Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

Martian · 03-02-2008, 08:56 AM

Well, I'll be totally honest up front and say that I didn't read the whole thing. It seems to be a very long letter detailing a lot of things I just don't care about. Dude loves his daughter, we get it. Move on.

On the other hand, I wonder just how much benefit he really thinks he's doing her. Yeah, the school system will tell her she has to learn specific things at specific ages. This is how education works. She will be better served, however, by learning these things than not learning them. I am well aware that the education system in my country is no better than the one in the United States (where I assume this originated) and it certainly has it's flaws. I would be happy to invite this man to remove himself and his family from the system by going and living on a mountain or in a forest somewhere and fending for himself. That would be opting out. What he's doing is making a half-hearted stand (and I'm not sure he even really knows what it's about) because 'the Man gets ya down, bro!' What's even worse is that he is jeopardizing his daughter's future by doing it. Maybe he can successfully home school her. He claims to have been an educator, so perhaps he'll be able to provide her with a well-rounded education independent of the system and if so I wish him all the best. But the bottom line is he's not opting out and she won't either. Nobody opts out, because living on a mountain with no electricity and having to catch dinner before you can eat, well that kind of sucks. People do that for a week and then drive off in their SUV's. People don't live like that.

So he's going to email his letter to the superintendent in his district. Or maybe he's going to leave his warm, clean, dry and well-lit home and get into his well-constructed vehicle to drive to the post office and let the mail service make sure that his letter decrying how bad the system is gets received. Am I really the only one seeing the contradiction here?

Like I said, public education isn't perfect. On the other hand, when the day comes that I have the decision to make for myself, I will certainly be sending my child to school. I simply don't have the knowledge necessary to teach a child the skills necessary to be anything other than a smaller version of me. Forcing a child to be limited by my knowledge would not be freeing her, it would be stifling her.

People like this are beyond contemptible, as far as I'm concerned. He's forcing his daughter to suffer the consequences for his half-baked ideals. It really doesn't get much lower than that.

03-02-2008, 08:56 AM	#4 (permalink)
Martian Young Crumudgeon Location: Canada	Well, I'll be totally honest up front and say that I didn't read the whole thing. It seems to be a very long letter detailing a lot of things I just don't care about. Dude loves his daughter, we get it. Move on. On the other hand, I wonder just how much benefit he really thinks he's doing her. Yeah, the school system will tell her she has to learn specific things at specific ages. This is how education works. She will be better served, however, by learning these things than not learning them. I am well aware that the education system in my country is no better than the one in the United States (where I assume this originated) and it certainly has it's flaws. I would be happy to invite this man to remove himself and his family from the system by going and living on a mountain or in a forest somewhere and fending for himself. That would be opting out. What he's doing is making a half-hearted stand (and I'm not sure he even really knows what it's about) because 'the Man gets ya down, bro!' What's even worse is that he is jeopardizing his daughter's future by doing it. Maybe he can successfully home school her. He claims to have been an educator, so perhaps he'll be able to provide her with a well-rounded education independent of the system and if so I wish him all the best. But the bottom line is he's not opting out and she won't either. Nobody opts out, because living on a mountain with no electricity and having to catch dinner before you can eat, well that kind of sucks. People do that for a week and then drive off in their SUV's. People don't live like that. So he's going to email his letter to the superintendent in his district. Or maybe he's going to leave his warm, clean, dry and well-lit home and get into his well-constructed vehicle to drive to the post office and let the mail service make sure that his letter decrying how bad the system is gets received. Am I really the only one seeing the contradiction here? Like I said, public education isn't perfect. On the other hand, when the day comes that I have the decision to make for myself, I will certainly be sending my child to school. I simply don't have the knowledge necessary to teach a child the skills necessary to be anything other than a smaller version of me. Forcing a child to be limited by my knowledge would not be freeing her, it would be stifling her. People like this are beyond contemptible, as far as I'm concerned. He's forcing his daughter to suffer the consequences for his half-baked ideals. It really doesn't get much lower than that. __________________ I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said - Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame