Independent and critical thinking should be an integral part of schooling at every school. They're shirking their responsibility if they try to make this entirely the parents' job.
Keeping children separated by age is definitely a defective, unnatural system. It's done for the convenience of the school.
I've heard from a number of people about the ridiculous homework load in public schools. Additionally quite often this is pointless, boring busywork. It serves no real purpose other than wasting the child's time and crushing their spirit.
Another problem is that teachers are required to stick to a teaching schedule mandated by the education authorities. The result is that those who are struggling must be left behind and those who are ready to move ahead are prevented from doing so. However even without the authorities controlling the teaching schedule down to the day it is an inherent problem in a situation where 20 or more children are taught en masse. It's just been made worse. Ironically the excessive interference was an attempt to address the problem of lazy and useless teachers, which it has failed to do while hindering better teachers.
I know parents who had their children in a Montessori pre-primary and then put their child into a standard primary. Mainly due to fear, uncertainty and doubt - because we are well indoctrinated into the idea of what school should be. They were stunned at how far ahead their children were, but figured that was all to their child's advantage. However after seeing how stressed and bored their child was they moved them to a Montessori primary.
-Home learners must be assessed annually by registered assessors at their own cost.
-Home learners are not allowed to enrol for alternative matric qualifications such as Cambridge and GED.
-The penalty for not attending school is increased from 6 months to 6 years imprisonment.
.........
From the process followed and the content of the bill, it seems that the intention of the DBE is to gain control over home education as well as financially benefit unions and state compliant curriculum suppliers, without consultating homeschooling parents and without providing any evidence that such measures will be in the best interests of the affected children.
If they truly think these changes are in the child's best interests then they are totally delusional. Much more likely is that this is all about control and corruption. I think it makes them truly angry that some people are evading the education department's mess and ensuring their children get a good education. And then there are all those connected people losing out on income. They also want to go after the better funded public schools and private schools, and their statements demonstrate they have not the faintest clue why those schools are better.
I don't see how they'll enforce a prohibition on getting an alternative qualification though. It is easy enough to get both.
With regards to homeschooling something that I have always wondered about is does the over riding instinct that one has, as a parent for your child not affect ones judgement of your child's scholastic abilities and perhaps allow for bias to cloud the assessment of your child?
Are there independent checks and balances that negate this?
I don't get the point with regards to schools limiting independent thought. Some of the greatest independent thinkers of our time all went to traditional schools - Elon Musk, Marck Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Richard Branson for example.
For homeschooling that is not really an issue. There are independent assessments children have to complete and commonly parents consult with experts to identify areas where the child needs additional work. Homeschooling is actually well organised and supported rather than the image of parents locking their children in and randomly teaching them whatever comes to mind.
Richard Branson did very badly at school and generally hated it. He left as soon as he could. Both he and Gates were lucky enough to have parents that encouraged the right kind of thinking and attitude that went on to serve them well in life. None of those people appear to have had poor, uneducated parents who worked long hours and thus had to rely more heavily on schools and teachers. Furthermore the fact that people manage to survive the inherent deficiencies in the mainstream schooling method is not a good reason to subject our children to it unless we really have to.
[MENTION=449868]RMTaylor[/MENTION] That stuff seems pretty cool for your kid at the moment, but what's the long-term plan? I assume you're going to hook him up with a formal primary and secondary education so that he can study further if he so chooses? Are you going to settle down somewhere when it's time for grade 1?
Those who want to go to university get the necessary high school certificate to do so. Alternatively they do some other studying to get credits that will get them entry. Others simply become entrepreneurs in their area of interest. If we're going to use successful and wealthy people as examples then we can point to Richard Branson who never even finished school and Bill Gates who dropped out of university.
Reason 1 is valid. Reason 2 I cannot comment as our children are doing IEB. The remaining 2 are the chips on your shoulders.
According to the IEB they cover the same as the national curriculum, but have their own exam standards.
Number 4 is a very valid issue and nothing to do with anyone having a chip on their shoulder. What we should question is some religious people's desperate need to use schools as an opportunity to proselytize.
Traditional schooling methods are very much about conformism. It is intentionally so.
Here's the thing - there ARE schools that encourage critical thinking. Problem is most parents can't / won't be bothered to seek them out. Or are not prepared to travel longer distances to get there.
Of course parents with resources do all those things. That doesn't address the general need. Furthermore why waste a couple of hours of your child's day in a car when they could simply learn at home? Or why generally waste children's time instead of expecting that schools be fixed and teachers do their job properly?
Or are not prepared to move home to enable their kids to attend.
That's hardly ever practical. But when they can parents do in fact move to get into a school's area.
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