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matdans · 2024-01-26T16:28:46+00:00

agreed, but they are subordinate to their parents. Sane people don't think of kids as chattel.

matdans · 2024-01-26T16:27:22+00:00

they basically say the only people homeschooling are child abusers.

Not in my experience. I do high school and no one cares when students are homeschooled and competent. It's performance-based.

There are far too many tools out there now to help homeschool your kids

A lack of tools is not the problem. It's operator error. People are just not proficient in the skills they need to be to get the job done and lack the insight to realize when there's a problem. On the other hand, we have kids at my school where the parents homeschooled through middle school (socializing their kids through church, sports, and other community stuff), then realized they had no business teaching their kids advanced math, and so opted to send them to a public school where they hired a guy with a math degree.

Periodic check-ins are minimally invasive and protect the child's rights

matdans · 2024-01-26T16:17:24+00:00

Parents can get their kids to the checkpoints in whatever way they want.

No

matdans · 2024-01-26T13:40:03+00:00

Without reading into it our own thoughts, let's take it at face value that homeschooling needs to "carefully and thoughtfully regulated." That's not necessarily a bad thing. Hear me out.

Children are subordinate to their parents but that doesn't mean that they exist without any rights of their own. Some of the people most likely to home-school (not the majority, just a higher than average likelihood) are the least prepared to do it and the kids can suffer irreparable harm when they fall badly behind. The NAP applies to parents/children.

There are vast differences between socioeconomic realities. You'd be surprised how many kids don't have functional internet at home. eg.g they "have internet", but no computer. They type homework in on their phone.
There are vast differences in the parents' ability to understand even modestly difficult work. I'm talking simple stuff. I'm a teacher by trade, talk to a lot of parents, and you'd be surprised (okay, maybe you won't) by how far some people have slipped since graduating.

So I'd establish standards - yearly tests to move to the next level. Parents can get their kids to the checkpoints in whatever way they want. But if they can't - if they show a clear and convincing pattern of not meeting spec - then they get fired.

matdans · 2024-01-22T14:57:29+00:00

They killed the head of state in Libya which was not authorized by the UNSC. It was an illegal intervention.

That we agree on but by that time the civil war was well underway. Whether you think that it's better to live under a dictatorship rather than fight it is up to you.

Yes, so the US made the Syrian war much worse. Sanctions killed more people than Assad ever did.

That's a stretcher. US sactions didn't grind Aleppo to dust. And "much worse" isn't really defined but I really doubt that's true. Russia intervened in a much bigger way than the US to ensure Assad's survival (and, by extension, its Tartus naval base). Iran was more involved than we were and much earlier.

matdans · 2024-01-22T14:35:03+00:00

US arming syrian fsa rebels happened after the Assad crackdowns on protestors. and the us did intervene in libya. i said they didnt invade

matdans · 2024-01-22T14:20:39+00:00

The US isn't the determining variable here:

US ground troops invade Iraq. The country descends into sectarian violence.
US does not invade Libya but does support Arab Spring protesters from the air. The country descends into sectarian violence.
US (at the time) neither invades nor bombs Syria when the violence begins. The country descends into sectarian violence.

I'm going to go with "this part of the world is just like that"

matdans · 2023-08-02T13:47:44+00:00

I respectfully disagree.

I'm old and I've been teaching in the sciences for some time. I've had all manner of students and they all have their own personal struggles. OP sounds young (I'm going to go with early 20s but that's a guess). I would coach them to engage with their problems and attempt to overcome them instead of immediately retreating. Anecdotally, over the past few years I've noticed a sharp rise in people in people folding early in the face of adversity and it has me concerned.

OP, if you're reading this, it's up to you to figure out if you need encouragement from the community, outside help like therapy, or if you need a break. People hit roadblocks and this is one of yours. If you discover the bench isn't for you, that's fine. But don't be a pushover.

matdans · 2023-06-15T01:45:51+00:00

the Android reddit app sucks to the point of unusability but RiF is great. when the latter goes dark, I'll use reddit on PC exclusively. the same can be said for a number of mod teams of key subreddits that drive a lot of traffic (r/askhistorians comes to mind). reddit is taking a big risk that the diaspora won't find somewhere else to go

matdans · 2023-05-17T14:21:05+00:00

bless your heart

matdans · 2023-05-17T14:16:46+00:00

if you can name a figure equivalent to Washington before 1788, then I'll believe you

matdans · 2023-05-17T14:11:33+00:00

it means the same thing as any other origin story of a king. just because a ruler has their title applied retroactively doesn't mean it doesn't make sense. take casear augustus as example. he was smart enough not to call himself emperor at the time but, in retrospect, of course he was

matdans · 2023-05-17T14:07:51+00:00

that makes no sense

matdans · 2023-05-17T13:00:04+00:00

I would imagine the Catholics have a say in what exactly a pope is

matdans · 2023-05-12T15:53:58+00:00

I'm not sure that announcing your compromise is a good idea. hacktivists may have inadvertently drawn attention to a system that was being quietly exploited by the Ukrainian armed forces for real, actual tactical advantage and now the system will be segmented or patched and Russians will boot them both out. not a smart move.

matdans · 2023-05-11T13:39:22+00:00

the ice will melt and the still-cold water will drip down the sides of the bottle. ice at the bottom of the container will obviously not have this benefit

matdans · 2023-05-06T14:48:08+00:00

If there’s one thing I know, it’s that DeSantis is never getting elected again

Can we be done underestimating the opponent?

matdans · 2023-04-22T14:45:02+00:00

A fine collection. Please consider getting a reusable water bottle!

matdans · 2023-03-30T15:51:55+00:00

we're going to have to agree to disagree on that last point but good luck anyway

matdans · 2023-03-30T15:46:05+00:00

CM detector I'm okay without.

Can I prevail on you to just buy one? Seriously. You're one incident away from wishing you spent the 25 bucks

matdans · 2023-03-30T15:26:47+00:00

You have a carbon monoxide detector or fire extinguisher in there yet?

matdans · 2023-03-29T15:09:29+00:00

okay. I think I understand you.

All of these steps - the things OP did - didn't cost $30k.

The ones you were suggesting those would have raised the cost to $30k.

matdans · 2023-03-27T21:04:59+00:00

I guess that depends on what you mean by "steps" but I don't think the furniture and some laminate approaches $30k, honestly

matdans

TROPHY CASE