so though.

[sullyguy]

There is at least one other thread around here about home schooling pretty exclusively. As a parting shot having typed that, I thoroughly believe that home schooling deprives kids of THE major learning taking place in schools - the social side. Great for reading, writing, 'rithmetic, lousy for what the schools REALLY teach. You go to any school, any time of day while students are there, and just watch as the kids learn much much more than what the teachers are teaching - all lost to a home schooled kid.

Okay, I'll sit on my hands now. You might want to check out the other thread(s) about this, however...

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

Thats cool, it is a shame seeing as Fairfax is one of the highest rated schools systems in the country... many people move here just to have their kids enrolled in the public schools. Sounds like it would be a lot cheaper to live in another county if you were going to home school anyways.

There is no "shame" in it at all. As good as FCPS or LCPS may be, there are certain things that public or even private schooling may not be able to provide in abundance such as highly individualized attention and moral inculcation. The fact of the matter is, even "good" and "smart" kids at public schools are highly acculturated to the mass media culture. If you want to shield your children from that during very formative early years, homeschooling is a very good way to go.

The common denominator of this area having both highly rated schools and a high degree of homeschooling is the high level of parental involvement. What allows homeschooling to thrive here is the homeschooling-friendly regulatory environment as well as relatively high degree of religiosity unlike many other urbanized areas.

I don't care to mock anything. If you want to homeschool feel free, especially if whoever is teaching the child has strong grasp of science and mathematics and provides one on one attention. You can't ignore the fact that it is a bit odd to be living in one of the highest rated school districts and to do so though.

Not "odd" at all to a big swath of the population here that is conservative and/or religious. Homeschooling is so popular here that even Asians, who traditionally go to extraordinary lengths to put their kids in "good" schools, partake in it -- one of the recent USAMO winners from this area was an Asian kid out of Oakton who was homeschooled.

Originally Posted by sullyguy

There is at least one other thread around here about home schooling pretty exclusively. As a parting shot having typed that, I thoroughly believe that home schooling deprives kids of THE major learning taking place in schools - the social side. Great for reading, writing, 'rithmetic, lousy for what the schools REALLY teach. You go to any school, any time of day while students are there, and just watch as the kids learn much much more than what the teachers are teaching - all lost to a home schooled kid.

Okay, I'll sit on my hands now. You might want to check out the other thread(s) about this, however...

There is your "thorough belief" and there is fact. This stereotype about lack of socialization among the homeschooled is completely and utterly counterfactual and only has currency among those who have little to no understanding of modern homeschooling. If anything, evidence seems to show that homeschooled kids are typically better socialized and display fewer behavioral problems. Your typical homeschooler today isn't sitting at home alone reciting the Bible. He goes on field trips to museums, plays in sports leagues and learns in a co-op setting with children of other parents with a similar educational philosophy.

[sullyguy]

I am sitting on my hands so will not respond.

(...)