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- Aug 29, 2003
The article was talking about German parents trying to homeschool. That's probably why.
Home School vs Public School
- Thread starter SeaniBu
- Start date
The article was talking about German parents trying to homeschool. That's probably why.
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- Jul 27, 2003
Maybe if more 10 y/o had sex ed classes less 13 y/o would be pregnant. Fourth graders today know that the storck doesn't deliver babies. When I was in the fourth grade in 1963 we saw "the movie". ........and it left LOTS of room for speculation because NO ONE was going to ask the teacher a question. So IMO more explicit detail may be needed so that kids understand exactly what happens and it's consequences. I know that some of my friends had some really wild ideas about reproduction and how their bodies functioned. You have to rememeber that all kids do not have parents who have the knowledge or ability to explain things.
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- Oct 2, 2006
In my school we never got a video. The only "sex ed." I've got is an abstinence only program in health class.
I'm an athlete at my school and I was allowed to opt out of PE however, PE today is really nothing anyway. You just walk around the track or bounce a ball for like 45 minutes. But, they can't make PE too hard b/c no-one wants to shower anymore (can't blame them) so if it was too hard we'd have to return to class all sweaty and gross. At my school to do sports you have to maintain a 2.0 GPA, if you can't keep that then you're real slow IMO that's just a C average. I'm sure maybe some of the football players need and have gotten "help" but as a swimmer they've never made allowances for me.
I'm an athlete at my school and I was allowed to opt out of PE however, PE today is really nothing anyway. You just walk around the track or bounce a ball for like 45 minutes. But, they can't make PE too hard b/c no-one wants to shower anymore (can't blame them) so if it was too hard we'd have to return to class all sweaty and gross. At my school to do sports you have to maintain a 2.0 GPA, if you can't keep that then you're real slow IMO that's just a C average. I'm sure maybe some of the football players need and have gotten "help" but as a swimmer they've never made allowances for me.
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- Jul 28, 2003
It just depends on definitions. I know Russian Baptist families in Western Massachusetts who have a problem with their kids learning about Greek mythology in public school - they consider this being ingrained with pagan values. Of course, you and I would just call it learning about an ancient culture that is constantly referenced by Western art and literature.
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- Jul 28, 2003
That is so true. I once gave a lecture at a conference of school teachers on Egyptian mathematics, and I made the mistake of beginning, "the art of mathematics was bequeathed to humankind by the great god Thoth..."
Aack! What did I say that for?!
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- Jul 26, 2003
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Mathman, So did the teachers try to burn you for witchcraft?
We have a nice meadow for that here in CT - Witch Meadow Road.
The Hughes girls seem to be doing just fine with public schooling. Of course, it depends on whether your public school will adjust to your overseas competition schedule or not.
My youngest son skied competitively for our local ski area team and got out of school 2 afternoons a week for practice. That was plenty.
I agree with Piel-the way to improve your public school is to become involved with it. We lived in a tiny, rural town in northern Vermont when our kids were small. The elementary school had 4 rooms. And from that tiny school, we had 2 kids on the US National ski team (not mine), several that got Merit scholarships when they were in high school, and several that made all New England orchestra. The parents actively worked with the school to provide the kids with subjects that the town could not afford.
The result was both a better town and a better education for the kids.
The two things I'd like to see changed about public education is a more uniform funding for schools across the state. This has been mandated by the state court in Vermont, and things are better today than they were when my kids went to school. Vermont's state constitution, which predates the US constitution has an extremely strong clause about all citizens getting equal treatment from the government.
Its other oddity is that no gun laws are allowed by the Constitution.
We have a nice meadow for that here in CT - Witch Meadow Road.
The Hughes girls seem to be doing just fine with public schooling. Of course, it depends on whether your public school will adjust to your overseas competition schedule or not.
My youngest son skied competitively for our local ski area team and got out of school 2 afternoons a week for practice. That was plenty.
I agree with Piel-the way to improve your public school is to become involved with it. We lived in a tiny, rural town in northern Vermont when our kids were small. The elementary school had 4 rooms. And from that tiny school, we had 2 kids on the US National ski team (not mine), several that got Merit scholarships when they were in high school, and several that made all New England orchestra. The parents actively worked with the school to provide the kids with subjects that the town could not afford.
The result was both a better town and a better education for the kids.
The two things I'd like to see changed about public education is a more uniform funding for schools across the state. This has been mandated by the state court in Vermont, and things are better today than they were when my kids went to school. Vermont's state constitution, which predates the US constitution has an extremely strong clause about all citizens getting equal treatment from the government.
Its other oddity is that no gun laws are allowed by the Constitution.
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2006
I'm a proud public school student, so I pick public.
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
I think that skaters, and all athletes that are school-aged, should be in school as much as possible. I can see making exceptions so that they maybe don't have to attend school for a full day, though. Make them exempt from PE class since they are already getting far more exercise by skating than they are playing dodgeball in gym class, and then make sure that where there PE class would be is either their first or last period of the day so that they either can skate longer in the morning before going to school or leave early. And do the same with study halls. I know I had a study hall almost everyday when I was in high school. A skater doesn't need to be in school to study, let them have that time for skating and then study on their own at night. As long as the skater is in school long enough to meet the requirements for graduation, then getting out early or coming in late should not be a problem. And as long as the skater takes responsibility to either work ahead or at least keep up with their work while they are away for competitions then the school should be understanding about the necessary absences. Really, how much school do most skaters have to miss for competitions anyway? Maybe for regionals/sectionals/nationals if a skater is lucky enough to make it that far. JGP/GP events if they are really lucky and for a VERY select few, a trip to GPF/JGPF/4CC/Worlds/Jr. Worlds.. For the vast majority of skaters, I don't think that they spend so much time on the road for competitions that they miss an unreasonable amount of time from school. I think that going to school is important, and by being completely home-schooled, skaters are missing out on a lot of experiences. Also, the scheduling of high school prepares students for college. If skaters want to go on to higher education, they may find the transition from doing their studying/schoolwork wherever and whenever they want to being in a set schedule very difficult.
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- Feb 13, 2007
I think that, for skaters and non-skaters, it simply depends on the person in question. Like someone above me said, Emily and Sarah Hughes did fine in public school. Others, like Sasha, were homeschooled (although I think she technically did a correspondence course).
I suspect that anyone who does not believe in homeschooling has not met many homeschoolers, or at least not a representative sample. Yes, I have met one controlling homeschool mother whose children are severely undersocialized, undereducated, and probably emotionally scarred.
However, I was homeschooled, and I'm now in college. I'm getting all A's. I participate in class. I have a job, a boyfriend, and lots of friends. In fact, I'm so busy that it seems like I'm barely ever home. I have many other homeschooled friends and acquaintances who also do well in school and have active social lives.
It just depends on the parent and the child.
I suspect that anyone who does not believe in homeschooling has not met many homeschoolers, or at least not a representative sample. Yes, I have met one controlling homeschool mother whose children are severely undersocialized, undereducated, and probably emotionally scarred.
However, I was homeschooled, and I'm now in college. I'm getting all A's. I participate in class. I have a job, a boyfriend, and lots of friends. In fact, I'm so busy that it seems like I'm barely ever home. I have many other homeschooled friends and acquaintances who also do well in school and have active social lives.
It just depends on the parent and the child.
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- Jul 4, 2006
What about skaters from non-North American countries - are they home-schooled (that article makes it sound like it is illegal in Germany and I don't think it is common in the Netherlands, for example, not that NL ever produced a lot of figure skaters)? Private-schooled? Or something else?
A few months ago I read an article in the New York Times about a boarding school for winter sports athletes. I don't remember much, but thinking back, it sounded a bit like the Soviet sports schools except that the American parents were paying a LOT of money for this. The objective seemed to be to help the athlete get good enough grades and play well enough to win a sports scholarship.
A few months ago I read an article in the New York Times about a boarding school for winter sports athletes. I don't remember much, but thinking back, it sounded a bit like the Soviet sports schools except that the American parents were paying a LOT of money for this. The objective seemed to be to help the athlete get good enough grades and play well enough to win a sports scholarship.
A big concern about homeschooling seems to come from parents being teachers. A way to bypass this problem is to have tutors teach children. (If I recall correctly) Tara Lipinski was tutored. This is easier to manage than you would think. For example, my school district has an option of "independent study" which is home schooling. Once a week (or at pre-determined intervals) the student meets her "teacher" to discuss lesson plans and grades. Then, the teacher recommends curriculum for the student to cover.
Homeschooling is more convenient for skaters on account of ice time. For elite athletes, it may be difficult to find icetime regularly at times after or before school only. The travel also could make it very difficult. Athletes (I believe) have different priorities from regular kids--hanging out, socializing, etc might not be the most important thing.
Homeschooling can provide a balanced education. Because these skaters constantly travel the world and meet new people (many of their age) I do not think socializing is not something to be worried about.
Homeschooling is more convenient for skaters on account of ice time. For elite athletes, it may be difficult to find icetime regularly at times after or before school only. The travel also could make it very difficult. Athletes (I believe) have different priorities from regular kids--hanging out, socializing, etc might not be the most important thing.
Homeschooling can provide a balanced education. Because these skaters constantly travel the world and meet new people (many of their age) I do not think socializing is not something to be worried about.
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- Jan 6, 2007
Oh oh, this is my very first post. I'm more of a reader...
Well, I'm from Germany and homeschooling is forbidden here. There are mainly several boarding schools for athletes alone, called "Sportinternate" - they are not really expensive and mostly organized by the government (so they are public) with other groups (for example soccer teams etc.).
I don't think we need homeschooling in Germany. The school system is about average, just the fact that we sort the pupils into "good", "average" and "not so good" at the age of 10 and send them to different schools is really disturbing - but that's about to change. We have very few private schools, so that's not really an option. You just have to go to public school - and it's not really bad there.
And we are not "occult" - well, they read Harry Potter in English when the children are about 14 years old - but that's not occult. And I never learnt about witches at school. We really do have sex ed at the average age of 10 - I think, I had it at the age of 8 and again at the age of 11 and 13. But that's not a bad thing, is it?
I think children should go to public schools and not because of the better education. Children need to know the world they are going to live in. And this example with the Russian Baptists (they actually sound like a religious sect to me) is actually a good example against homeschooling - if they teach their children that some part of mathematics is occult, what do the children learn from that? And if they don't teach their children sex ed, what will they think about the world outside their home? These parents isolate their children from the world - and that's not okay.
I also think athletes should go to public schools, even if these are boarding schools. Everyone should have a shot at a normal childhood and youth. What if someone starts homeschooling and training his sport everyday from the age of 11 and 6 years later this person has a career-ending injury? Or if the person just doesn't want to compete any more? It would be very hard to adjust to a normal life again, if the person spent the majority of his childhood being homeschooled and trained and never had the chance to sit in a classroom with others and learn organic chemistry, being shot at with paper and pencils and perhaps being bullied a bit.
And I'm not saying that homeschooled pupils are less educated / adapted - I'm just saying that there is no real standard, you cannot control what they learn at home, and that is the problem.
Well, I'm from Germany and homeschooling is forbidden here. There are mainly several boarding schools for athletes alone, called "Sportinternate" - they are not really expensive and mostly organized by the government (so they are public) with other groups (for example soccer teams etc.).
I don't think we need homeschooling in Germany. The school system is about average, just the fact that we sort the pupils into "good", "average" and "not so good" at the age of 10 and send them to different schools is really disturbing - but that's about to change. We have very few private schools, so that's not really an option. You just have to go to public school - and it's not really bad there.
And we are not "occult" - well, they read Harry Potter in English when the children are about 14 years old - but that's not occult. And I never learnt about witches at school. We really do have sex ed at the average age of 10 - I think, I had it at the age of 8 and again at the age of 11 and 13. But that's not a bad thing, is it?
I think children should go to public schools and not because of the better education. Children need to know the world they are going to live in. And this example with the Russian Baptists (they actually sound like a religious sect to me) is actually a good example against homeschooling - if they teach their children that some part of mathematics is occult, what do the children learn from that? And if they don't teach their children sex ed, what will they think about the world outside their home? These parents isolate their children from the world - and that's not okay.
I also think athletes should go to public schools, even if these are boarding schools. Everyone should have a shot at a normal childhood and youth. What if someone starts homeschooling and training his sport everyday from the age of 11 and 6 years later this person has a career-ending injury? Or if the person just doesn't want to compete any more? It would be very hard to adjust to a normal life again, if the person spent the majority of his childhood being homeschooled and trained and never had the chance to sit in a classroom with others and learn organic chemistry, being shot at with paper and pencils and perhaps being bullied a bit.
And I'm not saying that homeschooled pupils are less educated / adapted - I'm just saying that there is no real standard, you cannot control what they learn at home, and that is the problem.
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