Petition fun

[mothwing]

I regularly check our government's official e-petition page. It's a political barometer as good as any to find out what are the burning issues on my compatriots' minds, and naturally these days, there are petitions on our laws concerning sexual crimes and sexual predators, petitions against financial bail-outs in the Euro-zone, but there is also this:

«Einstellung der Förderung des LHC-Experiments an der Großforschungseinrichtung CERN»

Der Deutsche Bundestag möge beschließen, die Förderung des aufwändigen und unabsehbaren physikalischen LHC-Experiments an der Großforschungseinrichtung CERN ab sofort einzustellen und die Richtlinien zur Förderung der Naturwissenschaften um klare Ziele zur Erhaltung von Landschaft, Artenvielfalt, Gesundheit und Menschenwürde zu ergänzen.

~ Udo Zawierucha.

"Stop funding the expensive and unpredictable LHC experiments at CERN and work to include clear objectives for the conservation our landscapes, biodiversity, health and human dignity into the application guidelines!" - For those of you who speak German, do click on that link and read his explanation of why we need to support his petition and find out why LHC experiments are esoteric.

There's also a petition which has 2k supporters right now, 2k too many in my eyes - a petition to decriminalise homeschooling in Germany, which I am really not a fan of. I like our compulsory school attendance and having children educated by professionals trained and paid to do so rather than their parents - unless these parents are trained to do so.

«Hausunterricht straffrei stellen»

Hausunterricht oder Homeschooling wird in allen EU Ländern und englisch sprachigen Ländern bereits schon länger mit großem Erfolg praktiziert und erweist sich immer mehr als der Bildungsweg der Zukunft. In Deutschland ist es eine noch weitgehend unbekannte und mit zahlreichen Vorurteilen behaftete Form des Lernens. Die unzureichende Vermittlung von ethischen und moralischen Grundwerten an öffentlichen Schulen, Gewalt und Mobbing, negative Sozialisation der Kinder, fehlende Lernfreude, sinkendes Bildungsniveau, die Unfähigkeit vieler Schulen Kinder individuell zu fördern und ihrem persönlichen Begabungsprofil zu bilden, haben dazu geführt, dass immer mehr Eltern sich Alternativen im bestehenden Bildungssystem wünschen. Bis dato existiert die Schulpflicht in Deutschland statt einer sinnvolleren Lernpflicht. Schule wird somit in Deutschland direktiv verordnet. Eltern, die ihre Kinder selbst unterrichten wollen, müssen mit staatlichen Strafmaßnahmen wie Bußgeldern rechnen und werden somit unnötig kriminalisiert. Es sollte mündigen Bürgern frei gestellt sein wo sie ihren Kindern Bildung zukommen lassen. Alle staatlichen Sanktionsmaßnahmen gegen Eltern, die ihre Kinder selbst unterrichten, sollten aufgehoben werden.

Matthias Wolf.

His main arguments are the lack of ethical and moral values students are taught public schools, mobbing, violence, negative socialisation, lack of motivation, falling standards, lack of support according to the student's individual aptitude and talents.

While I'm aware that especially for gifted students with gifted and didactically savvy parents this model might be ideal, especially if the child was subject to mobbing and endemic boredom, I doubt that it's a model that ought to be encouraged on a larger scale in Germany right now. It's not a model that's likely to be successful for families without a lot of cultural capital.
Also, I don't know about countries which do allow homeschooling, but I'd like to believe that enough trust in our educational system is warranted to make changes in the system and our institutions a solution even for those who are currently so unhappy with it that they'd like to take their children out of school.

Comments

[lisaquestions.livejournal.com]

What is the problem with the LHC?

[lisaquestions.livejournal.com]

So, wait, is he arguing that the LHC experiments would turn science into religion by exploring the possible origins of the universe? And that nowhere in the universe do high energy particles naturally collide with each other? And that nuclear power is an evil thing?

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Yep, exactly. Evil, doesn't occur in nature, quasi-religious, hence doesn't deserve funding. Glorious, isn't it?

The fascinating thing for me is that he found 154 people to agree with him. o.O

[daharyn.livejournal.com]

I really can't support any system that says there is one way children must be educated, one system that they must take part in. And I say this as an educator myself.

I grew up in a U.S. state which has been at the forefront of promoting educational diversity. I was educated in Waldorf, traditional public, and religious institutions, before attending university. My sister, in public institutions and via homeschool for several years. My brother, in public and experiential-learning-based charter institutions. (And our mother teaches public school, so it's not like we made those choices as a reaction "against" the school system?) My youngest stepbrother is currently doing all his secondary education online, so I guess that's technically "at home." (That's certainly where it happens, in any case.) We all turned out just fine. Not everyone who homeschools does it forever, or exclusively. Not everyone does it for religious reasons. Sometimes it is just what's best for the student at that particular point in time.

Forcing kids into a universal system, when it may not genuinely be the best fit for them? It doesn't just stifle learning--I think it stifles pedagogical growth. Teachers are only effective if they are always assessing themselves and their programs--and I think that having a plurality of approaches in a given society promotes improvement all 'round.

I did my elementary schooling in a public institution which had been given permission to try nontraditional methodologies, and I still maintain that it is because of this that I am who I am. And when the public high school was no longer working for me, we did seriously discuss whether or not I should finish my education at home. In the end, the answer was a religious institution which allowed me a half-academics, half-arts curriculum. (And I went on to the Ivy League, ya know?)

And homeschooling's not all-or-nothing even when you're doing it: here in NYC there is a public school that will give your child group instruction on certain topics, or for a half-day, if you'd like to do a combination approach.

Every single homeschooler I personally know cares deeply about public education. I know that's not universally true, but this isn't an either/or--opting out of public education oneself does not mean dismissing the concept outright. I firmly believe in the value of public education--being, you know, an educator at a public university. And if I ever have kids, I'll be unschooling them, unless they themselves desire otherwise.

It's just... so much more complicated than either Matthias Wolf or you yourself indicate.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's an uncomplicated issue, but I don't think not allowing home-schooling necessarily implies one-wayism, that is why there is such a broad range of schools and methods. But as I said, even though I don't doubt that gifted, privileged students like you can benefit from being homeschooled does not mean that I'd necessarily like to see legalised in Germany right now, especially given our homeschooling lobby.