Lemmings are famous for their, well, lemming-like behavior. The fellow pictured to the left is a drowned lemming.
From Wikipedia...
While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not the case. Driven by strong biological urges, they will migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great. Lemmings can and do swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat. On occasion, and particularly in the case of the Norway lemmings in Scandinavia, large migrating groups will reach a cliff overlooking the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to jump off the cliff and start swimming, sometimes to exhaustion and death. Lemmings are also often pushed into the sea as more and more lemmings arrive at the shore.
That sounds a lot like public school to me, except instead of a cliff there is a school bus. Shuffle out of the door, file onto the bus, file off the bus, go from class to class where a teacher hurries through a lesson fired at a class of 30 disparate kids, file back on the bus, file back off the bus, shuffle in the house, do hours of homework because you can't cover enough material at school, go to bed. Repeat for 13 years. That is the best method, the best place to get an education? Seriously?
I know of more than a few people who have been in public school that are flat out ignorant. Heck I know people who have college degrees that are flat out ignorant. Going to a school building is no more a guarantee of an education than being on a basketball court is a guarantee of being an NBA player. Doubly so if you are concerned about your kids moral upbringing and realize that an hour of Sunday school a week isn't going to do the trick.
What is our goal? A piece of paper? Conformity? My kids are kind of odd ducks. The other day Hunter was wearing a pin with a goat on it that he won at the county fair. I almost asked him to take it off because it was kinda dorky, but I decided not to because he liked it and was proud of it. How do you suppose that would have been received by his 13 year old male peers in a public school? Our kids have been getting better and better with the homeschool, and I would put their education up against that of virtually any kid in public school and add to that the fact that the education they are getting comes from a decidedly and intentionally Christian worldview. They are free to embrace what they find interesting, to be themselves, to grow up at a reasonable pace instead of the forced faux maturity that is fed by public school peer pressure. I am so proud of my kids and so proud and thankful for my wife who puts in a ton of work caring for and educating our eight children. Is it hard work, is it a huge sacrifice? Sure, but who ever said that raising kids was supposed to always follow the path of least resistance?
From Wikipedia...
While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not the case. Driven by strong biological urges, they will migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great. Lemmings can and do swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat. On occasion, and particularly in the case of the Norway lemmings in Scandinavia, large migrating groups will reach a cliff overlooking the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to jump off the cliff and start swimming, sometimes to exhaustion and death. Lemmings are also often pushed into the sea as more and more lemmings arrive at the shore.
That sounds a lot like public school to me, except instead of a cliff there is a school bus. Shuffle out of the door, file onto the bus, file off the bus, go from class to class where a teacher hurries through a lesson fired at a class of 30 disparate kids, file back on the bus, file back off the bus, shuffle in the house, do hours of homework because you can't cover enough material at school, go to bed. Repeat for 13 years. That is the best method, the best place to get an education? Seriously?
I know of more than a few people who have been in public school that are flat out ignorant. Heck I know people who have college degrees that are flat out ignorant. Going to a school building is no more a guarantee of an education than being on a basketball court is a guarantee of being an NBA player. Doubly so if you are concerned about your kids moral upbringing and realize that an hour of Sunday school a week isn't going to do the trick.
What is our goal? A piece of paper? Conformity? My kids are kind of odd ducks. The other day Hunter was wearing a pin with a goat on it that he won at the county fair. I almost asked him to take it off because it was kinda dorky, but I decided not to because he liked it and was proud of it. How do you suppose that would have been received by his 13 year old male peers in a public school? Our kids have been getting better and better with the homeschool, and I would put their education up against that of virtually any kid in public school and add to that the fact that the education they are getting comes from a decidedly and intentionally Christian worldview. They are free to embrace what they find interesting, to be themselves, to grow up at a reasonable pace instead of the forced faux maturity that is fed by public school peer pressure. I am so proud of my kids and so proud and thankful for my wife who puts in a ton of work caring for and educating our eight children. Is it hard work, is it a huge sacrifice? Sure, but who ever said that raising kids was supposed to always follow the path of least resistance?
If a parent gives it serious thought and chooses to send their kid to public school, that is their right. But public school should not be the default, especially for Christian parents. The rearing of our children is too important to sub-contract to a secular state institution that has a core hostility to the Christian worldview.
(I know I am being a bit strident, but I was set off about the whole public school thing today)
(I know I am being a bit strident, but I was set off about the whole public school thing today)
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