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["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

On 11/19/06, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com> wrote:
> We are lead to believe (indoctrinated)  that if we didn't have schools and
> teachers, everyone would walk around illiterate and unable to do math.  It 
> isn't
> so.

When I had occasion to hire men to help with chores here I was
surprised at the number who were illiterate. I assume that these guys
had all gone to school, and they weren't retarded. It surprised me.
The oldest was in his 60s and the youngest was in his 30s.

> Not only that, historically literacy rates FELL when PS attendance became
> mandatory and have never been that high again.

We've had ps around for a long time. Could you perhaps supply sources
for these statistics? In my own personal experience with kids at my
little one-room country school, it was like the Army. Everyone learned
what they were supposed to learn. We had kids who were slow, but the
older kids tutored the younger ones, and everyone ended up reading.
> So you see, Van Dell, the question is not "Where's the proof that schools are
> bad?"  The question is "Where's the proof that schools are good or needed at
> all?"  If it is imposed on people and its not needed, it is by definition bad.

Hmmm. This strikes me as an ideological point of view. I know
unschooled children and also those who have been in ps for 12 years.
They all , so far, have ended up in universities of their choice. One
of my friends has a son who has done well as a builder without any
schooling at all. There are many ways of learning, and ps doesn't
appear to be necessary but it also doesn't appear to be detrimental.
Kids of a certain age will learn, regardless.

Marie