Re: Time magazine
Pam Hartley
This is a letter I just sent to the Time Magazine editors...
Dear Editor(s):
I read with interest your recent article on homeschooling. While I
appreciate the breadth of research that must have gone into it, I didn't
appreciate the editorial tone of the article. Perhaps I've got it wrong - I
read the article on line, so perhaps it really WAS an editorial, but it
seemed to be crediting a host of reporters at the end, not editors.
In any case, such opinions that "it takes a galactic commitment of time and
money and patience for a parent to spend all day, every day, relearning
algebra" do your magazine no credit. Many homeschoolers do not find spending
their time with their children a hardship at all, much less a galactic one.
In addition, the disparagement of the unschooling approach is uncalled for.
At a website called Unschooling.com your reporters could have found many
intelligent and eloquent parents (and children) who unschool and would have
been pleased to tell about their actual difficulties and successes, not the
ones in your reporters' overactive imaginations.
I can see that it's a simple matter to dismiss what you do not understand -
such was the case with homeschooling until we (homeschoolers) proved that
our children would learn at home, and learn well. Now your target, and the
target of other media, seems to be unschooling. Take care what you disparage
today, especially without really looking at who unschoolers are and what
they do. You may be changing your tune in a future homeschooling article,
and wouldn't that be a bit embarrassing?
My family's reason for homeschooling is very simple, and coincidentally very
American. It is the self-same reason we own a home business. The reason is:
freedom. My family is free to choose what we will learn, what hours we will
work or study. We are free to discover for ourselves what is the most
important work of any given day. We are free to discuss multiplying by 11's
at 11:59 p.m., without worrying that someone will be late for school or
work.
Such freedom looks like madness or a fairy tale to most Americans who are in
the 9-5 work-and-school grind. I'm sorry for them, but I won't join the pack
to make them feel better about their choices. They have the same
opportunities. This is, after all, still America, and freedom still means
something.
Should you wish to do a follow-up article on unschooling, I'd be happy to
put you in touch with some sources.
Sincerely,
Pam Hartley
Tracy, California
Dear Editor(s):
I read with interest your recent article on homeschooling. While I
appreciate the breadth of research that must have gone into it, I didn't
appreciate the editorial tone of the article. Perhaps I've got it wrong - I
read the article on line, so perhaps it really WAS an editorial, but it
seemed to be crediting a host of reporters at the end, not editors.
In any case, such opinions that "it takes a galactic commitment of time and
money and patience for a parent to spend all day, every day, relearning
algebra" do your magazine no credit. Many homeschoolers do not find spending
their time with their children a hardship at all, much less a galactic one.
In addition, the disparagement of the unschooling approach is uncalled for.
At a website called Unschooling.com your reporters could have found many
intelligent and eloquent parents (and children) who unschool and would have
been pleased to tell about their actual difficulties and successes, not the
ones in your reporters' overactive imaginations.
I can see that it's a simple matter to dismiss what you do not understand -
such was the case with homeschooling until we (homeschoolers) proved that
our children would learn at home, and learn well. Now your target, and the
target of other media, seems to be unschooling. Take care what you disparage
today, especially without really looking at who unschoolers are and what
they do. You may be changing your tune in a future homeschooling article,
and wouldn't that be a bit embarrassing?
My family's reason for homeschooling is very simple, and coincidentally very
American. It is the self-same reason we own a home business. The reason is:
freedom. My family is free to choose what we will learn, what hours we will
work or study. We are free to discover for ourselves what is the most
important work of any given day. We are free to discuss multiplying by 11's
at 11:59 p.m., without worrying that someone will be late for school or
work.
Such freedom looks like madness or a fairy tale to most Americans who are in
the 9-5 work-and-school grind. I'm sorry for them, but I won't join the pack
to make them feel better about their choices. They have the same
opportunities. This is, after all, still America, and freedom still means
something.
Should you wish to do a follow-up article on unschooling, I'd be happy to
put you in touch with some sources.
Sincerely,
Pam Hartley
Tracy, California
Castle Crawford
Wow! That was better written than the article!
Very well said, thank you for writing them, and I will do the same shortly.
Esther
Very well said, thank you for writing them, and I will do the same shortly.
Esther
----- Original Message -----
From: Pam Hartley
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 9:44 AM
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Re: Time magazine
This is a letter I just sent to the Time Magazine editors...
Dear Editor(s):
I read with interest your recent article on homeschooling. While I
appreciate the breadth of research that must have gone into it, I didn't
appreciate the editorial tone of the article. Perhaps I've got it wrong - I
read the article on line, so perhaps it really WAS an editorial, but it
seemed to be crediting a host of reporters at the end, not editors.
In any case, such opinions that "it takes a galactic commitment of time and
money and patience for a parent to spend all day, every day, relearning
algebra" do your magazine no credit. Many homeschoolers do not find spending
their time with their children a hardship at all, much less a galactic one.
In addition, the disparagement of the unschooling approach is uncalled for.
At a website called Unschooling.com your reporters could have found many
intelligent and eloquent parents (and children) who unschool and would have
been pleased to tell about their actual difficulties and successes, not the
ones in your reporters' overactive imaginations.
I can see that it's a simple matter to dismiss what you do not understand -
such was the case with homeschooling until we (homeschoolers) proved that
our children would learn at home, and learn well. Now your target, and the
target of other media, seems to be unschooling. Take care what you disparage
today, especially without really looking at who unschoolers are and what
they do. You may be changing your tune in a future homeschooling article,
and wouldn't that be a bit embarrassing?
My family's reason for homeschooling is very simple, and coincidentally very
American. It is the self-same reason we own a home business. The reason is:
freedom. My family is free to choose what we will learn, what hours we will
work or study. We are free to discover for ourselves what is the most
important work of any given day. We are free to discuss multiplying by 11's
at 11:59 p.m., without worrying that someone will be late for school or
work.
Such freedom looks like madness or a fairy tale to most Americans who are in
the 9-5 work-and-school grind. I'm sorry for them, but I won't join the pack
to make them feel better about their choices. They have the same
opportunities. This is, after all, still America, and freedom still means
something.
Should you wish to do a follow-up article on unschooling, I'd be happy to
put you in touch with some sources.
Sincerely,
Pam Hartley
Tracy, California
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