[QUOTE=ewmayer;363062]Cue discussion of whether children benefit from having role models of both sexes...[/QUOTE]

At the same time, let us discuss the practice of "home schooling".

In my experience, it is only the extremely religious who school from home (or those who live very far from schools).

Those who are a little more liberal will allow their children to experience the world. Within which many excellent "role models" are available for observation. Men and women, of various orientations, are doing amazing things.

IMO, the greatest thing we can teach our children is to think for themselves....

This short article provides a general review of the position of gay rights around the world at the end of a year which has seen several crushing setbacks or otherwise enactment of anti-gay legislation which had been threatened for some time (Russia, India, Uganda, Australia) after a decade of general world progress. The author puts a positive gloss on it, however, concluding that the "tipping point was passed some time ago, and the clock will not be turned back".

[URL]http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4293561-gay-rights-suffer-major-defeats/[/URL]

[url]http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/01/louie-gohmert-isnt-expert-human-plumbing-he-seems-think/357054/[/url]

(the raw footage--with about five other minutes of stupidity to sit through)

[url]http://crooksandliars.com/2014/01/gohmert-judges-need-basic-plumbing-lessons[/url]

(Gohmert's comments at around 3 minute mark)

[QUOTE=Brian-E;363485]This short article provides a general review of the position of gay rights around the world at the end of a year which has seen several crushing setbacks or otherwise enactment of anti-gay legislation which had been threatened for some time (Russia, India, Uganda, Australia) after a decade of general world progress. The author puts a positive gloss on it, however, concluding that the "tipping point was passed some time ago, and the clock will not be turned back".

[URL]http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4293561-gay-rights-suffer-major-defeats/[/URL][/QUOTE]

I take Gwynne Dyer's opinions fairly seriously. I hope he's right.

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/russian-president-putin-links-gays-pedophiles-122800122--spt.html[/url]

"And for evidence I will make statements proving I don't understand how the legal system works in the US and then I will homoerotically take off my shirt."

(I admit my Russian is very rusty so I may have messed up some of the words, but I think I got the gist of it.)

But seriously, his arguments conflate homosexuality with pedophilia-- a not uncommon thing as other threads on this very forum prove, and also assume that if you outlaw the gay sex then gays will suddenly start having the childrens.

As an American it makes me proud sometimes that other countries leaders are just as stupid as ours. Schadenfreude!

[QUOTE=chappy;364886][url]Schadenfreude![/QUOTE]Gesundheit!

Oh good grief, he's just played the "some of my best friends are gay" card now.
[URL]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25799499[/URL]

PS Chappy, thanks for the link and hope your cold is better soon.:smile:

The strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde.
[YOUTUBE]Jx3m5nFpRcQ[/YOUTUBE]

:huh: Huh? :ermm:

That is quite strange. Can it be said with some certainty that it is Putin, and not a "stunt double"?

[QUOTE=chalsall;363065]At the same time, let us discuss the practice of "home schooling".

In my experience, it is only the extremely religious who school from home (or those who live very far from schools).

Those who are a little more liberal will allow their children to experience the world. Within which many excellent "role models" are available for observation. Men and women, of various orientations, are doing amazing things.

IMO, the greatest thing we can teach our children is to think for themselves....[/QUOTE]

"Only the extremely religious"? That's a ridiculous statement, unless your experience is extremely limited, perhaps. I know many, many people who home-school who are not extremely religious; in many cases, it is simply the quality of the schools, both educationally and socially. In many other cases, it may be medical- a public school is not always able to accommodate different needs truly effectively, whether those needs arise from a student who learns significantly slower than his or her peers, or significantly faster, or just differently. I (we) happen to live in a state that devotes less money to schools per student than 48 other states in the US, and the US itself isn't exactly leading the world in educational prowess as it is. So, classes are overcrowded, supplies and equipment are limited, teachers are poorly paid (thus not always attracting talented people to the profession). Schools here are sometimes not great. In many cases, not even good. It wasn't hard to predict that our kids would get a better education with a 1:1 or 1:2 teacher-student ratio than in an underfunded, understaffed 1:30 setting.

You sound like you think home-schooling means that the student is locked all day in the kitchen with a parent and a bible - wrong. Most home-schoolers I've run in to are like us: they are part of a local group that works together, organizing field trips, sharing curriculum and equipment, etc., etc. There are home-school conventions, seminars, and conferences where you can examine and buy curriculum for different classes, and of course there are on-line classes of all types and levels. And yes, many of the local groups even organize proms and graduation ceremonies. From what I've seen so far (about 16 years experience), most home-schoolers come out of it better educated and better socialized than most public schoolers, and several college admissions offices have told us the same thing; many US colleges not only accept home-schoolers, but some even look more favourably on them. Purely anecdotal, but my oldest son, home-schooled through 12th grade, got Congressional nominations to both West Point and the Air Force Academy. That doesn't happen if you're poorly educated and poorly socialized. (No, I don't have any links or connections that greased the way for him.)

I'm not clear why you would think that sitting in a classroom with 30 other kids exposes them to more of the "excellent role models" than home schooling. Indeed, my kids went on many, many more "field trips" outside of school as part of their education than someone in a public school would, thereby interacting with more different adult role models (such as museum staff, or naturalists, or zoo keepers, or scientists, or dairy farmers, etc.). Field trips (exposure to adult role models other than the teacher) for public schools are limited, and on the decline, because of cost and liability issues. And there is no evolutionary reason I know of for schooling the young in groups (classes) of 20 to 30- There's nothing natural about that. It is primarily economic.

There are certainly some people who home-school solely for religious reasons, and there are also some who miss-use home-schooling; they decide to home-school because their child has behavioral problems. Different states, and different countries, have wildly different regulations about home-schooling, which just adds to the variety of the home-schooling discussion.

And public schools have the same variety- some good, some bad. Some good teachers, some bad. Some overly religious, some not. Blanket statements like yours about home-schooling, though, are simply uninformed and not useful.

Norm

[QUOTE=Spherical Cow;365025]And public schools have the same variety- some good, some bad. Some good teachers, some bad. Some overly religious, some not. Blanket statements like yours about home-schooling, though, are simply uninformed and not useful.

Norm[/QUOTE]

And yet it took you appropriately two weeks to respond to my statement....