No. The average public school is what’s catastrophic.
Between the graduation rates and illiteracy rates, almost any child would be better off at home. At the very least, they aren’t subject to the brainwashing and propaganda that schools are rife with.
I’d say that graduation and literacy has at least as much to do with parents as it does with schools.
I’d also suggest that there’s a good bit of brainwashing and propaganda that goes on in the average home. Maybe a bit more in the more liberally oriented ones, I’d say unscientifically.
You want to homeschool, have at it. I’m happy with the public schools available to us. Myself, I’m the product of a private elementary/middle school. Shoddy math curriculum, and more than a little propaganda.
Best teachers I had, hands down, were the ones at the public high school, and that includes my Service Academy instructors in the mix.
Don’t get me wrong, I had several math and engineering instructors at the Academy that were first rate. Education at a college isn’t foundational, however, like it is in high school.
Color me lucky? I don’t know.
I can tell you this: show me a bad educational experience, and I’ll show you one in which you have not enough parental support, and WAY to much politization. I don’t care what the polarity, politization is bad.
For example, high school should teach you how to spot ALL BIAS in an article, independent of the reader’s ideology. High school should teach you how to spot the indications of analysis, and how that differs from statements of fact or evidence.
Ideology should come from your parents, your church, etc. Academic skills should come from your school. Most parents don’t have the background in skill necessary to produce a functional contributor to a capitalist republic.