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Originally Posted by Phunkie
But the list doesn't prove that they benefitted something extra from homeschooling either.
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But I never had to prove that. I was tasked to prove that great people have come from homeschool environs. I gave the list as an example of my belief that more great people have been homeschooled than public schooled.
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In the US I believe this may be true. But e.g. economically speaking its very inefficient. So it has its pros and cons like most issues.
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Perhaps in your country. In America we spend approximately $7,000 per student per year (more than any other country, I believe). Even private education averages out to only about $4,000/student/year. You may be right when considering the opportunity cost of the family's lost income due to the fact that one parent must give up their career, but in strict monetary terms I would bet homeschoolers do a much more efficient job of teaching children (speaking from first hand experience and anecdotal evidence only).
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The reason why Billy finds it necessary to shoot his classmates is not in my opinion the public education (or at least not only public education). I would blame the parents first, then media, gun control laws, the whole American society in general etc.
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I would agree that it's not just the public school system's fault, though Billy usually chooses to assault his classmates rather than society at large.
Though off topic, I don't know how gun control laws contribute to Billy's desire to murder his classmates. Seems to me Billy isn't too concerned about laws.
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I have gone to a public school and I don't consider myself a "group-thinker". But perhaps you were talking only about American public schools again?
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Maybe you do a better job of instilling free thought and independent thinking in your schools. In our schools we often have kids writing letters to the president to protest the war; writing letters to CEOs to protest their use of various chemicals; writing letters to the school board about the level of teacher pay - all at the behest of their "impartial" teachers.
Still, I wonder how your system discourages the normal human desire to just fit in and get along with the group, regardless of personal opinions?
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You make it sound like the kids going to public schools live in a bubble with their classmates. I have always thought myself as being socially adept, even though I "only" went to a public school.
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Of course, you're the norm. I'm not stating that ALL kids who attend public schools are menaces to society, I'm just stating the facts. In public school (at least in America) you are segregated into classes by age and you stay that way until you graduate high-school. Do public school children get the same level of interaction with children in different age groups than homeschoolers? I'm not sure how they could when the majority of their educational hours are spent in segregated classrooms.
The studies I pointed to show that children in a homeschool environment are much more comfortable dealing with children outside their age group than children in a public school setting.
We just had a case here where an older kid beat the shit out of a younger kid on a bus. Surely, he has no concept of how to deal with kids outside his age group. Is he the norm? No. Could he be saved with homeschool? Who knows? But it's clear he doesn't belong in a public school setting.
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This is an US specific issue.
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Really? You don't think there is school violence in European schools? Even Finland has its share of assaults:
http://www.gold.ac.uk/connect/reportfinland.html
(Guess you'd better ban arms, legs, hands, baseball bats, spades, electric cord, knives.)
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And for the murdering part:...
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I wouldn't disagree.
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I meant do they take into account the fact that there are so much more children that go to public schools that there naturally is more variation just because of environment factors. And the homeschooled children are a much more homogenous group. How do they pick the sample? And are the results of these studies reliable?
I'd think they would be more reliable if they compared homeschooled children to children who go to better public schools in better areas. This way the weight of the environment factor could be reduced since everyone would have a "good" environment.
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Then why have standardized tests at all? Shouldn't we have tests that account for one parent families, lower income, skin color, emotional well being, etc.? Thankfully, no. You see, once you get out of your primary education, the world doesn't care that your daddy didn't hug you enough, or that you didn't get enough toys when you were a baby. The world only cares that you can do the job you're in and that you can get along with others. And rightfully so.
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You say this, but still you claim homeschooled kids to be smarter, socially more adept etc.
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I'm telling you the results of the tests show that. I've also given (and so have other posters) personal experiences. If you choose not to accept these arguments there's nothing more I can do.
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But if you really think so I wish you would've said so in the beginning. That would've perhaps shortened the posts a bit 
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Well, I wish I would've been more clear since my fingers are also quite tired. But if you follow my posts I think you'll find I've mentioned several times that homeschooling is not an option everyone should take. My position is that homeschooling does not suffer from the two biggest arguments against it: quality of education and quality of socialization.
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So do you create their dress code or not? :confused:
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No, I do not. They do.
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You really believe that children will start to form their opinions about e.g. fashion only when they are 18 or so?
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No, I said when it becomes important to them they will be in a position to form their own opinions about it without overt peer pressure. That may come at any age.
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But wouldn't you suspect at least a little bit e.g. a research made by the Bush administration saying that things in Iraq are going as planned and everything is peachy?
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Of course, but he has a Presidency to sell. What does this author have to sell except a report? He doesn't gain from misinterpreting these results. If more parents choose to homeschool based on his report, they won't be going to his school - he doesn't have one.
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Are we speaking again of the research of the earlier mentioned Ron L. Hubbard of Homeschoolers? (just kidding ;) )
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I presented, I believe, four reports, all pointing to the same conclusion. One of which could be deemed biased, you're fixating on this.
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Your cons were mainly related to the parents and society, not the kids. For them you found only pros, and I think this is not 100% true.
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That's your job
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