Petra’s answer to “I saw mentioned that Tyler Westover has published a review of this book, giving it 5 stars and also…” > Likes and Comments
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Billie seems to have turned out fine, and I'm sure your niece is great, so I don't think all homeschoolers are destined to fail. As long as they have responsible parents.
I do not think the book pictures homeschooling as a bad thing. It pictures lack of actual "homeschooling" as an issue. And the fact that her father had such so extreme views of the world, made the non attending a school a source of ignorance and exclusion from the rest of the world, but that is not because of homeschooling itself.
Homeschooling isn't bad as a concept. There are many great parent/teachers out there and it's definitely a more natural way to learn if it's done right. However, I was a GED teacher for 25 years, and the parents vary so much in what they do and don't do for their children. I have had many highly intelligent homeschooled students whiz through the GED in three weeks, and also have had some who could not read and had limited knowledge of the world around them. I taught a young lady who had never stood in a line before. Think about this. I went with her to the front desk (this is at a small technical college) for something or other, and there was a short line of people. She didn't understand the concept of waiting in line. She didn't know to wait at the end of the line and how each person's question would be answered and then it would be her turn. It was in many ways, like Tara's professor said, like Shaw's Pygmalion. She could barely read, did not have a driver's license, didn't know how to write, didn't know how to mail something, just a thousand things you learn from being in this culture. We had a one-on-one tutor work with her for three years. This tutor not only prepared her for the GED, she filled in all of the missing information about life, society, the world outside the confines of her parents' world. It was beautiful to see her bloom, but sad to know that this was what homeschooling could lead to. I'm all for it, but these children need something to hold on to, something to help them enter the world.
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Billie seems to have turned out fine, and I'm sure your niece is great, so I don't think all homeschoolers are destined to fail. As long as they have responsible parents.
I do not think the book pictures homeschooling as a bad thing. It pictures lack of actual "homeschooling" as an issue. And the fact that her father had such so extreme views of the world, made the non attending a school a source of ignorance and exclusion from the rest of the world, but that is not because of homeschooling itself.
Homeschooling isn't bad as a concept. There are many great parent/teachers out there and it's definitely a more natural way to learn if it's done right. However, I was a GED teacher for 25 years, and the parents vary so much in what they do and don't do for their children. I have had many highly intelligent homeschooled students whiz through the GED in three weeks, and also have had some who could not read and had limited knowledge of the world around them. I taught a young lady who had never stood in a line before. Think about this. I went with her to the front desk (this is at a small technical college) for something or other, and there was a short line of people. She didn't understand the concept of waiting in line. She didn't know to wait at the end of the line and how each person's question would be answered and then it would be her turn. It was in many ways, like Tara's professor said, like Shaw's Pygmalion. She could barely read, did not have a driver's license, didn't know how to write, didn't know how to mail something, just a thousand things you learn from being in this culture. We had a one-on-one tutor work with her for three years. This tutor not only prepared her for the GED, she filled in all of the missing information about life, society, the world outside the confines of her parents' world. It was beautiful to see her bloom, but sad to know that this was what homeschooling could lead to. I'm all for it, but these children need something to hold on to, something to help them enter the world.
I know quite a lot of home schooled kids. They end up taking classes at junior college after the take the ged.