To paraphrase something Murray Rothbard said about economics: It is no crime to be ignorant about the subject of home schooling, which is, after all, a specialized discipline. But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on home schooling while remaining in this state of ignorance.
I guess "progressive" Dick Cavett thought he would be preaching to the choir when he wrote this ignorant diatribe against home schooling in The New York Times.
While there are the usual comments by ignoramuses who have no idea what home schooling is about (One reader writes: "Would all of the engineers, scientists, and surgeons out there who were home schooled please stand up." Obviously, this "informed" person doesn't realize that home schoolers attend college just like State schoolers.), one of the best of the many pro-home schooling comments is the latest, where the informed reader lists the statistics comparing the standardized test scores of home schoolers versus State schoolers:
Had Mr. Cavett even attempted the slightest amount of research on homeschooling, he would have found homeschooled students routinely out-perform their public schooled counterparts. As a result, most colleges today embrace homeschooled applicants. Some even go out of their way to find them. And why wouldn’t they, considering that a 2010 study published in the Journal of College Admissions determined that homeschoolers:
• Had a higher average ACT/SAT score (26.5 vs. 25 on the ACT)
• Had a higher freshman GPA (3.37 vs. 3.08)
• Had a higher graduation rate (66.7% vs. 57.5%)
• Had a higher average GPA at graduation (3.41 vs. 3.11)
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Ohio School Shootings
Whenever terrible events such as these occur, the cable news channels turn loose their stables of journalism-school twits to offer explanations. Over the years, everything from gun ownership to long coats to rock music to violent films have been used to distract attention, and to reinforce the collective dull-wittedness of the boobeoisie. That such actions take place in an environment in which the use of deadly violence against innocent people has become virtually synonymous with "patriotism;" when presidents can declare their rightful authority to kill whomever they select; when police officers can kill without being held accountable for their acts; when soldiers are honored as heroes for killing foreigners; and when presidential candidates try to outdo one another in their threats to bomb nations that pose no threat to America, should we be surprised when impressionable teenagers emulate such behavior and thinking?
No, Boobus, this is not an attempt to justify such violent acts, but to try to understand their origins. When one presidential candidate is resoundingly booed for suggesting that we ought to pursue peaceful ways of living, you should be aware of the depth to which violence is worshipped in America. Don't feign shock if a few members of the next generation get converted to the faith.
More on the Ohio School Shootings
Writes Ed Lebeau:
No home schoolers were included among the victims of the shootings yesterday at that high school in Ohio. Of course, it is obvious, but not enough people think of it.
UPDATE from Billy:
Not only were no home schoolers victims, neither were they perpetrators.
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