Comments on Elsie and Joe Deluxe: does any of this matter?

a few thoughts...- i went to a waldorf k-8 and the...

2008-05-08T03:27:00.000-04:00

a few thoughts...
- i went to a waldorf k-8 and then a public high school, wasn't "gifted" per se, liked school just fine, did well, tested well except for SAT type tests.
- i think it is tricky comparing a public school education now to ones that anyone received 20-30 years ago, since they are different beasts all together. dh went to a public school, kindergarten some 30ish years ago,

I read an article once that argued that part of th...

2008-05-07T22:19:00.000-04:00

I read an article once that argued that part of the problem with much research on children is that it sees them purely in developmental terms. In other words, we usually evaluate what is going on with children in terms of their "becoming" rather than their "being". This difference is evident in your post. The question you respond to is set in a developmental framework: is this okay if children

the quality of their lives right now matters.Yes! ...

2008-05-07T18:10:00.000-04:00

the quality of their lives right now matters.

Yes! I was one of those who suffered long-term damage as a result of my (ironically successful) public-school career. It took me years to unlearn the habits of mind I picked up in school and finally figure out who *I* was and what *I* wanted to do with my time on this earth.

I believe that "turning out fine" is not enough for

anthromama - it does sound like your educational e...

2008-05-07T15:56:00.000-04:00

anthromama - it does sound like your educational experiences were very similar to my own.

My basic stance is that there is no possible way to make a public school system that will suit everyone's needs and make everyone happy. That is why we still need to be parents and step in where we feel public school is lacking in meeting own children's individual needs. For some that means teaching

This is not a deep thought but . . . if the kids a...

2008-05-07T14:01:00.000-04:00

This is not a deep thought but . . . if the kids are going to turn out OK one way or the other, why not homeschool, if you like it? I think one problem my PS friends have with understanding our decision to keep going with homeschooling is that PS is so much the default setting that it's instinctive to assume that something has to be "wrong" or really out of the ordinary to justify doing something

Whenever my husband and I struggle with the questi...

2008-05-07T13:23:00.000-04:00

Whenever my husband and I struggle with the questions of how to educate our children, whether we can afford private school, etc., we always at some point remark that we both went to public school (including state college) and turned out OK. In fact, except for being rather financially unstable, I would be thrilled if my kids had adult lives like ours.

I wonder if there is a certain

My problem with the 'system' of public school (and...

2008-05-07T10:40:00.000-04:00

My problem with the 'system' of public school (and even some private schools) is the philosophy 'in loco parentis' - in place of the parent. In loco parentis historically gave teachers the ability to discipline students as a parent would. However, over the decades, this philosophy blurred and seeped into many areas of the PS system.

Today we see overt social and political agendas

Good answer. :) I am very interested in learning ...

2008-05-07T08:32:00.000-04:00

Good answer. :) I am very interested in learning about other people's experiences in school. It is seeming more and more that my experience in school was the exception, rather than the rule. I really enjoyed school, despite not always being challenged. I was lucky enough to have very good teachers who did not hate me for being "gifted", precocious or mathematically advanced. (there is a certain