As remote learning creates more distance between school districts and students, school and state officials are clinging to control however they can. From sending Child Protective Services (CPS) agents to investigate charges of neglect in homes where children missed Zoom classes last spring, to proposing “child wellbeing checks” in homes this fall, government schools and related agencies are panicking over parents having increased influence over their children’s care and education during the pandemic.
Tag: children
“Prussian” Indoctrination – The Other Side
In doing a little searching for “The Prussian model” of schooling, I ran across an essay that claims to expose “The Invented History of ‘The Factory Model of Education’”. It’s important to get the other side, so I read it and I’ll give you my thoughts here.
Professional Value, Insufferable Bitch, Responsibility, & Child Leashes (27m) – Episode 351
Episode 351 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following entries to r/unpopularopinion: yathatisveryadequate writes, “Animators should be payed WAY more than actors” and jdkdkdms writes, “Scientist should be paid more than Atheletes”; Agent_Ayru writes, “‘I’m not a morning person’ isn’t an excuse to be an insufferable bitch”; DarkMausey writes, “We are creating a society where no one is responsible for anything, and that’s a problem”; and Tweezot writes, “Keeping small children on leashes in public is extremely practical and shouldn’t be considered ‘weird’.”
Let’s Adapt to Something Positive
Humans are adaptable. More so than any creature other than, possibly, cockroaches. It’s our greatest strength. We have adapted to living almost everywhere on the planet and, soon, with the right technology — an adaptation we’ve created — off-planet, too. We’ve adapted to a different diet than our ancestors ate. In some cases, we probably…
John Holt: On Seeing Children as “Cute” (17m)
This episode features an audio essay written by education reformer John Holt in 1974, which comprises Chapter 27 of Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting, edited by Skyler J. Collins and published in 2012.
MOVE Bombing: The Story of How Philadelphia Became “The City That Bombed Itself”
The case of MOVE is an unusual one, because they cannot simply be shoe-horned into the usual “they were just minding their own business and then the cops came in with overwhelming force” narrative that more or less applies at Ruby Ridge or at Waco. This is not to imply that the actions taken by the Philadelphia Police Department were appropriate – there were children inside the MOVE townhouse. However, it is important to note that MOVE had a history of violence.
Parents and Teachers Starting “Learning Pods” Are Done Waiting for Permission
The widespread “pandemic pods” that are emerging as back-to-school alternatives this fall are models of parental ingenuity, educator adaptability, and entrepreneurial agility.
Educational Neglect, Fatherhood Relevance, & Disliking Our Grown Kids (34m) – Episode 343
Episode 343 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following questions from Quora: “Is unschooling educational neglect?”; “Do you think that fatherhood is relevant or irrelevant in general?”; and “Is it normal to get to the point where you can’t stand your own grown children?”
Get Ready to Homeschool This Fall
You can do it. Here’s a handy guide for getting started.
Lenore Skenazy: Overparenting and Bad Public Policy (48m)
This episode features an interview free range kids activist, author, and syndicated columnist Lenore Skenazy from 2019 by Trevor Burrus and Aaron Powell, hosts of the Free Thoughts podcast. Should children ride the NYC subway by themselves? When did children stop having unsupervised and unstructured time? What did ‘strange danger’ do to change the way we parent? What are the consequences of over‐parenting?