On a surface level, it makes sense that they want public schools to be reopened, but really, it just shows how hypocritical some of these conservatives are, like Ben Shapiro ("shocking," I know). For years conservatives have been lamenting the public schools as a source of leftist indoctrination (which I agree with), so shouldn't conservatives be more vocal about the value of home schooling? Or would having students be home-schooled (which generally a parent wants to be there for) shine a greater light on a problem conservative politicians and pundits want to ignore?
Home-schooling should definitely be more utilized compared to public schools, so I don't understand why conservatives in general aren't looking a gift horse in the mouth?
I think it's a combination of factors really:
I'm all for homeschooling now for the very reasons that I think US education system is one or both of either indoctrination daycare or total shit at actually teaching. The issue is for it to be successful, at least one parent has to be willing to not worry about their career and crap and take care of the kid(s). I actually think it should be both as the working parent should take some time off as they can to be involve themselves. I also don't think homeschooling is just a replacement school at home where they watch Youtube videos and do workbooks.
If replacing traditional learning with just other traditional learning, then that's just a missed opportunity. The time should be taken to get out and explore or a lot of hands-on education like working with tools, marksmanship, cooking, etc. I was chatting with a homeschooler a few years ago and he pretty much convinced me that school, particularly elementary school, was not much more than a road block to my learning.
This is a major reason. When both parents work is hard to keep an eye on kids, especially when they are young. I have no problem homeschooling, me and my wife do not count on schools to teach the kids anything anyway but we need the daycare, sadly.
That's one point I was implying about the problems homeschooling would shine a greater light on, which is the rise of two income households. I'm not sure what your situation is, maybe your wife likes to work, but your job pays more, maybe you two have to work out of necessity, that is none of my business.
It is increasingly apparent that years of job outsourcing has truly made the low paying service jobs a greater sector of our economy then ever before. I hate to sound like a leftist, but the two income household will (if it has not already become) be increasingly common. Unlike a leftist, I don't think the government should be compensating for this with more welfare. Greater welfare is a used Band-Aid for a bullet wound that decades of globalization has wrought onto the country. There are obvious treatments, such as closing the borders completely, prioritizing industries and companies that are actually located and manufacturing in the US, but getting to the heart of the problem would require greater corporate regulation and control that goes against the popular, if completely misguided, narrative about the importance of the free market.
I thought of something else reading this too, something I've noticed around here (Texas) is that skilled labor is dominated by 2nd generation Hispanics. At least I presume they are 2nd generation, as we're talking about people who English is their primary language, grew up here, and of the type I presume are legal.
Apparently the Hispanic families realized the value of learning marketable skills that others forgot. You get to a point where the white families pushed everyone to college to be whatever they dream of and the ones that dreamed of something actually employable did okay and the rest are stuck forever in these low paying service jobs. They might have actually liked being a mechanic or an electrician or whatever, but it was never really presented as an honorable option.
I've seen this here in the Midwest, too.
To be blunt, the whole "I'm working a menial minimum wage job because I'm focused on my true passion, which is blah blah blah" thing is pure cope. You can be an aspiring writer and a plumber. People are just lazy.
That is a very good point about the homeschooling. Traditional learning is not very good. Kids should be more active with applying what they learn to real life rather than just memorizing formulas and theories without practical application.
Yeah, that's really the biggest thing that changed my mind is the lesser value of traditional learning. I look back at when I was in school and sure I learned some stuff but the time spent versus the amount learned was just really wasteful.
I'm all about hands on learning. Even though I finished high school and college, I credit the vast majority of what I've made of my life to endeavors outside of school. If my parents hadn't encouraged that and just gave me a "shut up and go away" device (whatever the iPad was in my day), then I just see myself being a lot worse off. I see this with my cousins and nephews, sometimes I just want to ask them "do you do anything else?"