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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Those damned Kids

What's Mallard raving about today?

Homeschooling.

To Mallard, this is proof that Public Schools are Evil. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence, however, understands that homeschooled kids are a self-selecting group, which probably accounts for differences far more than anything else.

I await instructions on how families which rely on two incomes are supposed to manage homeschooling, by the way.

14 comments:

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Solution: defund public schools even more! That'll get test scores up!

Seriously, do our schools need work? Surely. But--it probably goes without saying--Tinsley is incapable of actually addressing the problem, nor does he have any interest in doing so. Instead, we get the usual: an incoherent flurry of wingnut buzzwords and teacher-hating. Nebulous rage: the answer to all our problems!

Tog said...

"No, no no no no no. NO! You just don't GET it. Once we fully undercut public education, the tax savings will eventually trickle down to the swine, and they'll be able to afford to send their worthless offspring to one of the many military academies that will spring up through the magic of the Invisible Hand. Then they will be afforded an opportunity to serve the benevolent Upper Class in a manner befitting their station in life, sans all this nonsense about opportunity and equality that is fed into their empty prat noggins by the current system.

"...And that'll be just the white trash. We'll skip the education altogether for the mud races."

Michael Foley said...

So Mallard, does that factor in the variables of-- oh, who am I kidding.

JohnE said...

What the hell does it mean to claim that Public School kids score in the 50th percentile of a standardized test anyway?

Surely it doesn't mean that every public school kid scored in the 50th percentile.

Duck is using statistics wrongly.

Kip W said...

I am so surprised that years of attacking and starving schools has led us to where students can do better at home. Who could have seen that coming?

CW in LA said...

I think the bit about the 50th percentile is the Tinsh's way of saying "ZOMG! Half of all public school students are below average! Public schools and teachers SUCK!"

exanonymous said...

Shorter Mallard Fillmore:

On average, the average school scores in an average percentile.

Take THAT, Math and public education!

Me:
*facepalm* Of COURSE they're at 50%! That's the average of them as the largest group, so they're going to average out and whatever score they get will be assigned the 50%th percentile. But here's the kicker: it's a bell curve. And 84% is only one standard deviation away from the average. Statistically, 60%-85% is not a significant deviation away from the average, certainly not enough to crap on public schools.

Tinsley: Sociopath said...

Damn it, Tinsley we know that you hate the intelligent, and want to destroy education! Get to the comics that you want to do: How Laura Schlessinger was too nice, and that made her a racism, even though racism is imaginary; how the Chilean miners deserved what they got for being overpaid elitists with easy jobs; why dressing up in a Waffen Schollstaffel uniform is the perfect way to celebrate freedom from the dirty faggot mongrel niggers; why the video game industry's attempt to reduce the relentless censorship is designed to get us to kill each other in horrible ways; and why the Democratic loss next year will prevent the destruction of the world. Come on, everyone knows you believe those things; say them so that someone will work up the nerve to lynch you!

rewinn said...

If parents who teach one, two or three kids may, on average, do better than teachers with thirty kids in a class ... what does this mean?

Small class sizes are good?

Kaitlyn said...

Home-schooled kids are elitists!

Ducky is Right said...

Percentiles do not work that way! Good night!

Marion Delgado said...

Wow, I misread the reports I saw, which implied that less than a third of home-schooled kids felt confident enough even to be assessed on the kinds of tests public-school students are forced to take. :)

That's right, legally, home-schooling is double-self-selecting - no need for assessment under things like NCLB etc.

Kip W said...

exanonymous, Tin needs a home-schooled kid to explain that to him, but what can he do? They won't relax that damned restraining order.

exanonymous said...

Ha!

I'm wondering why Mallard is so hung up on those scores anyways. Those with the most significant deviation away from the average wind up at good colleges and universities and become the educated liberals he despises.

Also, since I never scored as low as 85% and attended public schools, I would hazard to say that homeschooling doesn't churn out super-geniuses because it's free from government, and that those home-schooled kids who are genius level have faced bullying their parents opted to home-school them because certain other anti-"elitist" parents don't take the time to tell their children that harassing and abusing someone because they are smarter is wrong.