Comment by TheFreim

Comment by TheFreim 3 months ago

> Just because you are educated doesn't mean you are a good (pedagogical) educator.

This applies equally to paid teachers, along with numerous downsides that don't apply to parents (i.e. being able to tailor education to a single individual, developing a relationship that lasts close to two decades, ability to slow down and speed up course material where necessary, and more). Paid teachers, contrary to semi-popular mythology, are not special and don't do anything that an average person couldn't do (they are not extra-"competent"). In the natural course of being a parent you learn how to interact, guide, and teach your children.

This argument also fails in many concrete situations. For example, where I grew up there is a decent homeschooling community made up of people with average levels of education, low to average income, and yet the kids perform very well academically and are well socialized. Saying that these parents are not competent because didn't get a badge (education-related degree) is absurd considering they do as well as the people who did get that badge.

poulsbohemian 3 months ago

Great, I'm sure you'll have no problem using the services of a self-taught doctor, lawyer, or engineer then. After all, why would they need to be taught by a professional?

Go spend some time in a classroom and get a fucking clue how much more there is to teaching than what your layman's view entails. You, and this disrespect for our educators and the potential of what we could be offering in our public schools is why we are the laughing stock of the developed world.

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theamk 3 months ago

Teaching twenty kids of wildly different levels is always going to be harder that teaching a single kid, so parents have a great advantage by default.
Yes, there are educators who are so great they can teach all 20 kids amazingly well, but those are super rare. Most likely kids who are learn much faster or much slower than the rest will be left behind. If you child is in this group, it's better off to stay away from public school.
(It could have been much better if there were advanced classes, "magnet" schools, etc.. but in many states those programs are being cancelled and everyone is being forced into rigid programs.)

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hilux 3 months ago

It is an objectively measurable fact (e.g. by test scores) that K-12 teaching, in the US, pays poorly, lacks prestige, and attracts far from the best and the brightest.

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arkey 3 months ago

> Go spend some time in a classroom and get a clue how much more there is to teaching than what your layman's view entails.
How, by the lack of it?
A lot of people bet for home schooling because, not despite of, their perspective from inside a classroom.

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ahmeneeroe-v2 3 months ago

If you are blindly relying on certified professionals in soft fields such as general medicine and law you are in for a bad time.
At a minimum you need to use your judgement to vet good from bad practitioners in those fields.
Also "disrespect our educators" is so funny. Sorry, they're not that serious, mostly dumb. And we're not the laughingstock of the developed world, we are the rulers of the developed and undeveloped world

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