From: Len Flatley (lenny@velocity.net)
Date: Thu Aug 21 1997 - 13:58:02 MDT
On Sat, 16 Aug 1997, Darren Reynolds wrote:
> I thought about that, but reckon that the social interaction with other
> children is very important. I so far haven't figured out a way to replace
> what would be lost.
ooh... to me that is a bit like saying "spare the rod, spoil the
child" or that hardship breeds character or other such nonsense.
in an extrme way i'm sure that living through the holocaust, for
instance, helped produce the fine person that many of the
survivors had become ... however, there are certainly more
pleasent ways to do this sort of thing.
in my own personal experience, lots of friends of mine have either
been home schooled in some way or had non-traditional educations.
a good example is one of my best friends that for various reasons
ceased going to school in the 9th grade. his parents allowed him
to follow his interests (and they had the ability, financially,
to do so). he now has a successful music career, does freelance
graphic design, and is a well adjusted 19 year old. and he has
no problems interacting with other human beings. this is because
he was able to pursue his interests at his own speed and interact
with adults as a human.
on the other hand, i was forced to interact with adults as a
2nd class human being (student)... the only things I could pick
up in public school were fighting, homophobia, xenophobia, being
a yes man and the other survival skills neccessary to a bipedal
hominid in the USA. (i'm proud to say i've pretty well gotten
over all of that.)
i guess an "extropian viewpoint" on child rearing would be:
children are influenced, molded by their surroundings. why
would you subject your children to any system (public school,
catholic school, hebrew school, the rotary club, the marine
corps) that is anathema to Extropy?
lenny
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