RP>On 02-16-98, MIKE ANGWIN declared to JEAN HALVERSON:
MA>In the fifties and early sixties my parents rarely became involved in
MA>my homework,
RP>Nor did mine.  In fact, I cannot remember a single instance they ever
RP>did, nor did they ever ask whether I was keeping homework current.  It
RP>was my personal responsibility to learn on my own and expected that I d
RP>well.  To do otherwise meant failing the family as well as myself, and
RP>failing the family was simply out of the question.  I think it worth
RP>noting that, near as I can determine anyway, most Asian students do it
RP>all on their own also, from similar motivations.
 
      And schools, in those days, did a relatively good job compared to
the schools of today.  Yet we all the time that the failures of public
education are not a product of centralization, or of administration, or
of educators, or of union influences, or of esoteric learning systems.
The failures, we are told, are because of parents.  We pay more than we
have ever paid, we send our children to school more days than they have
ever gone, we spend more hours working with them on homework than ever
before, and we darn sure fill out more forms and paperwork than any
generation before us, but despite all of this, it's parents that are
why Johnny can't read.
        Sooner or later people are going to have to realize that
socialized education is failing because it's socialized.  It's that
simple. 
 
                                               /\/\ike
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