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["Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>]

Lynda, I was not advocating public schools for all children. I did not once
say that you should not homeschool or unschool nor that you should do
anything at all with your children. I merely shared my positive experiences
with ps. And, by learning self-defense and street fighting, I was able,
later, to save my own life. That is not to say that no one could learn
street fighting skills other ways. I would not have, though, as my mother
was more into seeing to it that I knew ballet than that I knew how to take a
man down if need be. You mistake personal experience shared for a set of
one-size fits all absolutist propaganda. I'm not into that.

But, as I said in my original post, it was not for zealots, only to share my
personal experience, which included learning to question authority,
including homeschooling and unschooling authorities who like to state their
cases in absolutist terms. My post was for the more open-minded, non-zealots
on the list.

Gloria


On 11/28/06, Lynda <lurine AT softcom.net> wrote:
> Gloria, can you please explain to me why you are so positive that you
> wouldn't have been exposed to or have been involved in music or basketball
> if you hadn't gone to public school?
>
> How is that if you hadn't been bullied you wouldn't have learned to deal
> with things that happened to you later in life?  You mean to tell me that
> you think you had to be emotionally abused early in life inorder to
> survive
> adversity later in life?
>
> And let me clear something up that p.s'ers seem to want to believe is the
> gospel and that if they keep repeating it often enough it will make it the
> truth, "I'm sure there are exaples of home schooled kids who get to do
> things like that and more."
>
> No, Gloria, there are "examples" of homeschooled kids that get to do those
> things, it is a reality of everyday life in the day to day life of the
> vast
> majority of homeschooled kids.
>
> Of course, *all* homeschooled kids don't get to do that but then *all*
> public schooled kids don't get to do the things you mentioned.
>
> My mother and father were BOTH very involved in the p.s. I went to, but
> that
> didn't make them a better experience.  One of the more traumatic
> experiences
> was the first day of school and there was nothing involved parents could
> have done to make it any better!  I had a nanny from Georgia and as a
> consequence I had a southern accent.  A THICK southern accent!
>
> Teacher:  Lynda, can you stand up and tell everyone your name and where
> you
> are from (we lived in the projects and there were folks working in the
> shipyards from all over the country, hence the question).
> Lynda:  Ma name is Lean Da and ahmmm from hee are.
> Teacher:  No, dear, I mean where did you move here from.
> Lynda:  Yaa ree ka
> Teacher:  (Getting a little impatient)  No, I mean where are you
> originally
> from (giving me the 'is this child stupid or what' look)
> Me, now totally confused:  Pointed out the window and said "San
> Francisco."
> Teacher:  Never mind!  Sit down.
>
> At the end of the day I got one of those enfamous notes pinned on my
> blouse.
> The note really ticked my mother off (I later found out that the teacher
> said my mother should work at teaching me the difference between the truth
> and a lie) and she stomped off to school with me the next morning, not
> that
> it did any good.  A month later I end up going home with another note
> pinned
> on my blouse.  This time my Dad took off work to talk to the
> teacher.  Seems
> I wasn't supposed to be reading books or writing in cursive and that I was
> to quit immediately because I might "harm" the other children by being
> ahead
> of them!
>
> Hells bells, even those ghetto schools were probably better than 99.9% of
> the public schools are now.  We had field trips at least once a month (the
> Planetarium, the Aquarium, the Natural History Museum, Golden Gate Park,
> the
> Oakland and SF Zoos, the Golden Hind, just to name a few), we did cooking
> for each country we studied, we had ballroom and square dancing lessons
> (ballroom dancing graduation was at the Hyatt Regency, another field
> trip),
> orchestra, choir, drama, art, creative writing, swimming lessons and that
> was all in grammar school!
>
> I was in the orchestra.  I aced all the math classes.  I loved
> history.  Won
> the prize in ballroom dancing.  However, that doesn't stop me from finding
> that public schools suck.
>
> I guess the brainwashing didn't take with me <g>  I don't find a need to
> justify all the bad stuff and there was plenty of that!
>
> Lynda
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>
>
>
> > Some of my happiest memories from my years growing up are my
> > experiences in the grade school and high school orchestras. I played
> > violin and LOVED it. The year our high school string quartet went to
> > state was such an amazing experience for me. Now, folks thought I was
> > a little strange as a kid, walking around humming the second violin
> > part to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (we also played in a symphony with
> > the band kids), but, in addition to horses, music was a great passion
> > (it still is), and the public school system allowed me to pursue it to
> > my heart's content. I also played piano, and I would play for the
> > chorus in grade school, for plays, and I played for our graduation. I
> > know for sure that if I had been home schooled, I'd never have gotten
> > the chances to do what I did, musically. I know that I'd not have had
> > as many opportunities to overcome my native shyness and stage fright,
> > and I'd probably not have been able as easily, later in life, to give
> > talks in front of a thousand people, had I not had those sorts of
> > performance opportunities at a young age. I'm sure there are examples
> > of home schooled kids who get to do things like that and more, but I
> > know I'd not have been one of them.
>
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