Hillbilly White Trash: Carnival of Homeschooling

I haven't written much about homeschooling, although I know some readers are doing that for their kids. I haven't written about it, because I don't know a lot about it. But when I see what a singular disaster "public education" has become, I take heart when I read an article by someone who does:

Hillbilly White Trash: Carnival of Homeschooling

Raised in the South, I went to segregated schools. To do otherwise would have been unthinkable in my day. Our teachers were committed people who knew their respective subjects. The PC agenda was yet to be born. So I had a good, down-to-earth education. They didn't grade on the curve. Here's the way the grades broke down, from Junior High through High School: A = 93-100; B= 86-92; C=79-85; D=70-78. Anything under a score of 70 earned you an F. No exceptions.

If you got an ass-whupping from the principal or one of your teachers, and your Daddy found out about it, it meant you got a 2nd ass-whupping - for getting the first whupping. It was tough on the tookus, but on the other hand, we knew where the lines of authority lay. We not often tempted to challenge them. We knew what was expected from us, and what would happen if we fell short. But, aside from that, we had pretty much full reign over our lives - within reason.

By the time I had a child, I was living in Manhattan, and was able to send her to a fancy East-Side private girls' school. Actually, it was her mother who arranged all that. I made a decision to leave all that up to her capable hands. In hind-sight I wished I hadn't done that, and I urge fathers today to take a hand in your child's education. Ask them what they did today, and listen to the answer. You might be surprised.

I hadn't any connection with public schools beyond my High School days. That is, until I semi-retired and decided to substitute teach in the public school system in New Jersey. It was a shock. It was bedlam, in the old sense of the word. Chaos. I remember thinking - Peter Sellers in "Being There". This is insane, it's a public school. Where are the parents? Why aren't they speaking out about this? That was when I discovered the much deeper problems in the homes of these kids.

Some of them are 3rd generation welfare recipients; ie, grandparents never held a job, parents never held a job. Many are being raised by their grandmother, who is sometimes herself an addict. Drugs take their lives away. The fathers split first, followed by the mothers (in a different direction, of course) - so the grandmother is left to do the job. Some do it admirably. Some do it begrudgingly, having held out some hope of a life themselves, but are now tied down by one, two, sometimes three kids. Education? They haven't a clue. Some grandparents have become hostages to the teenagers in their own home. I also remember thinking: the family unit has become unglued.

In a short 45 years time, how low the standards and expectations have sunk. I wondered, why and by whom? Having devoted hours a day, 7 days a week for the past six months, catching up on what I have ignored for many years, I have a few answers to those questions. As to alternatives, home-schooling wasn't even in my vocabulary. So I turn to those who do, and will try to identify those who are strong, have faith in America.

For home-schooling, try this link:

Carnival of Homeschooling

When faced with the evil, narcissistic self-loathing of the Leftists who have not only stymied public education in America today, but have made sure that it is hobbled beyond repair - when faced with entrenched cultural relativists, home-schooling is one of the last rational approaches to educating your child. Better to have no education, than to deliver them into vile clutches of the NEA. Politicians simply allow this to happen; as America becomes adrift, the would-be "saviors", ie, the Elitists of the Left, fan the flame of diversity, knowing that a society which no longer identifies with the self-defining elements will weaken and fall.

Enter the Islamists. So now we have a determined effort from within and without to destroy America and her values. What I see rising to meet the evil is an assortment of conservatives, libertarians, and just plain ornery people like myself, who don't like what they see and are determined to do something about it. I don't fit into any category that I've seen. Maybe that's for the best.

Today I work as a volunteer in a K-12 school for disabled. I love it.

.............................................