I Guess I’m Famous
I got linked to by Greg Laden, oh joy!
My post on the crazy teacher branding students has been picked up by him as yet another anti-home schooling rant. Apparently when I said
I know this really is not a home school verses public school issue. I just like reminding the people who leave comments that get deleted immediately that being crazy is a human trait, not just a home schooling one.
He some how translated it to mean
“Home schooling is not bad because public schools are bad. So there.”
I’m not sure exactly how he came to his understanding of what I said. I’m guessing anything at all that is not an attack on home schooling probably translates this way to him. Adding in that “So there” was a nice touch too, most likely a good indicator of his maturity level.
I do enjoy that he makes the assumption that this is actually a pro-public school case. Why? Because the teacher was fired, so obviously that means abuse cases are caught immediately in the schools and would not have been caught at home. Oh, except for this part of the story.
Eighth-graders who were taught by John Freshwater frequently had to be re-taught in high school what they were supposed to have learned in Freshwater’s class, according to outside investigators hired by the district.
For 11 years, other teachers in the school district and people in the community complained about Freshwater preaching his Christian beliefs in class and slamming scientific theories, a school administrator told investigators.
Well 11 years isn’t that bad I guess. I mean they eventually got him fired right. And surely 11 years is a lot sooner than if it had been at home which might have taken a whole 12 years. 13 if we count kindergarten. OK, I’ll give you 18 years if the parents started branding their kids at birth. And never mind the fact that if this were parents it would have only been their kids, yet in this case it was 20-30 students per class period he taught for each of those 11 years. But eventually he was caught and fired and that’s all that matters.
Of course Laden’s opinions aren’t really worth the pixels they take up. His anti-home school rants have become famous in some circles as being pointless and trite. He has perfected the image of the lunatic fringe home schooling to abuse their kids and teaching them that 1+2=5. It’s a stereotype that he holds dearly in his mind and no amount of logic, common sense, or research will change that. As Doc has already pointed out, Greg talks about home schooling whenever his blogs starts to feel lonely.
I still stand by my original conclusion. That there are crazy people every where in the world. Especially if you are actively looking for them.
home schooling, Greg Laden, education
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:49 am
Oh, you got Ladenberried. I’m so sorry. Snicker.
June 23rd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I went over and took him to task on his logic. Honestly, he seems to come a little unhinged when the topic is homeschooling.
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Oh, Dawn. Don’t bother. There is no logic. It’s just pure, unadulterated bias. The man wouldn’t know a rational discussion if it hit him square between the eyes.
What’s so amusing is that he seems to think he’s the paragon of logic and humor…but he keeps getting busted on both counts (you should have seen the squall after he posted a feminist joke), and his response is always that everyone else doesn’t “get it”. So he’s not just this way about homeschooling.
Summer, sorry it happened to you.
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Cherish - I know. But he has readers. I’ve got no hope for him but he does give homeschoolers a nice arena to point out his idiocy and I’m quite willing to take advantage of that.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
He doesn’t have readers, he has sock puppets.
This is an example of Greg Laden Logic:
If he writes a critical article about homeschooling, and certain homeschoolers respond, then those homeschoolers are going nuts.
If he writes a critical article about homeschooling, and certain homeschoolers DON’T respond, then those homeschoolers are going nuts, because they want to respond, but can’t.
It never occurs to Greg that certain homeschoolers just don’t care what he writes.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Using his posts as a jumping off point is a good idea. You’re far more realistic than I was.
I guess if you go in knowing it’s hopeless to have a real discussion, you won’t be disappointed.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:12 am
The point of your post, Summer, was perfectly clear. Anyone misinterpreting your post did so on purpose, and probably with malice aforethought.
What’s an even more illogical aspect of the Ladenblather and Lessenberry-ish arguments that home educators teach their kids academic heresy is the fact that since 1997, hasn’t California been teaching kids that 2+2=5, especially if it gives you warm fuzzies? Which might be why it’s called Fuzzy Math. Heck, they even changed the definition of Algebra.
You wanna’ find educational abuse, visit a public school in California. How’s that for irony.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Apparently some progress has been made. He admitted that he uses no data come up with his ill-informed and poorly phrased vitriolic nonsense.