Draft #2 for position paper

Why homeschooling should not be placed on a higher standard than public school

I went into some deep thought about how homeschooling is thought of by the world as well as in America in various states. The state governments in the extreme corners of the states do not seem to be very allowing of any regular homeschool regiment. Speaking from a perspective of living in the four corners of the United States at some point in my homeschooling life, I can say that homeschooling is a very efficient process when properly used and enjoyed, but can be diluted by the system surrounding it which is regulated by the state government's school board which has mostly public school oriented administrators. Homeschoolers should not be placed on a higher standard than public school students because the systems are designed together and both have valid curriculums.

Georgia state legislation requires that every homeschool student have at least a single four and a half hour unbroken session of learning each day, and requires a detailed report on how much the student only seemed to learn. Though this as a concept isn't bad, the sheer fact that it needs to be an unbroken session (meaning no breaks and constant "Learning") just restricts the freedoms of a homeschooler to make them work more to get a proper education on their schedule. Florida has less of a time frame but still requires that the session be unbroken and uninterrupted even with family emergencies.

Texas is one of the few states that actually understands homeschooling and frees it up to where someone just needs to say they are homeschooling their child to qualify and be able to graduate. Granted, this may just add to the false stereotype of "Dumb Texans"; however, there are plenty of intelligent people who have come out of those systems because they were able to achieve more by recalling detail of what they learned versus what a manuscript from a public high school had told them in interviews. Several Commanders and Captains in the Navy in modern day America came out of homeschooling programs, including Commander Hennings, Commander Andrew Wiest, and Captain Douglas Perry.

Though there are instances where homeschoolers and parents of those homeschoolers end up abusing the system to "Make up" a diploma so that they're not forced into spending more money or having to send in the actual reports and various paperwork involved to make sure education is being given to the child. Though, this mindset still creates a problem of homeschoolers having to do more to get their diploma and to apply to colleges and various other organizations, such as the military. Personally, I’ve had trouble moving about the states and getting the letter of intent to homeschool into the school boards as they do not agree with homeschooling proper.

The Military applies more harsh standards to homeschoolers by making them jump through more hoops to try to enlist or even get on commission to be an officer. They have to make better test scores in both PT and the ASVAB to enlist in any portion of the military, while public schoolers have to make much less score points to pass and enlist.

Draft for Position Paper

Why homeschooling should not be placed on a higher standard than public school


I went into some deep thought about how homeschooling is thought of by the world as well as in America in various states. The state governments in the extreme corners of the states do not seem to be very allowing of any regular homeschool regiment. Speaking from a perspective of living in the four corners of the United States at some point in my homeschooling life, I can say that homeschooling is a very efficient process when properly used and enjoyed, but can be diluted by the system surrounding it which is regulated by the state government's school board which has mostly public school oriented administrators. Homeschoolers should not be placed on a higher standard than public school students because the systems are designed together and both have valid curriculums.


Georgia state legislatin requires that every homeschool student have at least a single four and a half hour unbroken session of learning each day, and requires a detailed report on how much the student only seemed to learn. Though this as a concept isn't bad, the sheer fact that it needs to be an unbroken session (meaning no breaks and constant "Learning") just restricts the freedoms of a homeschooler to make them work more to get a proper education on their schedule. Florida has less of a time frame but still requires that the session be unbroken and uninterrupted even with family emergencies.


Texas is one of the few states that actually understands homeschooling and frees it up to where someone just needs to say they are homeschooling their child to qualify and be able to graduate. Granted, this may just add to the stereotype of "Dumb texans", there are plenty of intelligent people who have come out of those systems because they were able to achieve more in recalling detail of what they learned versus what a manuscript from a public high school had told them. Several Commanders and Captains in the Navy in modern day America came out of homeschooling programs, including Commander Hennings, Commander Andrew Wiest, and Captain Perry.


Though there are instances where homeschoolers and parents of those homeschoolers end up abusing the system to "Make up" a diploma so that they're not forced into spending more money or having to send in the actual reports and various paperwork involved to make sure education is being given to the child.

Katherine Springs analysis

1.)What is the claim?
a.) The writer is trying to convince the reader to buy from local farms versus shipped and conglomerate groceries that come from other portions of state
b.) The Thesis is directly stated in the last sentence of the first paragraph.
2.) What support does the writer offer for the claim?
a.) The reasons are that buying locally helps save the environment by lowering transport costs, processing time and factories.
b.) The evidence is shoddy in that she stated statistics and titles without sourcing them properly, E.g; "A CNN article" without stating what the article was.
c.) The reasons are well intended, though the global warming statement is more of a red herring.

3.) How evenhandedly does the writer present the issues?
a.) The biggest notice is that she mentions Alex Avery's statement of buying produce from where it grows best, and she admits and changes her argument to "Buying as much as possible" from local farmers in your area, and also goes onto the efficiency issue of "All crops per acre" versus the standard measurement of amount of crop in a single acre.
b.) Katherine acknowledges the arguments against her statement and goes on to use them to elaborate her intentions on top of her normal statements.
 c.) She treats the arguments respectfully.
d.) She deals with each argument individually and immediately.
4.) What authorities or sources of outside information does the writer use?
a.) Each authority is used in different areas of expertise as well as interviews with specific farmers. For example, she uses a statement from Mr. lermio for comparisons.
b.) Mr. Lermio is rather biased in that he's already a smaller farmer that would benefit greatly from buying locally, so of course he'd speak for it.
c.) He is current in that he is a family friend of the Springs family.

5.) How does the writer address you as a reader?
a.) She assumes we know which produce grows where.
b.) She uses "we" a good deal when talking about helping the environment, wherein I also feel detracted because she's just trying to pull me in forcefully.
 c.) I don't think buying locally helps the environment in particular, but it does help the local economy to sustain the farmers' way of living.

Summary of "Our schools must do better"

Herbert starts out the essay with a story of how he asked a kid a question about modern day history, to which he received a response he wasn't hoping for, "I don't know." to which it got him thinking about this, and brought up the federal test results for math and reading scores for public schooling. He continues on to compare modern day public schools to being linear and remaining precisely the same since World War II, and that the system needs drastic change to match up to today's technologically oriented society.

 Going forward, Herbert uses various statements from Professor Thomas Kane about how the system is trying, but not being drastic enough to give a lasting impact. Though he admits teachers have some to blame as their qualifications have nothing to do with their true ability to teach. He wishes for the teachers to be the first and biggest reform in that they should be evaluated before being given tenure. Though he ends off with having alternative models for schooling systems that involve more interactive teaching and longer school days, he ends with the statement "They need something better than a post-World War II system in a Post-9/11 world." which would be more powerful if he didn't compare America to being the world.


__________________________________

His tone is solid, but he doesn't acknowledge the opposition very much or really counters any arguments against himself.
He establishes the importance in the very beginning by presenting a story of when he asked a child what they knew about current events.
"They need something better" to appeal to a parents' want to have the best for their child.
Herbert also deflects blame from the child's own willingness to learn by saying the teachers also need a more rigorous process and "2 or 3 years" of evaluation before granting tenure for longer term teachers.



Though I can agree with Herbert's morals, I can't quite agree with "longer school days" When the efficiency of the current school days aren't fully used with schools presenting more empty time slots inside the time allowed. His point of more training and quality in teachers as well as their evaluation is a must though, and would help our system better.

Strong opinions (Neither side I take is listed for personal reasons)

• Media and how they go about their postings
• Marriage
• Church rights
• Market objectivity
• Crime subjectivity
• Abortion
• The N word
• 
  

Tim Wise - The N word

What is his position?

Tim outright degrades and puts down the use of the N word in the spoken form, but it can be used in proper context in written areas effectively if it is not spoken. Though he still reinforces in favor of blacks using the term because "They know how to use it"

Who is Wise's audience?
 All forms of race or people, though he is directing it more towards younger people who are going to be learning these words and the context to use it.


What is his reasoning?

Tim Wise is an anti racism activist that wants to speak out to go more against white peoples' own opinions and to keep them silenced.

The bigger picture

I would like to analyze for my audience today a small statement I had wrote and done earlier in my life, "In a world as corrupt as this, the true war begins when the innocent are too afraid to fight back." I was considering a lot of my life at the time, and didn't really enjoy people as a whole. I simply went through the motions with just dolls it seemed, playing to the strings of their master society while fighting their ongoing inner battles. The statement rings true today in conversation that I know who is innocent and who isn't.

 The "War" I refer to is the constant conflicts people have with their everyday life such as: What they're going to eat, who they'll choose to talk to, what they'll say to their friends and how much they'd like to reveal. To me, I was outgoing and some would say pragmatic, though I had my own side of "crazy" which I let my friends see and have fun hanging around with. The more temperate side is what has to deal with the realism of the "War" and how some people just go without making the decisions, effectively losing the will to fight back against their opinions versus "What is right" and therefore the struggle only goes on to do more damage than the original intentions were.