Homeschoolers and College

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Barb

Homeschoolers and college have been an item for quite some time. As soon as the first crop of homeschooled kids burst on the scene in the 1980s, astounding bystanders with their intelligence, diligence and social skills (!), homeschooling parents gained the confidence to expect their children to go to college without a public high school transcript.

And go to college they did, many doing so well that colleges began to (and still do) seek out homeschooled kids. One of ours went to college and graduated with honors, so I guess we’re part of that trend.

But I think homeschooling parents should be aware that it’s not just a matter of sending your child to college and watching him or her thrive. College has changed. There are things going on at colleges and universities today that we parents never would have dreamed could happen. Knowledge of these things is necessary before you and your child make the college decision.

I’ve got three examples of why you must be extremely knowledgeable about colleges:

College and university staff sometimes lies to parents in order to push a certain social agenda.

Colleges and universities are more than happy to take your money in order to prepare your child for a career in which your child probably won’t be able to find employment.

Many college administrators believe that stopping alcohol and drug abuse is the responsibility of the student, not the college.

First off, colleges sometimes lie to parents.

Should We Be Teaching ‘Prepare for Verbal Abuse 101’ In Our Homeschools?

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Barb

One of the things homeschooled kids miss out on is being criticized by teachers for their personal beliefs.

I don’t think it’s bad to miss out on such experiences, but it does get me thinking about how to prepare (or whether it’s possible to prepare) our college-bound homeschooled offspring for that kind of situation, which is becoming increasingly common.

Not that it never happened in the past, of course. I recall being graded down in Biology 100 back at the good old U of I for refusing to accept the theory of evolution as a valid one. And as recently as last fall, my teenage daughter took some flak from her community college professor (in a graphic arts class, no less) for commenting that she liked Sarah Palin.

But it appears that the teachers are becoming more vehement and profane:

Jonathan Lopez, who is working on his associate of arts degree at Los Angeles City College, quoted a dictionary definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman and cited several Bible verses during a public speaking class in late November, his suit says. His professor, John Matteson, interrupted, called Lopez a “fascist bastard” and refused to let him finish his address, according to the suit.

Nice, huh? We don’t have to worry about Jonathan, who has since sued the college district with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund. But what about our kids? John Matteson isn’t the only idiot professor out there. Can we prepare our kids for this kind of attack, and if so, how?

I think we should warn them that this happens, and discuss ways they can deal with it. In the case of my daughter, we discussed the inappropriateness of her teacher’s remarks (which I won’t go into here), especially since her dad and I were paying $400 for graphic design instruction, not misguided knee-jerk political philosophy. We also talked about what she wished she would have said, and what she’ll do when (not if) it happens again. We talked about knowing what you believe and why you believe it. And I told her I was proud of her for politely standing up for herself when verbally attacked by an authority figure.

Did I leave anything out? What else can we do?