this is my response to the debate on another blog, because blogger softeware is eating my posts and I will WIN dammit. I will not be silenced by an evil glitch that thinks I should be mopping floors instead of obsessing on the internet.
Eaten comment commences below
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" How on earth will this 'put off' new home educators?"
I normally refer interested people to your blog first, tell them to make sure they read the comments and get back to me with the ones that resonated most for them so I can hook them up with blogs and sites most suited to their tastes.
I kind of got the impression that people were pleasantly surprised to see we aren't brainwashed, "cultish", "group think" people, that in reality we are perfectly capable of hotly debating the finer points of our educational choices, rather than coming together exclusively in self congratulation or self defense.
I know that when I found your blog the huge range of issues pulled in via comment fast tracked my "education" as it were.
It let me access a range of ideas that wouldn't have occurred to me as I was knee deep in the day to day struggle of managing a huge lifestyle change and without being prodded into debate I'm not sure I would have found the time or inclination to seek a better understanding of the huge spectrum out there at such a cracking pace.
Your blog is the reason that I am working in conjunction with another Italian HEer to try and work out a road map to make unschooling a more accessible option within our tight regs, as well as try and stimulate our rather scaredycat and conservative email group into being a little less reticent about opening up discussion with the DofEd about rewording the regs to open up opportunities for people to explore other avenues that lead to learning.
If my own knee jerk reactions hadn’t been challenged by discussion here I would probably have settled for making things more comfortable for myself and not worried unduly about the issues other people were having.
I do think that for the new HEer who is at a fuzzy stage when it comes to what they want to do and what their comfort zone is, lurking during the debates can bring up points within issues they may not have considered and allow them to make an informed and confident decision because they have had the opportunity to examine it from all sides, from a range of perspectives.
I tend not to be debating so I can convince the people I am posting to, I always figure the only people who might find any of my points valid or worth taking into consideration are the silent majority who read, not post. (Which is basically a thought process I use to silence the voice in my head saying “you are wasting time on the internet arguing with random strangers, AGAIN”, cos I can turn round and insist there is a higher puprose, I am only giving back because the discussions were so useful for me. Honest gov. Nothing to do with loving debate and hating housework. It’s a totally selfless activity. ( ; )
I think the only thing that might put off new HEers (or school users who are trying to understand HE before they make uninformed knee jerk reactions) is the undercurrent of hostility that spills over in hyperbole and insults. But that is hardly an issue that can be laid exclusively at your door. Each and every person who has chosen to get personal or vicious about things has to take responsibility for sometimes making us look like a bunch of hysterical toddlers bashing each other over the head with the nearest toy. Self included.
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