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'Bully' focuses on intolerable cruelty

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This is precisely why I took my children out of the school system, and started to homeschool. They mix with other kids that they like and who like them, and are friends, not with people they are FORCED to be around and who hurt them physically and emotionally. As a result my children are now thriving. It is not a case of kids will be kids, but making your children's lives as comfortable, happy and productive as possible. There is nothing to be gained from withstanding pain and threats.

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It's fundamentally tragic that the mainstream of education has not (cannot and will not) come to terms with this hellish aspect of schools. Schools are similar to prisons in that both psychopaths and their defenseless victims are locked up together, often against their wishes. Is it really worth permanently disfiguring a person's self-worth for the sake of a standardized, institutionalized education? Are schools in their present form really worth it?

The argument for institutionalized education usually revolves around socialization, that children need to learn to get along with others and to see how society really works. I don't see validity in either of these rationales. The cruelty that occurs in schools far surpasses that found in most of ordinary social life.

I dreaded school and felt a great sense of relief when I was 'released'. Anything I learned there I could have learned better on the outside, without having to carry a lifetime of bitter memories. What can replace schools is of course a difficult question . . .

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I totally agree with you Plasticmonkey on the socialization issue. What is allowed to occur inside schools would never be tolerated or allowed in any other social setting. By homeschooling I let the children experience life as it is outside of the instituationalised environment of school, as it will be when they are grown up participants in a mostly civilized world.

As far as educational issues goes, our experience has been that both children do far better being homeschooled than in a traditional school environment, and we do allow some standardized testing, and also use outside accredited sources of materials alongside some outside academic supervision. We don't dumb down the curriculum, and as a result I've a 10 year old who is learning Latin, and a 6 year old who is reading on a solid second grade level.

We have lessons in the park, in zoos, in cafes and museums. They get to pursue their interests and they are allowed to be happy, taught that happiness is right, and that the world is not a nasty place. In turn I get to know my children will never feel worthless and hopeless and alone in a school.

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