Not Homeschooling? What’s Your Excuse?: A Critical Response [EDITED VER.] Tricia Vaughan Smith’s Not Homeschooling? What’s Your Excuse? leaves one with the feeling that in some of the populace’s minds brainwashing occurs at public schools in order to control the IQ of the upcoming generations. That can be gathered and Vaughan’s claims that what she teaches her son is just as good as what public school can teach your kids so, in accordance to her claim it could be gathered that all it takes to educate your own children at home is the determination. Which means that children can be homeschooled instead of being sent to schools that test and rank them according to the information they can retain as opposed to relevant skills that will allow children
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What’s Your Excuse? is an extensive article written by a homeschooling mother in 2005 that is meant to showcase her beliefs regarding the poisonous effects the U.S. Government is having on the nation’s youth as a result of the rigid education system. Tricia Vaughan Smith believes wholeheartedly that the education system that has been implemented is designed to destroy upcoming generation’s ability to think for themselves, ergo the entire article is written from a pro-homeschooling point of view that helps the non-homeschooling portion of the populace see the other side of the issue. Undoubtedly, Vaughan brings to light some excellent points such as the capabilities of the parents, the warped concept of freedom that is enforced by the schooling system and the unfairness that is enforced within school limitations, but she fails to articulate how exactly this all culminates to the end result of the government attempting to hinder the progress of the general …show more content…
As a consequence of calling out a portion of her audience she forced that specific portion of them to read the paper with a hovering feeling of judgement and a lack of connection with the author, an author who claims that her homeschooled son is “just as smart as the heavily schooled” (Vaughan 1). Her own claim however seems to assist in her foot meeting her mouth for the simple fact that if a ex-educator can teach a child just as well as the current educators why would someone take on the task themselves? Vaughan herself points out that, “The millennia-old concept of self-sufficient parents who educated their children at home has given way to a system in which parents believe that we are not smart enough to teach our children the alphabet and basic math.” Homeschooling may not be a foreign idea, but it is not a task to be taken lightly the education of children is more than just the alphabet and basic math. Besides, the times have changed, being a self-sufficient parent means that the parent usually works away from home at a full-time job that they cannot afford to take off from. And as Vaughan claims, the children after the 1980’s are the ones who are subjected to the brainwashing that leaves them horribly un-self-sufficient, meaning that the parents of tomorrow aren’t going to be
What’s Your Excuse? is an extensive article written by a homeschooling mother in 2005 that is meant to showcase her beliefs regarding the poisonous effects the U.S. Government is having on the nation’s youth as a result of the rigid education system. Tricia Vaughan Smith believes wholeheartedly that the education system that has been implemented is designed to destroy upcoming generation’s ability to think for themselves, ergo the entire article is written from a pro-homeschooling point of view that helps the non-homeschooling portion of the populace see the other side of the issue. Undoubtedly, Vaughan brings to light some excellent points such as the capabilities of the parents, the warped concept of freedom that is enforced by the schooling system and the unfairness that is enforced within school limitations, but she fails to articulate how exactly this all culminates to the end result of the government attempting to hinder the progress of the general …show more content…
As a consequence of calling out a portion of her audience she forced that specific portion of them to read the paper with a hovering feeling of judgement and a lack of connection with the author, an author who claims that her homeschooled son is “just as smart as the heavily schooled” (Vaughan 1). Her own claim however seems to assist in her foot meeting her mouth for the simple fact that if a ex-educator can teach a child just as well as the current educators why would someone take on the task themselves? Vaughan herself points out that, “The millennia-old concept of self-sufficient parents who educated their children at home has given way to a system in which parents believe that we are not smart enough to teach our children the alphabet and basic math.” Homeschooling may not be a foreign idea, but it is not a task to be taken lightly the education of children is more than just the alphabet and basic math. Besides, the times have changed, being a self-sufficient parent means that the parent usually works away from home at a full-time job that they cannot afford to take off from. And as Vaughan claims, the children after the 1980’s are the ones who are subjected to the brainwashing that leaves them horribly un-self-sufficient, meaning that the parents of tomorrow aren’t going to be