Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Young author fears downfall of our democracy after encounter with one homeschooler!

This fellow, Michael Salmonowicz, is a young author who fears our democracy is in dire straits if parents in this country continue to homeschool their children. He shares his concern in this article and bases his argument on an encounter with a single homeschooler he calls 'Sally'.

"When I read that last statement, the educator and citizen in me begin to clash. On one hand, I completely respect a parent’s desire to provide the best possible education and home life for their child. On the other hand, I worry that our democracy is weakened when children grow up without extensive exposure to values, beliefs and worldviews different from their own."

Salmonowicz may have a valid concern about our democracy being in jeopardy but from where I sit it is due to the finished product coming out of public schooling. His smarmy elitist attitude is apparent when he whines: 

"In the days that followed, I thought about this event quite a bit. My mind kept coming back to one thing: Sally’s reaction made perfect sense. As a home-schooled student, she likely did not engage in discussion and debate with people who did not share her religious beliefs, who disagreed with her political views, or who pushed her to think about issues from new perspectives. I had no doubt she was nurtured and encouraged by her parent-teachers, but it appeared that having her beliefs and arguments questioned by others (even when being taught the art of persuasion in college) was a completely foreign concept."

Geeeeeeeeeeesh! Another Ph. D. (post hole digger) with a mind full of mush espousing gobbledygook and trying to pass it off as educational advice. Minor Dork Award here since Salmonowicz isn't yet in a position to do much damage to America's youth, except to those other education majors who listen to his ridiculous advice. 

Want to know the real reason our democracy is in trouble? Go here to read about the ISI report and take the Civics Quiz yourself.

1 comment:

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

"...her only evidence for many claims was that the Bible said X, Y, or Z. Her revised version was slightly better but did not address the feedback she received from her instructor; the foundation of the paper’s arguments was still very weak."

Very WEAK???! The FOUNDATION of her argument is the Bible... and that's "very weak?" And this dude wants to know why she might feel a little discriminated against and drop the guy's class??

Um... What a dork. Critique her for poor writing skills or taking a verse out of context, NOT her choice of using biblical text as the basis for her opinion on issues X, Y, or Z.