Homeschooling my children has given me quite an education. For example, I will never again doubt the ability of some people to form an opinion on a topic about which they know nothing.
Take, for example, Dr. Weightman W. Beorn, a historian specializing in Holocaust studies. Say you're not qualified to homeschool your child.
Apparently, Dr. Bjorn himself isn't all that qualified. Despite having a Wikipedia page listing his many awards and accomplishments, he is only an assistant professor at a university as old as grunge music. Thankfully, this isn't his only job. He is also a podcast host with less than 1,000 followers on Twitter.
The only reason he could be promoted to ninth grade was the fact that he was 15 years old, and school leaders could not afford to drive a 16-year-old eighth grader to school every day.
But I'm not here to judge. Academia is hard work. I should know – I've been lucky enough to teach in public schools for 13 years. And what I'm trying to say here is that while Assistant Professor Bjorn may be right that you are not qualified to homeschool your children, the public school system is not qualified to teach them. I know this for a fact.
can't believe it? Let me prove it now. please take this Bullitt County, Kentucky 8th grade examDating back to 1913. Please, we look forward to seeing you.
I'd be surprised if half of you even knew where to start with half of the questions on that test. And remember, this was a test for 8th graders. In Kentucky.
too old to fail
The fact is that we have all been robbed of money by government policies. to intentionally denigrate School systems are broken, and today's children continue to be deceived and robbed of their fullest potential.
Let me explain firsthand how the bar will be lowered and we will all change as a result in the short term.
What this actually means is fundamentally misunderstood by the public. When I was still in school, I remember many times teachers standing over the cutting board. The administration and teaching were crazy, and anyone who had any authority in the school would get angry if one or more children failed a class.
Children cannot be allowed to fail because everything will be ruined.
We had a block schedule, so there would be one class in the first semester and another class in the second semester. If I fail all my classes in my first semester and move on to my second semester, when will my credits be made up? How can I earn them so I can graduate on time?
I mean, guess what? Who gets punished if you don't graduate on time? Not the student? The school will be punished.
8th grade student driving
And therein lies the collapse of the American education system. This is when you can't keep your child back because of their age. I had a student like this when he was 15 years old and in the 8th grade, who had already experienced enough failures in school.
When the time came to discuss promotion to high school, he was moved up. He showed no ability in this regard. The only reason he could be promoted to ninth grade was the fact that he was 15 years old, and school leaders could not afford to drive a 16-year-old eighth grader to school every day.
This kind of thing really hits home for me. Because we want to blame all of this on the teachers, when they are actually holding the kids to standards that penalize them if they fail. So what does that lead to? Endlessly mediocre.
And when I was a senior in high school, some kids did nothing all semester because they knew they had to learn Spanish in order to graduate. In the last few days of the semester, they came up to me and said, “Can I wear makeup?” Need a semester's worth of study? Now?
- One, how many times have I given this piece away?
- 2. How many times have you sat in my class doing nothing?
- 3. Do you want your assignments to be graded for the entire semester because you were unmotivated when they were assigned?
Please let me rest!
But do you think I did it because I had to? I've put together all this work and they can't do it all. They will do a good enough job to pass.
It's as if you're asking yourself, “How much content do I actually need to complete to pass?”
“Do you want to graduate?”
There was one boy in particular that I remember. He started work, and in a few pages it was clear that he had passed it on to someone else, and it was a girl. I knew from the handwriting that it was a girl. I was half wrong anyway.
Kicker? This time it was a Spanish class. he was mexican. from mexico.
So I found him, marched my happy little self into the hallway, and bit him to death in front of God and his friends and everyone.
And I said, “You're going to do this job. Now come to my room and do this job.”
He wasn't happy about it.
I said, “Do you want to graduate?” He was a senior. A senior in an intermediate class. It was May. Also, did I mention he was Mexican in Spanish class?
This system is unfair to teachers, who bear the brunt of the work. That's not fair to the kids doing the work. That's unfair to everyone. It was unfair, especially to kids like him. Because all he was told was that he could continue to live his life doing nothing and that in the end everything he needed would be given to him.
was born yesterday
And this is the flip side of such a scenario. There was a student who broke his thumb while playing soccer on his school team. We had a pretty strict technology policy and no personal cell phones or laptops were allowed.
That year, we had a new administrator, and I tried to make sure everything was fair, and I decided to give this student a laptop because he had broken his dominant thumb and couldn't write properly. I asked the principal if I could allow them to use it. And I was told no because of technology policy.
How about, I was expected to deal with kids who don't do Jack Diddley, but then I'm a very good student with very good grades, no problems with discipline, no problems with discipline. We were not allowed to do anything to help the children. I broke my thumb playing soccer. For your school team? Please explain why that was the right thing to do.
This is the American education system.
Dr. Bjorn, I have a question for you. If I am not qualified to teach children, what does that say about the system that has trained me for 30 years? And why would I send my children there?
Until recently, you had to be fluent in Greek and Latin You may even be considered for admission to Harvard University or other great universities. Now we are struggling to get our kids to master second grade Spanish. Nearly a quarter of Americans are nearly illiterate.
Maybe I'm not qualified to teach children, Mr. Bjorn, but at least I know what I'm missing. Maybe, just maybe, if I do my job right, my children will be good enough to teach your children.
