Home schooling

As most of you know, I got a problem with home schooling. Aside from the fact the Jesus freaks have appropriated it as a way to brainwash their kids in the ways of their Jesus (there is nothing more terrifying to me than to see a 6 year old quoting scripture from memory), but it also hinders social development and the development of interpersonal skills when kids aren't exposed to diversity. This story (via our pal John) points up the fact all too graphically:

WASHINGTON, DC - Ten-year old Katie Hulmich has spent most of the last year preparing for 79th National Spelling Bee, which finally got underway in the nation's capitol today. The pint-sized, tow-headed home-schooler has spent ten hours a day for the past eight months preparing for the spelling showdown, and can fire off twenty-five cent words from 'anastomosis' (the union or connection of branches) to 'zedoary' (the dried rhizome of a tropical Asian plant).

...

"We thought we had all of the words covered, but then they pull one out of the blue like that," says Katie's mother - and full-time home spelling coach - Beverly Hulmich. "The real challenge for the kids is when they come across a word that they just don't ever use in their daily life." [my em]

...

The word was 'friend'. The defense rests.

Update:

Okay, so it was 5 in the morning and I didn't get this was satire. My bad. I still have a problem with home schooling for the reasons mentioned. There are a lot of well-intentioned folks out there but it's still no substitute for the learning experience of just interacting with large, diverse group of peers.