[email protected]

Does anyone know on which list someone talked about a discussion with French
moms who said they wouldn't homeschool because it would set kids apart, make
some better, some such?

(I'm hoping it was here.)

Sandra

Fetteroll

on 1/17/03 12:15 AM, SandraDodd@... at SandraDodd@... wrote:

> Does anyone know on which list someone talked about a discussion with French
> moms who said they wouldn't homeschool because it would set kids apart, make
> some better, some such?
>
> (I'm hoping it was here.)

It was Julie Bogart on Unschooling-dotcom. in the "School is meant to be
boring thread." (For those who didn't see it, the beginning of the thread
was a piece of an article quoting the French Minister of education giving
his reasons for why schools are boring.)

> --- In [email protected], Shyrley
> <shyrley.williams@v...> wrote:
>
>>
>> Tedium has always been part of school and boredom in the classroom is said to
>> be rampant everywhere in the video age. France has made efforts in recent
>> years to involve pupils in more creative activities.
>>
>> There's more but I can't find the link.
>>
>> Shyrley
>
> Shyrley, this is interesting timing. I have friends in town who are
> French. I've lived in France and speak French. I went to college in
> France for a year.
>
> One of the French moms invited a number of homeschoolers
> over to meet other French mothers. They didn't know anything
> about homeschooling and asked us all kinds of questions. The
> most startling response to all our sharing was when one mother
> said,
>
> "Even if the education is inferior and even if the children don't
> enjoy it, I would not want to pull my children out of the state
> funded programs to make them better than other people. We
> should all have the same education and not make some
> superior to others."
>
> Well tie my shoelaces!
>
> Right there I saw the cultural absorption of the ideals of
> socialism. all the motehrs basically agreed with this position, yet
> they couldn't let go of their fascination with our way of doing
> things. It was enlightening.
>
> One thing they also said was that their kids loved going to school
> in the states! They loved the way the students could get up and
> move around a classroom, the encouragement of group projects
> and the absence of ridicule as a method of motivation (very
> prevalent in France). They also preferred the way teachers used
> multi media to the typical workbook program all day.
>
> That was interesting. France made these poor kids keep up with
> their French grade levels in addition to their schooling here so
> these kids were literally doing two times the work of our kids in
> school here. I felt so badly for them. :(
>
> University in France was a kick! Classes began in Sept. but the
> students didn't show up until mid Oct and sometimes not until
> the New Year. Classes lasted all year. I actually enjoyed my
> classes there very much, even though they weren't that rigorous.
> I was used to UCLA which is a pretty academic school.
>
> There is a painful apathy in French children and they are
> notoriously mischevious. It's something that we've noticed over
> the years (we lived in Morocco too and knew French families
> there...). But the mothers are actually quite wonderful in many
> ways too. They don't believe in corporal punishment, are very
> affectionate and they lead rich artisitc lives compared to what I'm
> used to here.
>
> Strange mix.
>
> All that to say that I'm not at all surprised that the government
> would say school isn't meant to be fun. :)
>
> Julie B

Joyce

Shyrley

SandraDodd@... wrote:

> Does anyone know on which list someone talked about a discussion with French
> moms who said they wouldn't homeschool because it would set kids apart, make
> some better, some such?
>
> (I'm hoping it was here.)
>
> Sandra
>

It was from an article in a Brit newspaper I think.

Shyrley