[CrashList] Re:Public schools vs. home schools

[LROBERTS46 at aol.com]

Even though my spouse and I have post graduate college, we could not seem to 
teach it to our kids.  In fact, one counselor suggested that our educational 
level was so high that some of the kids were giving up as they felt that they 
couldn't compete.  This seemed amazing to us because we never insisted on 
college but usable skills.  
However, we know many many folks who are not educated enough to teach the 
needed skills to their kids.  We ran into this when we took in abused and 
neglected kids from the neighborhood.  One of my son's girlfriend's had never 
seen a napkin, and regularly had 2 colas for breakfast.  She could not 
remember what towns they had lived in so she could do a resume.  Many kids 
have no experience with using checking accounts instead of check cashing 
services.  They didn't know how to dress for job interviews or to fill out 
applications.  I had long arguments with foster sons that it was not "normal" 
to be evicted every month because the money was spent on drugs.  If everyone 
home schools, the elite will have an even greater advantage.  My mom is very 
well read and very intelligent.  But, she didn't finish high school till I 
was almost grown.  How could she have prepared me for a science degree in 
college?  My spouse and I got college educations because we worked our way 
through and in the 1960s and 1970 there used to programs for public education 
for the poor as part of the "war on poverty".