A registered sex offender may have to consider homeschooling, and he's not happy about it. The offender in question is a 19-year-old high schooler who has been attending a public school in Gallatin County, Montana. However, the newly expelled student is not really considered a student under Montana law, but he has been a model non-student student.
"(Albert) Brown had been attending Belgrade High for three years and was close to graduating. He had been earning good grades and had no disciplinary problems. His goal was to finish high school, rather than earn a GED, and get a mechanics degree," according to one newspaper account.
Poor L. Caitlin Upton. Miss Space Cadet has become a pretty poster child for the wackiness that passes for American schooling. Her answer was a verbal stew. Hey, if she'd thrown in the phrase "world peace," she mighta won the pageant.
Apparently, Caitlin's attendance at a "blue ribbon" g-school, or her 3.5 GPA, or the glowing bio description (scroll to the end), or her professional modeling career didn't properly prepare her for the national spotlight.
She's going to re-answer, today. Whatever.
Let's leave the geography queries to the 14-year-old pros, shall we?
Redemption Update: Here she is ... Miss U.S. America.
Update: Daniel, who blogs at Key Words, debunks myths about the now famous question posed to Mademoiselle Upton.
James Bovard, author of Attention Deficit Democracy, and Lost Rights, challenges the brainwashed to stop feeling like they "owe" the government a debt and, therefore, should be "grateful" for everything from public-sector mail services to road construction.
He also has a few choice words about edukashun: "Public high schools graduate an estimated 700,000 functionally illiterate teenagers each year. Regardless of how badly school officials fail to serve students, parents are left no recourse but to file complaints with the same unresponsive bureaucracy."
Fortunately, he closes that section on a note of hope, not despair: "The rapid spread of the home-schooling movement (whose students consistently outscore public-school students on standardized tests) vivifies how parents can do better on their own."
Writing for the Edmond Sun, Brandon discusses how Oklahoma's public schools fared (very poorly) on the "Nation's Report Card."
He also got personal explaining how his two daughters, Mary Margaret and Lily, performed (superbly) on the Sooner State's academic tests.
The ed. detective at work: "The state Department of Education has some practice tests online, so I printed off the eighth-grade reading test for 2006 and took it home. My homeschooled sixth-grade daughter got 100 percent of the questions correct. My other daughter only managed an 87, God love her, but then again she's only in third grade.
So by Oklahoma's standards, both of these girls are 'satisfactory' eighth-grade readers, and with plenty of room to spare: a mere 62 percent is all you need to be considered 'satisfactory.'
And get this: The bar is set even lower in math, where you can get more questions wrong than you get right and still be considered 'satisfactory.' That's right, 49 percent correct is all you need."
Given the headline, I thought this column was about a court trial (depressing read time). But, instead it's a positive piece from a Wisconsin mom who used to view homeschoolers as "xenophoboic." (Xenophobic? No. Individualists. Si.) The columnist's smart but stressed-out pre-teen wanted a break from the "middle school girl culture." (Culture? No. Parochialism. Si.)
Mom and dad were willing to give the daughter a shot at being a self-directed learner; the principal of the public school was a help, not a hinderance; and now Margaret Krome is a believer in Parent Power.
She writes: "The amazing network of home school support groups, study groups, curriculum offerings, special classes and advocates reflects something better than just heads-in-the-sand. It reflects a deep parental commitment to enhance children's learning environments and make an investment in them personally."
That's likely a compliment to the industrious home educators of "Scon Sin."
Perhaps this family will resume the grand experiment in the near future.
An Intellectual's Fantasy: More Socialist Schooling
Given the title, I thought this Weekly Standard education article would offer a sensible 'end it, don't mend it' argument, and go on to discuss private-sector endeavors that are doing a spit spot job. Nah. It's more like Fantasy Education Reform without the sports franchise angle.
Prof. David Gelernter explains: "In the system I am picturing, education would continue to be free and accessible to every child, and all taxpayers would continue to pay for it. Parents would be guaranteed access to 'reasonable' schools that cost them nothing beyond what they pay in taxes. It would all be just like today -- except that public schools would have vanished."
The professor also suggests that "the age of the American public school is over." Nah. As long as g-schools continue to provide nifty goodies, like athletic programs and employment, they are so not over. As long as the schools remain a de facto babysitting service for everybody from undocumented workers to exurban moms, their future is assured.
James Bovard, author of 