Private Education for everyone

[BobRobertson]

The usual statist argument is that education is "too important" to be left to private efforts. That without coercive attendance laws, children will not get an education.

And, worst of all, that without government running the schools, the children will be taught unapproved things.

But I must insist that people look not at the rhetoric, but at the facts.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzv4nBoXoZc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzv4nBoXoZc</a>

[macsnafu]

The usual statist argument is that education is "too important" to be left to private efforts. That without coercive attendance laws, children will not get an education.

And, worst of all, that without government running the schools, the children will be taught unapproved things.

But I must insist that people look not at the rhetoric, but at the facts.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzv4nBoXoZc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzv4nBoXoZc</a>

The usual argument has it backwards--education is too important to leave to the state!

 

[RJ Miller]

As the technology develops, and public support for copyright erodes, I think it might be possible to develop some kind of teaching software (open source) that could give the same K-12 instruction we see today but at a tiny fraction of the $150K/student cost to have that done via our current public school system.

Homeschoolers happen to do pretty well despite the fact that the cost of materials (copyrighted) is only about $500/year:

http://www.schizoidboy.com/education.html

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6iHRSAIsCo" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6iHRSAIsCo</a>

Maybe all we need is for schools to be more like testing and community centers?

[Seth King]

I'm really happy with the way w3schools teaches web development. I don't see why that same format can't be done for virtually every subject.

[MAM]

As the technology develops, and public support for copyright erodes, I think it might be possible to develop some kind of teaching software (open source) that could give the same K-12 instruction we see today but at a tiny fraction of the $150K/student cost to have that done via our current public school system.

Enter the Khan Academy While it's not perfect Khan has done and continues to do great things!

[Syock]

We have had these kind of threads before.  Several of the big name schools have released their classes for free online.  I think MIT is one of them.  The downside of course is no paper saying you know the material, but that doesn't really matter for anyone who is running their own business.  

The real downside for homeschoolers in the USA at least, is that they have to follow the public school (lack of/misinformed) education. 

[MAM]

We have had these kind of threads before.  Several of the big name schools have released their classes for free online.  I think MIT is one of them.  The downside of course is no paper saying you know the material, but that doesn't really matter for anyone who is running their own business.  

The real downside for homeschoolers in the USA at least, is that they have to follow the public school (lack of/misinformed) education. 

I'll teach my children what I want. The State can kiss it.

[RJ Miller]

The downside of course is no paper saying you know the material, but that doesn't really matter for anyone who is running their own business.  

Enter EdX my friend. They certify whether or not you actually completed the work: https://www.edx.org/faq

Not to mention other options like Coursera.org

With education the knowledge should be free in most cases - if something is to be charged for it should be the service of verifying that someone actually knows the material in a lab/testing environment of some sort.

[MAM]

Syock I don't understand why you think you have to do what the State tells you. You're one person if you maintain a low profile you can do whatever you want man.

[Syock]

Syock I don't understand why you think you have to do what the State tells you. You're one person if you maintain a low profile you can do whatever you want man.

The kids have to pass the state tests.  If they don't then the parents get in trouble, maybe social services step in etc.  I'm not saying you can't teach your kids more, but you certainly have to teach them what the government wants them to be taught as well.  You can keep your head down all day long, but that doesn't always work.  Will the kid thank you when they don't have a piece of paper that says to most people that they are eligible for a job?

RJ, those links are for higher education, not mandatory minimums for k-12. 

[MAM]

Syock I don't understand why you think you have to do what the State tells you. You're one person if you maintain a low profile you can do whatever you want man.

The kids have to pass the state tests.  If they don't then the parents get in trouble, maybe social services step in etc.  I'm not saying you can't teach your kids more, but you certainly have to teach them what the government wants them to be taught as well.  You can keep your head down all day long, but that doesn't always work.  Will the kid thank you when they don't have a piece of paper that says to most people that they are eligible for a job?

RJ, those links are for higher education, not mandatory minimums for k-12. 

Agorism

[BobRobertson]

The kids have to pass the state tests.

The rules say that they must take the tests, not pass them.

But the use of such test scores in prosecution of parents for neglect would be useful.

Luckily, homeschooled and unschooled kids routinely demonstrate on those tests that the uneducated ones are the public schooled kids, not them. So you'd really have to try to keep your kids stupid to have any chance of messing that up.

[Syock]

Agorism

You want to force your kid into a completely agorist life?  Do you live completely agorist?  

[MAM]

Agorism

You want to force your kid into a completely agorist life?  Do you live completely agorist?  

No but there is a difference between a completely agorist life style and simply getting your money agoristically. As far as that is concerned I've payed taxes twice in my life so I'm quite confident that making money agoristically is not hard.

[RJ Miller]

RJ, those links are for higher education, not mandatory minimums for k-12. 

I know. I was simply pointing out that this could potentially be a model for K-12 education as well.