Since I was mentioned by name...(and I tried to fight a war with you yesterday, but you logged out to do some werk or something, Meanie Shae! I put my dukes up and everything!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Waluigi
IMO, until we as a society can answer this question, the whole debate about public vs. private vs. charter vs. homeschool vs. unschool is secondary.
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I disagree. I think there's value in assuring that everyone gets a consistent baseline education, even if we're not 100% certain that it is the best education a person could theoretically get. I think at minimum this means having an agreed upon curriculum that all students are required to complete, and providing publicly funded schools at which it is taught.
I don't have any particularly strong views on whether or not private schooling or homeschooling should be allowed or disallowed, provided those forms of schooling cover the baseline curriculum. I'm leery of unschooling because I don't see how there's a mechanism for assuring that a student will get a baseline education consistent with what everyone else is getting.
In the specific context of the sailing girl, I was mostly reacting to the notion that thinking that a sailing trip is not an acceptable excuse for missing out on part of that curriculum is some kind of overrestrictive European nanny-state thing.