danivon wrote:Propaganda about widespread gun and drug problems in public schools?

Distrust of any government service?

Unwillingness to accept certain curricula - eg: teaching of evolution or sexual education

geojanes wrote:This is ideology. What you're saying has nothing to do with reality. And ideologically I agree with you. But the reality is that there are kids who are different: physically, mentally, socially, who are completely marginalized, stigmatized and/or ostracized in a typical school environment. Some kids, maybe 1 out of 100, or 1 out of 1000 may be deeply harmed either physically or mentally by the experience. Those kids should not be in a standard school environment, especially since schools don't adapt to their special needs. When parents can rescue those kids from those situations, that's great and should be supported by everyone, including you. The tragedy is these special need kids who don't have parents who can provide them such a situation and are failed in so many serious ways by the school experience.

danivon wrote:Propaganda about widespread gun and drug problems in public schools?

Distrust of any government service?

Unwillingness to accept certain curricula - eg: teaching of evolution or sexual education

geojanes wrote:How about dissatisfaction with the quality of the service? In many places, if your public school sucks you have no other choice other than private school, which can be very expensive.

bbauska wrote:To answer your previous question about teachers and dismissal...
If a teacher commits wrongdoing with a child (sexual-misconduct, assault, bullying) it should be immediate cause for dismissal w/o possibility or re-hire
If a teacher get a certain number of bad ratings (from administrators or not meeting teaching goals) they should be removed.
If a teacher is convicted of a felony, they should be removed.

This would be a good start, and the term teacher is used for homeschool, private, or public teacher.

Can we all agree that poor teachers should not be teaching, regardless of the venue?

danivon wrote:Anyway, have you read my response to your previous message? Perhaps now you know what I meant by 'normalisation' you will see that we are not so far apart?

bbauska wrote:Licensing?

Not a common ground area I could accept.

There are cases of a teacher not losing a job. Not many, but some...

I know how much homeschooling costs us. I spend $2100 for 3 kids/year. It would be nice for my children to get the same support that other kids do.

rickyp wrote:http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards

This is a link to standards that US states are adopting to ensure that students across the country are held to the same bench marks.
The standards include the teaching of evolution as fact and also as fact climate change caused primarily by human activity.
I wonder how many home schooled children would be exposed to this curriculum and the presentation of these two concepts as fact?
As much as I agree that home schooled children have proven to out perform public schools in standardized testing of reading, writing and arithmetic its this area that I think should concern.

An understanding of biology cannot be complete without embracing the concept and reality of evolution.

If home schooled children are deprived of the opportunity to learn this as fact .... then the advantages of improved teaching of reading, writing and etc. are diminished immeasurably. .

freeman3 wrote:My favorite argument against evolution that I saw was one citing a study that bacteria in caves cut off from the surface for several million years had evolved resistances to antibiotics (so disproving that pesky argument that bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics was a proof of evolution) Hmm, I wonder what could be wrong for a creationist to cite this study?
Here is a list of arguments that you should not use against evolution (it's a bit confusing--I think the color arguments are still good)http://www.answersingenesis.org/get-answers/topic/arguments-we-dont-use

Understanding evolution is critical for understanding biology. As the preeminent scientist
Theodosius Dobzhansky stated, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of
evolution.” Evolution is the only scientific explanation for the diversity of life. It explains the
striking similarities among vastly different forms of life, the changes that occur within
populations, and the development of new life forms. Excluding evolution from the science
curricula or compromising its treatment deprives students of this fundamental and unifying
scientific concept to explain the natural world.

Teaching and learning about evolution have immense practical value that extends beyond
understanding our world. The principles of evolution underlie improvements in crops, livestock,
and farming methods. Natural selection accounts for the rise in pesticide resistance among
agricultural pests and informs the design of new technologies to protect crops from insects and
disease. Scientists are applying lessons from evolutionary biology to environmental
conservation: plants and bacteria adapted to polluted environments are being used to replenish
lost vegetation and to clean up toxic environments. Species from microbes to mammals adapt to
climate change; studying the mechanism and rate of these changes can help conservation experts
formulate appropriate measures to protect species facing extinctio

Understanding evolution is also central to the advancement of medicine. Indeed, the entire field
of “evolutionary medicine” is devoted to using the principles of evolution to study and treat
human illness and disease. Concepts such as adaptation and mutation inform therapies and
strategies to combat pathogens, including influenza. Models developed by evolutionary
biologists have shed light on genetic variation that may account for an increased risk of
Alzheimer’s and coronary heart disease. Knowing the evolutionary relationships among species
allows scientists to choose appropriate organisms for the study of diseases, such as HIV.
Scientists are even using the principles of natural selection to identify new drugs for detecting
and treating diseases such as cancer.

Studying evolution is an excellent way for students to learn about the process of scientific
inquiry. Evolution offers countless and diverse examples of the ways scientists gather and
analyze information, test competing hypotheses, and ultimately come to a consensus about
explanations for natural phenomena. Understanding science is essential for making informed
decisions and has become increasingly important for innovation and competitiveness in the 21st

century workplace. It is critical, therefore, that students receive a sound science education
including evolution.

Removing evolution from the science classroom or allowing it to be compromised not only
deprives students of a fundamental tenet of biology and medicine, but it will undermine their
understanding of how scientific knowledge is amassed