Do you suppose the objections to homeschooling really lie elsewhere?
Posted on 05/25/2015 7:50:57 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
MADISON — Critics are blasting Wisconsin legislators after the state's budget committee passed a surprise motion last week that would allow private, home-schooled and online charter students to participate in public school district athletics and activities.
The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee passed a motion early Wednesday morning that included the plan.
The plan wasn't addressed in the meeting.
"For that to be done in a sneaky, behind the scenes fashion and passed at 1:30 in the morning without any discussion ... that's a problem," said Larry Kaseman, executive director of the Wisconsin Parents Association.
While nonpublic school students in some cities are currently involved in activities or co-op sports teams, the provision would extend the opportunity to students across the state to be involved in their resident district's public school activities and athletics.
(Excerpt) Read more at duluthnewstribune.com ...
True. Hockey has always been such an expensive sport that in my area most public schools don’t have a hockey team.
This is not my experience. Around me the clubs pick off the prime students and that works until high school, when the schools pick them back. Our park district runs the teams that average and below average players can join.
But sports is just the beginning, there is theater, arts and bands as well. The reality is that kids that join at least one of these groups do better in high school than those who don’t. And colleges prefer students who excel in at least one activity outside of academics.
If your high schooler is not in one of these groups and does not have a job then the likelihood of drug use shoots up.
The focus that is put on high school sports is a pathetic symptom of our misplaced priorities.
okay...if you say so...
And that is where the problem lies. Here's a quote from the article.
"Kaseman, head of the home-schooling advocacy group, said Rep. Bob Kulp (R-Stratford) reached out to the association in February to gauge its support for the measure.
Kaseman sent a reply letter to Kulp in February that said the association opposed the measure because it could lead to increased government regulation of home-schooled students."
See the problem? If the legislation does not address this issue, I think it should be killed.
If your high schooler is not in one of these groups and does not have a job then the likelihood of drug use shoots up.
yes, but extracurricular activities are prime examples of our misplaced priorities...
Wade Labecki is full of crap. He has no bases for his statements. I assume Wade is the union representative for his area.
If kids see home schooled kids in sports than maybe they can get their mothers to teach them as well. Home schooled kids test better and learn more. Keeping kids in school does not mean keeping them away from home school.
The fact that the children of tax payers have been cut out of sports is the problem.
The fact that moronic school administrators have made these and other selfish decisions is the problem.
The fact that public schools have turned into centers of brainwashing and diversity education is the problem.
: )
True.
If parents of homeschoolers and charter schoolers were exempt from paying ‘school taxes’, then these people might have a reason to complain.
They are allowed to join public school teams in Minnesota. It’s so rare for that to happen, though, that it’s not a huge issue. My homeschool boys are three sport athletes. There is one other homeschool boy out for two sports. They are three of four homeschool kids in the past ten or more years who have participated in our school district’s sports programs.
As a homeschool family it’s a huge pain to have to be somewhere on time every single day;-). It’s just not worth it to most of us.
The problem isn’t that there are vast numbers of kids cherry picking what they want from the district while not enrolling to get funding for the school. The problem is that it drives those who worship at the alter of public education absolutely insane. In my experience this includes self proclaimed conservatives who think homeschooling should be illegal. The heart of small towns is the school and anyone who rejects it offends those who give their lives volunteering for the booster club, post prom committee, etc.
It’s a strange thing to behold.
Do you suppose the objections to homeschooling really lie elsewhere?
"My 400-pound adolescent child has a right to compete as a high school gymnast, because I'm a taxpayer." WTF?
No children of taxpayers have been "cut out of sports" at all. These are children of parents who have voluntarily decided not to enroll their children in public schools. For a parent to now come back and insist that they don't want their children in public schools except under their own conditions doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I have far more respect for parents who tell the school district to 'eff off entirely.
I don't believe interscholastic sports as we have come to accept them have a place in a school system ... but having said that, I have no problem with a high school sports governing body insisting that students must be enrolled in the schools where they play on sports teams.
That may be the case, but if they are paying for coaches and gyms, or tubas and stages, then they should accept all school kids. Not just the ones who are trapped in the public schools. Whether or not the education budget should pay for these things is besides the point. The point is that if it does they can’t deny it to those who choose a better education than the public one.
In our town we have private teachers and coaches, clubs and park district as well as schools. The reality is that the clubs do the best job up til high school. Then our high school does a very good job along with private coaching. The park district is non competitive as are the schools between 1st and 8th grade.
I remember a music teacher in our grade school who had over 20 drums. The students were not allowed to touch them. And she did not know how to read music other than the most rudimentary doe-a-dear kind of thing. She baby sat each class one hour a day per week. A total waste of time. My kids were first chair violists and they were constantly getting Bs or Cs in her class. Even a fourth grader hates his time being wasted.
I don’t believe interscholastic sports as we have come to accept them have a place in a school system ...
is there some other place where ‘interscholastic’ sports would be appropriate outside of the ‘scholastic’ system...?
No taxpayer money should be used to support these teams. Parents whose kids participate in them should pay 100% of the cost of running the programs on their own.
I don't think that type of arrangement would last very long, because it wouldn't take long for people to figure out that there's no need to have any affiliation with a school under that scenario. Hence, the move away from school sports and into privately-run sports teams outside of any school oversight.
If the use of taxpayer money is the determining factor here, then why even limit school sports to students at all? If I have no kids in the school system and my taxes are being used to support those sports teams, then shouldn't I have the right to play on a high school team?
That may be the case, but if they are paying for coaches and gyms, or tubas and stages, then they should accept all school kids
I guess I should have included the sarcasm tag for my post to you...
I don’t think that type of arrangement would last very long, because it wouldn’t take long for people to figure out that there’s no need to have any affiliation with a school under that scenario.
except that the scenario you describe is entirely non-interscholastic...my question to you turned on your opinion that ‘interscholastic’ sports had no place in the ‘scholastic’ system, a seeming oxymoron...
Well I think there is an age limit. But you are right to a point. Our high school has an adult education at night and on weekends. And allows everyone to use the track, gym and stages.
When these facilities are sold to the community, they are often sold as multi-use. Then as time goes by, one group takes over and dominates the usage.
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