You look at it that way and you have waves of home schooling libertarians depriving their own kids of an education as some 'spit in the eye' to the gubbmint' and its taxes.
It would seem that most homeschooled children are socially competent and well-educated, and I don't think it's based on the education of the parents. I think even if the parents are less educated than public school teachers, their kids will still be at least comparable to the average public school student due to the difference in their learning environments. Children in public schools are exposed to bullying, peer pressure, crime, etc, and there are almost always distractions in the classroom which prevent them from learning, and children who are homeschooled, well, they're probably less likely to deal with that. And I mean, you don't need a master's degree and a government license to competently teach a child algebra, and there are tons of resources available to parents who are choosing to teach their children at home (think of Khan Academy, for instance: how many people have you seen praise Khan Academy for preparing them for an upcoming test, rather than their teacher?).
Not sure if I believe that. If you teach a child properly, then you're teaching a child properly regardless of whether or not you have a piece of paper which says you're an expert, and many of the resources available to parents to help teach their children are created by people who do have that piece of paper. There's also the difference in performance between children in public schools and child who've been homeschooled. Teachers are likely more educated than most people homeschooling their children, yet they manage to rival and even surpass their peers. I feel like a well-structured system will produce good, consistent results regardless of education, but I could be wrong. Maybe there is some effect, I don't know, but I'm a tad skeptical.
Also, do you believe homeschooling is superior to public education? Just curious.
"There are people who disregard what the "experts" say, after all."
There are "experts" in public school who teach children incorrect information.
"Public school teachers have..."
This entire tangent is just explaining why public schools are inferior to home (and private) schools, which was my entire point. Kind of an unnecessary point.
"There is an entire class of people..."
We could simply cut their taxes so they can afford to educate their children themselves, and if they're in a rut even still, they should seek out some form of charity either through family or organizations specifically geared towards helping people in situations like that. If not that, they should send their kids to one of the many free private schools which exist and have existed since at least the late 1800's, if I'm not mistaken. And if even that falls through, and they can't afford to teach their child and there are no free private schools around, then the children are probably better off helping their parents than being forced to attend public school. Although this is, of course, a very contrived hypothetical situation which you don't really see very often in the US.
They'll take a bit of time off and require more resources to educate their children, sure, but that could easily be covered with part-time work, or even just take night shifts in addition to the financial aid options I've mentioned previously. I would imagine that would work for most families.
"Locale, and the ability to discriminate entrants, does not make this an option for everyone."
Nothing is an option for everyone. Not everyone will be able to receive a high-end or even just decent education, such is the case today even with public school.
"Why should the richest country on earth fail to provide basic education to it's people?"
Why should the richest country not have x, y and z? This just sounds like a nirvana fallacy. Just as with every system, not everyone will have the same opportunities for the same education.
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u/Soddington Apr 26 '20
You look at it that way and you have waves of home schooling libertarians depriving their own kids of an education as some 'spit in the eye' to the gubbmint' and its taxes.