Re: [seul-edu] Making ends meet

[Leon Brooks <leon@brooks.fdns.net>]

Stephen, I realise that this thread is an anomaly in your worldview and 
that you want to return to business as usual. Please remember that 
anomalies are what great discoveries are all about, and persevere.

On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 22:18, Downes, Stephen wrote:
> Thus we see that marginal
> improvements in a child's early education - such as the provision of
> good nutrition - have a noticible effect in high school.
> http://www.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/11/26/education.rankings.reut/ \
> index.html

Thanks for that. The studies and training I have in mind were carried 
out on adult criminals.

> In many families, both parents must work in order to make ends meet.

And fifty yeara ago (in Oz, at least) this wasn't often the case. What 
changed?

> Single-parent families, especially, cannot afford home schooling.

That's odd, because quite a number of the homeschoolers on another list 
I frequent are single parents (including a single dad).

> Moreoever, in order to home school, a certain level of education is
> presupposed on the part of the parent.

It may well be presupposed, but presupposition is dangerous. Another 
report (wish I had time to dredge) mentioned teenage mental patients 
producing above-average results as home school instructors.

> In other words: if you have the means to home-school, you probably
> also have the means to provide good nutrition for your kids, and that
> (especially in a nation with widespread poverty) is what may well
> explain higher SAT scores, not some inherent superiority of
> home-schooling.

Try a different supposition: that people who home school are highly 
interested in their children's education. This was once shown to be the 
single biggest success factor in a study of conventional schooling.

> Feeding your kids properly does not make you a better teacher,

Why not? I think it does.

Cheers; Leon