Betsy

**My school experience had the effect of alienating me from my parents. They
seemed to see themselves merely as the launchpad for me to be influenced
deeply by others. We ended up mostly estranged. But, in comparison to that,
Luz and I are incredibly close to our son -- he still wants us to be the
first to know his secrets. To me, that's a triumph and a treasure.**

Hi, Ned --

I like the picture you paint of family closeness. That's a major goal
in my life as well.

Estrangement and distance in the family may not even be the worst
effects of schooling. Having the parent be highly involved in the
schooling process and be the enforcer that makes the child do homework
may be even worse than having the parent be uninvolved. The idea that
often a school parent may "take sides" and act in favor of the school
and against their own child is just repulsive to me.

My bias is showing, but I find the stronger and stronger emphasis on
having very young children do homework to be hideous. A good friend of
mine had her oldest in a full-day kindergarden that gave 5 homework
assignments per week. Her son even had homework assigned during Xmas
vacation! When I went to Kindergarden (nearly 40 years ago) I went to a
half day program, and we even took a daily nap. There was certainly no
homework. Seems like they think kids today are made of sterner stuff.
:::: grimace ::::

Betsy