It has more than once been suggested by people commenting here that it really is time that I got myself a life, or even a hobby, and stopped being so concerned with home education. After all, my daughter is at college now, why don't I just forget about home education and get on with other things? It has to be said that even my own daughter feels that way! I mentioned this to a friend of mine who is not a home educating parent, but has a professional interest in elective home education. She laughingly reminded me that quite a few of the well known names whom one sees writing letters to newspapers, sending in submissions to select committees and also posting every day on various Internet lists, are in precisely the same position; that is to say they are not actually home educators at all.
We spent a while compiling a list of those household names in the British HE scene who are either not home educators or have only taken it up in the last year or so. To my surprise, it came to well over half the names! I thought I would look at one or two of them and see how obsessive my own interest in the subject of home education seems in comparison. Knowing of course the almost pathological desire of these people to conceal their identity, I shall of course respect their privacy by using only initials.
Take AE for instance, who lives in the West Country. AE posts on the comments sections of the online editions of newspapers using the name tinpanali, although even her closest friends concede that a more apposite sobriquet might perhaps be 'annoyingloudmouthedali'. AE has not been a home educator for over two years now, since she bunged her kids back into school to start an ill starred business venture. She tells friends that the whole HE thing was getting a bit much anyway. She still hangs out on many of the Internet home education lists, despite the fact that one of the largest states clearly, 'Membership is open to families who are home educating or are interested in home educating their children in the UK.' You would think really that since she is neither home educating her children nor has any interest in doing so in the future, she would have dropped out of this particular list.
AE spends a good deal of her time fooling around with home education related issues. I have myself been accused of not being able to let go and give up the whole HE thing, but I have not a patch on AE. Last September, eighteen months after she had stopped being a home educator, AE was writing to Calderdale local authority up in Yorkshire, making a Freedom of Information request about home education there! Reassuring really, to know that in comparison with characters like that, my own interest in the subject seems quite low key.
Many of the most vociferous advocates of home eduction are those who have been quite content to send their children to school and then undergone a 'Road to Damascus' style conversion. From that moment on, they talk of schools as though they were the Devil's work and are as fanatical in the faith as new converts to some cult. Look at JG, who lives in the charming village of Eardisley at the other end of the country from AE. This pleasingly Rubenesque mother only stopped sending her son to the local C of E primary school in the summer of 2008. Within a matter of weeks, she had joined up to a raft of HE lists and was angrily denouncing those who did not share her own view of education. Within six months, she was known across the Internet as a dedicated home educator. One might have though she had been at it for years!
There is a slight puzzle about JG and her home educating methods. On the lists, she gives the impression of being almost an autonomous educator. In a recent post she talks of the educational value of crossword puzzles for her son as a way for him to acquire general knowledge, spelling, comprehension and so on. All very autonomous and designed to strike a chord in the hearts of other home educators there. However in a recent interview with a journalist, she claimed that her son was 'looking to do between six and eight GCSEs at the end of the year'. This suggests that she is a hothouser, delivering an extremely disciplined and highly structured education to M, her son. Even I would have hesitated to get my daughter to take the eight GCSEs which she sat at the age of twelve or thirteen. Which is it, JG, hothouser or autonomous?
I could go through a few more well known 'home educators', but I think these two give the flavour. Home education is an addictive process. Once one becomes involved with it, it is very hard to give up. I can quite understand why so many parents remain on the lists and indeed are still very active in the business, long after their children have ceased to be home educated. I can also understand the mad enthusiasm of people like JG who have only recently discovered the excitement of home education. I too was very gung ho about it ten or twelve years ago. It is to be hoped that the next time readers feel like asking me why I am still hanging round the HE scene, they will perhaps realise that I am not alone in this and that home education, like heroin and sudoku, can be a very hard habit to drop.
The trouble is, Simon, that you don't actually mix with any/many normal home educators. Off the main lists, home educators are mostly a completely normal bunch of people who just get on with it; some of them too are actually ex-home educators who stick around to encourage and support others.
ReplyDeleteI was reading the long HE post on the TES Connect site this morning; although it seems obvious to me that a teachers website is hardly going to have many supporters of home education, since it would be a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas. As usual though home educators do join in to spring to their own defence (not unnaturally) but actually I think it really isn't worth the bother.
Off now to do, rather than to talk about it - although 3 of the students aren't mine...one is though, so perhaps I am a home educator for today at least.
Ah Julie, regardless of the ages of your children, I have always regarded you as a genunine home educator! I do meet ordinary home educating parents though, at least in this area. None of them are active on the various lists and they are just getting on with it.
ReplyDeleteJulie says-home educators are mostly a completely normal bunch of people who just get on with it;
ReplyDeletewhat is a normal home educator Julie?
That's an easy one to answer, Mr williams. Go to a mirror and look at it. Now try to imagine somebody precisely the opposite in every respect to the man you see staring back at you. There you are; that would be a normal home educator!
ReplyDeleteThis blog often resembles a conversation between two lunatics, bar the occasional comment by a sane person such as Julie. Sometimes I revisit it, hoping that it might have got saner and less pointless, and get drawn in, with a kind of horrified fascination. For a few moments I wondered why you had decided to direct the full force of your peevishness at these two particular individuals, and then I had a brainwave. Of course! They have the same initials as two of the people who recently commented on your need to prove that you still have access to an email list from which you are banned. I think when people advise you to get a life, it is this unhealthy obsession that they are thinking of. Honestly, it can't be good for your blood pressure!
ReplyDeleteI think this post of yours might also provide you with the answer you are looking for when you wonder why so many of the comments here are anonymous. Why would anyone want to reveal their identity, and risk being the target of the kind of spiteful speculation you have posted here?
It's not at all difficult to work out why all sorts of people were involved in protecting home education from the recent attack by the Labour government. There are those who have been home educating for a long time and want to be free to carry on doing so in the way that works best for them and their children. There are those who have recently taken their children out of schools which were doing them no good, and seen that home education is much better for them. And there are those who home educated for many years, and now that their children have moved on, have some spare time and energy to devote to offering other families advice and support and helping them protect the right of their children to enjoy the education of their choice.
Why is this so hard for you to understand? Why do you always look for unhealthy motives? It is possible for people to feel strongly about, and even to devote their lives to issues in which they no longer have any personal involvement, or issues they have only recently become aware of, or even issues in which they have no personal involvement at all. Does any of these factors make their commitment less valid in some way?
I'll offer you an example. Take school governors, for instance. Some of them are parents of young children who have only just started school. Some of them have children who left school years ago. Some fall somewhere in the middle. There are some who have no children. There are even some who home educate. Are all except those in the third category to be suspected of dubious motives?
I'm sure you must be trying to make a point, but I can't find it.
For heavens sake don't be so po-faced and humourless. This was no more than a little good natured joshing with two individuals who have had a good deal to say about me in the past. It was neither spiteful nor speculative. I still find the anonymity thing puzzling, but have grown to accept it. I agree with you though that there is a high degree of lunacy on show here. this has more to do with my reluctance to moderate comments though than anything else. I'm sorry, but not altogether surprised, that my point eludes you!
ReplyDelete"It is possible for people to feel strongly about, and even to devote their lives to issues in which they no longer have any personal involvement, or issues they have only recently become aware of, or even issues in which they have no personal involvement at all."
ReplyDeleteThere is also the issue of grandchildren. We all potentially have a stake in the continuation of home education by virtue of our children's children. I can see the point in continued activity on the part of those who want to protect their child's ability to home educate their own children in the same way as themselves if they wish (which is the case for those attempting to protect the status quo). I don't understand why someone (i.e. Simon) would want to restrict their child's choice of home education methods in future. Would you prefer Simone not to be able to choose autonomous education for her children, Simon?
It's useful to have former home educators around to make comments and give advice. One of the things I find useful is knowing why we're where we are, given that where we are is often totally wrong. Having the history of small steps, each of which was logical and reasonable at the time helps put things into context and can help explain that something that is obviously inadequate now was perfect when set against a previous set of requirements.
ReplyDeleteIt's also good to have input from those with whom you generally disagree, if only to reinforce your beliefs that you're right and they're wrong, and to catch the occasional point that you hadn't considered.
"I don't understand why someone (i.e. Simon) would want to restrict their child's choice of home education methods in future. Would you prefer Simone not to be able to choose autonomous education for her children, Simon?"
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether this Anonymous was the same one who was complaining of the lunacy on display here; if so, there is something supremely ironic about this comment. Nobody, to my knowledge, has been trying to stop anybody educating their children autonomously, least of all me. The most that I have advocated is that home educating parents have an occasional and benevolent eye cast over their activities to see what they are up to. Unless one really does view this form of education as being as exquisitely sensitive as a collapsing quantum wave function, I can see no possible harm in this. Nor can I see why it would prevent my daughter from teaching her own children.
No, not the same anonymous. LAs can already cast an occasional and benevolent eye over our activities. It was the annual plan that you and Badman advocated that would have ended autonomous education, that along with compulsory home visits and plans for minimum expectations according to age. I didn't suggest that you would prevent your daughter from teaching her own children. I suggested that you might stop her choosing an autonomous approach.
ReplyDeleteHi All,
ReplyDeleteJust a quick comment, I don't get why a child can't autonomously take loads of GCSE's? It'd be a rare child I think, but we are talking about a single child who's decided to do this, so totally possible I would have thought...
" plans for minimum expectations according to age."
ReplyDeleteI must have missed this both in the Badman Report and also in the text of the Children, Schools and Families Bill. Where was it?
As for the annual plan, of course it would not have destroyed autonomous education. If the parent of an autonomously educated child was unable to read by the age of eleven, then it is quite possible that she would hope that the child would start to read in the coming year. A few sentences to the effect of; 'It is hoped that in the coming year Johnny will begin to read independently. We shall be providing him with a variety of texts and sharing our own favourite books with him by reading together. At the same time, we shall provide opportunities for Johnny to explore literacy in other, non traditional ways'
There was never any question of a curriculum being enforced; this was a silly scare story.
Interesting idea, Fiona. I suppose that the child could download the specification for an IGCSE and then ask the parents to buy the textbooks and so on. I have never heard of this happening, but you are quite right, there's no reason at all why it couldn't be done.
ReplyDeleteYour point is still eluding me. What was it again?
ReplyDeleteThe initial point of the post was simple enough; it was this. A number of people have asked me why I am still so interested in home education, gave evidence to the select committee about it, keep a blog and so on, when I am actually no longer a home educator. Somebody also commented on here that I should not have joined the HE-UK list in the first place, because I write occasionally for newspapers and am therefore in a sense a journalist.
ReplyDeleteIn my post I made the point that quite a few of the people whom one sees writing to the newspapers about home education, who sent evidence to the select committee and who are very active on Internet lists about home education , are not home educators either.I gave an example of one such person who was not a home educator and pointed out that she too should have left the HE-UK list years ago because she is not a home educating parent, nor is she considering home education.
This was a light hearted piece which was intended to elicit smiles from those concerned. It was meant to be amusing, but was also quite true.
"Interesting idea, Fiona. I suppose that the child could download the specification for an IGCSE and then ask the parents to buy the textbooks and so on. I have never heard of this happening, but you are quite right, there's no reason at all why it couldn't be done."
ReplyDeleteWhy would the child have to download the specifications themselves? They could just as easily ask their parents to find the specifications and text books for them and to teach them from the text books, setting work and marking it as appropriate. Autonomously educated children do not have to teach themselves, they can ask others to teach them. They can go to school if they wish. Why do you insist on this myth that autonomously educated children are left to fend for themselves? To an outsider, our autonomous education would probably have looked much like the education you provided for your daughter at times. The difference is who directs the education. My children are autonomously educated and have been taught and taken GCSEs and other exams. They were still autonomously educated because they was their choice and preferred way to learn at that point. Why is this so difficult to understand?
"There was never any question of a curriculum being enforced; this was a silly scare story."
It's not necessary for an outside curriculum (such as the NC) to be enforce to end autonomous education. The requirement was for the parent's to submit education plans for the coming year, this is parent directed learning - not autonomous education. The monitoring section of the Bill then required LAs to ensure that the child's education was in accordance with the said plan. Grounds for revocation of registration included the parent's failure to fulfil an undertaking within the plan. If the plans are too vague (so as to enable autonomous education) there was also a clause that allowed revocation of registration if the plan information was considered "inadequate in a material respect (whether or not it was so when it was provided)". It was your reassurances that are silly and false.
"This was a light hearted piece which was intended to elicit smiles from those concerned. It was meant to be amusing, but was also quite true."
If that's true, you need to brush up your writing skills or maybe add a few smiley faces if that is too difficult!
"plans for minimum expectations according to age."
ReplyDeleteWhere actually is stuff like this coming from? Is this the Anonymous above or another Anonymous? Would the Anonymous who believes this to be true please tell us where she got it from?
As for the bit above about the education plan, this simply wasn't the idea at all.If you wish to think it was, then that's fine. You say;
"They could just as easily ask their parents to find the specifications and text books for them"
I had previously said;
"the could could download the specifications and then ask the parents to buy the text books"
These are so similar as to be all but indistinguishable. Are you this picky in your private capacity, or do you just carry on like this on the Internet?
"I gave an example of one such person who was not a home educator and pointed out that she too should have left the HE-UK list years ago because she is not a home educating parent, nor is she considering home education."
ReplyDeleteHow do you know? Do you know her?
"It was neither spiteful nor speculative."
It was certainly speculative. I happen to know that you are not a personal friend of AE or JG, so unless you're an accomplished telepath, you must have been speculating. As to whether it was intended to be spiteful, I suppose you're the only person who knows what your motives were, but it came across as spiteful.
"It was meant to be amusing, but was also quite true."
It was neither.
Verbal bullying is a type of hostility or aggression which can happen with children or adults, males or females and at home, at school or at work. The bully, who is also referred to as the aggressor, deliberately tries to verbally upset the victim through taunting and teasing.
ReplyDeleteBEHAVIORAL TRAITS
Bullies have particular behavior and personality traits. These may include:
* Greater than average aggressive behavior patterns
* The desire to dominate peers
* The need to feel in control, to win.
* No sense of remorse for hurting another child.
* A refusal to accept responsibility for his/her behavior.
REASONS WHY KIDS BULLY
* Someone else -- perhaps a parent or a sibling is picking on them
* Someone bigger or stronger is trying to recruit them to be a bully, or join a gang
* They are looking for attention
* They have family problems
* They have no friends and feel lonely
* They feel insecure and bullying makes them feel powerful
* They want their classmates to think they're strong and in control
* They don't care about anyone's feelings
Many bullies share some common characteristics. They like to dominate others and are generally focused on themselves. They often have poor social skills and poor social judgment. Sometimes they have no feelings of empathy or caring toward other people.
Although most bullies think they're hot stuff and have the right to push people around, others are actually insecure. They put other people down to make themselves feel more interesting or powerful.
Bully for You? Questionnaire
Is this person a know-it-all who has to have the last word on everything?
Does this person act condescending or superior? Does he/she treat you as if you were incompetent?
Does this person make hurtful remarks and then claim he/she was just kidding?
Does this person refuse to apologize or admit fault - even if s/he obviously made an error?
Does this person call you vile names (_itch! _astard!) or have derogatory labels (Klutz! Stupid!) for you?
If you protest this person's behavior; does s/he go on the offensive and demand to know why you're giving them such a hard time?
Does this person indulge in crazy-making behavior, such as breaking commitments; reversing statements; twisting things around, and accusing you of over-reacting?
Simon wrote,
ReplyDelete""plans for minimum expectations according to age."
Where actually is stuff like this coming from? Is this the Anonymous above or another Anonymous? Would the Anonymous who believes this to be true please tell us where she got it from?"
Mainly from the Badman review which was fully supported by the previous Government and was the basis for both the legislation that failed (because it ran out of time) and also their plans for a review of the definition of a 'suitable' and 'efficient' education. Here are a couple of quotes from the Badman review:
At the time of registration parents/carers/guardians must provide a clear statement of their educational approach, intent and desired/planned outcomes for the child over the following twelve months.
That the DCSF review the current statutory definition of what constitutes a “suitable” and “efficient” education in the light of the Rose review of the primary curriculum, and other changes to curriculum assessment and definition throughout statutory school age.
I'm sure you know that the Rose review was a review of the primary school curriculum. You yourself have suggested that it would be reasonable to set minimum ages for literacy and numeracy skills. How can you claim that the above comment is unsupported by evidence?
"As for the bit above about the education plan, this simply wasn't the idea at all.If you wish to think it was, then that's fine."
Can you point to evidence that shows that my understanding is incorrect? What exactly was the intention? Why did they include not sticking to the submitted plan as grounds for revocation of registration if they did not expect to see some kind of plan that could be tested by results?
""the could could download the specifications and then ask the parents to buy the text books"
ReplyDeleteThese are so similar as to be all but indistinguishable. Are you this picky in your private capacity, or do you just carry on like this on the Internet?"
The main point I was making was that academic study is not that unusual for autonomously educated children. However, you do have a history of assuming that AE children are left to their own devices and expected to do all their own research into qualifications, organise everything themselves, only learn from practical experience of from texts they have found themselves, etc, so I was probably answering the implied attitude in your, "I suppose that the child could download the specification for an IGCSE", comment. Or are you saying then that you have you now revised your view of AE to include the child's choice to attend school if that's what they prefer?
I love the comment on bullying. Here is AE, coming on here a couple of days after I started this blog;
ReplyDelete"There is no point in arguing with Simon. He loves it. He doesn't really believe anything he says, and neither should we. He is a habitual liar.
Ignore him. He doesn't deserve the attention.
Ali"
Hmmm, rather pus me in mind of the bit in the bullying thing about, " They put other people down to make themselves feel more interesting or powerful." or even "They don't care about anyone's feelings" or perhaps, "If you protest this person's behavior; does s/he go on the offensive and demand to know why you're giving them such a hard time?"
Yes, we could have quite a good discussion about bullying. Also of course on the home education lists , where some mothers have been driven off because they disagree with some of the stronger characters on there. I actually posted about bullying in this way last year.
This is in reply to the Anonymous who claimed that I was saying untruthful things about AE and JG. She sys, " I happen to know that you are not a personal friend of AE or JG, so unless you're an accomplished telepath, you must have been speculating."
ReplyDeleteMercifully, this is quite true; They are certainly not my friends. Neither however am I a telepath or liar. There is no secret about any of what I mentioned; it is all available in the public domain. As for AE not sending her kids to school, she actually posted on this blog saying so. See last August's post on the 2nd; The Graham Badman Review, fourteenth comment down. JG may be found talking about her educational plans in the Hereford Times for January 14th this year. You know, if I were you, before I made any more comments, I should check with the two women concerned and see if they dispute any of this.
You say that what I have posted is untrue; could you be a bit more specific?
I said you were speculating. What you posted may be true and it may not.
ReplyDeleteYou assume that JG's son's intention to do 6 or 8 GCSE's means that he will be taught in a structured and disciplined way. You assume that this means that he is not autonomous. You assume that AE's close friends agree with you that she is an annoying loudmouth, that she "bunged" her children into school, and that she has no interest in home educating in the future. This is all speculation.
With regard to AE's comment about you being a liar, and enjoying aguing, I speculate that she was just repeating your own descriptions of yourself.
Actually, none of this is speculation. It is all based upon what the two women have themselves said, but as I said, you might wish to contact them and see how much further they wish this discussion to go. I have given you a few examples from public sources, I am happy to provide more information to demonstrate that I was not speculating, but I'm not sure how keen AE and JG will be to have their affairs aired so thoroughly in this way. As I say, ask the two people concerned and see if they dispute any of what I have been saying.
ReplyDeleteAnother point to consider here Anonymous is that JG is apparently very careful about her privacy.
ReplyDeleteFor instance she wrote last year,
" Now tell me that you would like him to paste
details about your childs medical condition all over his blog pages, for his
own attention seeking needs, and then mentions your name so that your child
could be traced."
This is why I hesitate to discuss her further unless I am sure that she is happy about it. Mind you, it is odd that she was happy for her son's photograph, full name and name of the little village in which he lives, together with a medical diagnosis to be published in the local paper and then of course on the Internet. If I didn't know her better, I would say that she sounds a bit of a hypocrite. Even so, you should ask first before we discuss her further.
I did as you suggested, and asked AE, who I know well. She confirmed that her children chose to go to school, and that she would home educate again if her children wanted this. She did not feel qualified to comment on her close friends' opinion of her. However, as one of them, I can confirm that I don't think she is an annoying loudmouth.
ReplyDelete"I'm not sure how keen AE and JG will be to have their affairs aired so thoroughly in this way."
ReplyDeleteSo why are you doing it?
I've known AE for many years: she is kind hearted, humorous and inspirational. She provided advice and support over a decade ago when I was starting out on the home educating journey, with generosity and wit.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've watched you in action, SW, and I unfortunately find you none of those things. This was an unpleasant and mean-spirited post. It does you no credit at all.
Ermm... your reply to my comment seemed a little odd! Yes a child could look up all that info + do it on their own but I imagine they'd be more likely to ask for help!!
ReplyDeleteMy children are educated autonomously, and one of them goes to school, but if he'd stayed being ed. at home he might have started work on Music + Maths GCSE's ... he's 12 (similiar age to the chld we're talking about) but wasn't asking to do 6-8 GCSEs lol.
"I did as you suggested, and asked AE, who I know well. She confirmed that her children chose to go to school,"
ReplyDeleteInteresting. The decision to start the business venture though was taken before the children decided to return to school. A happy coincidence indeed that they made this decision. Do I get three guesses at your name?(A bit like the Rumpelstiltskin story). At first, I thought you might be TB, whose daughter AE looks after sometimes, but she is not afraid to sign her name.
It's a good point Fiona. A lot of this seems to be very theoretical, with the possibilities being mooted that a child could do this or might do that. I can certainly envisage a child saying to her parents of her own volition, "I want to take a GCSE in mathematics" Being familiar though with the specifications for these things, I am rather dubious about the chances of anybody taking that sort of examination without the household changing dramatically. I don't say, mind , that this could not happen, only that it would revolutionise the average home educating family. I am curious to know though, has anybody here actually any experience of undertaking examinations of this sort without any external help? In other words, have any of the autonomous parents who comment here got children who have sat GCSEs without attending school or college?
ReplyDelete" In other words, have any of the autonomous parents who comment here got children who have sat GCSEs without attending school or college?"
ReplyDeleteYes. Four. Last week.
Could we have a few more details? Do you mean that you have one child who has just taken four GCSEs and chose to do so voluntarlly? This is interesting. What were the subjects and how long was the child studying for the examinations? Was there any external help from tutors and so on?
ReplyDelete"If I didn't know her better, I would say that she sounds a bit of a hypocrite."
ReplyDelete"Interesting. The decision to start the business venture though was taken before the children decided to return to school. A happy coincidence indeed that they made this decision."
I'll remind you of something you said earlier:
"I'm not sure how keen AE and JG will be to have their affairs aired so thoroughly in this way."
You haven't answered my question yet. Why are you doing it, then?
"I am rather dubious about the chances of anybody taking that sort of examination without the household changing dramatically."
ReplyDeleteMine haven't so far but why do you think it would change things so dramatically? I took a couple by correspondence myself at 16 (ordered and paid for with my first wages!) I can't imagine that it would make that much difference to our day to day lives - it would just involve a change of study materials.
Simon Webb said...
ReplyDelete"Could we have a few more details? Do you mean that you have one child who has just taken four GCSEs and chose to do so voluntarlly? This is interesting. What were the sujects and how long was the child studying for the examinations? Was there any external help from tutors and so on?"
I have a fourteen yr old. She - and at least half a dozen of her autonomously educated friends - decided to take various GCSEs so they could eventually get into the colleges they liked the look of to do the A levels they are interested in. I support her in this. It's a good choice, but it is her own.
Subjects: English Lit, English Language, Maths, Geography.
Two studied by correspondence course. Maths was studied in a group with a tutor the children liked and chose themselves. Geography self-directed, with support and input from various adults. Time taken to prepare for exams: between twelve and eighteen months, depending on subject.
Is this really that unusual? I cannot think that it is, especially given that so many of her autonomously educated friends are doing exactly the same thing. They are motivated to do the exams because they've found out what the entrance requirements of the colleges are. There certainly hasn't been a "dramatic" or "revolutionary" change in the household. Other children are getting on with their own chosen activities quite happily. And there has been much less input from either of her parents than we had expected: she was insistent on working by herself most of the time, saying it was cheating to be helped with her work. (I did point out that that is how the school children who would also be sitting the exams would be being helped, but she did it her way.)
Thanks for that Anonymous, it's very interesting. It is very telling that your daughter would accept no help from you on the grounds that it would be cheating; I offered help to my own daughter with her A level coursework and she was profoundly shocked. Pupils at secondary school get so much help with their coursework, that in many cases it is more the parents and teachers work than theirs. I suppose that home educated children miss out on this handy primer on academic cheating!
ReplyDeleteOne of the Anonymouses above says,
ReplyDelete"You haven't answered my question yet. Why are you doing it then?"
This is in reference to my suggesting that the subjects of the above post might not like to have their affairs aired so thorougly in this way. The answer is very simple, I thougt it might be time to have a little fun at their expense. As you know perfectly well, some people come on here not in order to have a sensible debate but, to use the demotic expression, to try and "wind me up". I don't mind this usually, although it's a bit of a pain when I am trying to have a conversation with somebody who does want to discuss something rationally.
I recently got a little irritated with these idiots and last week AE herself confirmed that this was a popular sport among some, when she said,
" Quite entertaining to watch him being baited by various anonymouses on his blog, though."
She is being ingenuous of course, as she herself also does a fair bit of the baiting. I just thought that I would turn the tables and engage in a little harmless baiting myself, of those who come on here to bait me! No harm has been done and we must hope that those who, as AE says herself, come here to try and "bait me", will now give it a rest. I like a little fun of this sort myself from time to time, but not when it gets in the way of serious debate about the subject in hand. As long as these fools stop being silly like this, I shall have no further occasion to discuss them or their lives again.
By the way Anonymous, that is to say the one who spoke to AE and discovered that her children chose to go to school, are you sure you have heard the whole story? AE said in January 2009,
ReplyDelete"However when the Social Security reforms were announced last year and I realised that I would not be able to claim Income Support for much longer \(I am a single parent) she agreed to try again, to give me time to set up a business. "
The 'she' is AE's nine year old daughter. 'agreed to try again' does not really sound to me like an autonomous decision on the child's part. As I said, the decision to start the business venture came first and the child was expected to fit in around it.
"The answer is very simple, I thougt it might be time to have a little fun at their expense."
ReplyDeleteFair enough. But it doesn't show you in a very good light, does it? The autonomous educator-baiting you indulge in regularly, with no provocation at all, doesn't really enhance your reputation for serious debate on the subject of home education. Look at your profile:
"I cannot abide sloppy thinking and touchy-feely lifestyles, which is perhaps why I do not get on particularly well with autonomous educators."
Do you really think that's a good opening gambit for serious debate?
There is all the difference in the world between debating vigorously a belief or ideology and singling out a proponent of that ideology. What I have in the past objected to is being named frequently on other sites, having letters written to MPs and select committees about me and people like AE writing to the editors of newspapers for whom I write, telling them that I am a lar and so on. I am sure that you are able to distinguish between these two very different things. If I start raving on about Christianity and saying that I detest its tenets, that is one thing. If on the other hand I single out a Christian by name and say that I detest him personally, that is quite another matter.
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