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Comment by thinkingtoilet | Hacker News Reader

We are in an age where people who watch a youtube video think they know more than the experts. Being a good teacher is a skill and understanding childhood development is something that requires proper education. I'm not saying there is never a good reason to home-school your kid, but most people who do it are unqualified and from my limited experience the kids who are home schooled have huge holes in their education. Surprisingly, they do seem to be fine socially which is what you hear many people worry about.

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What do you consider the "proper education"?

Studying the subject academically in any real capacity. Also, in the US, every teaching degree requires time in a classroom as a student teacher with an experienced teacher as your mentor.

  Studying the subject academically in any real capacity.

What do you mean by "in any real capacity"? I have read many books and academic papers about education. And I have experimented with some of the things I've learned. Does that count?

Among current K-12 teachers in the United States, what would you estimate is the median number of academic/research papers related to education or adjacent fields that they have read in the past 24 months?

  in the US, every teaching degree requires

A teaching degree is neither necessary not sufficient for effective teaching. There are thousands of ineffective teachers with US teaching degrees. There are thousands of effective teachers without teaching degrees.

This is what I'm talking about. This attitude of I read a paper or two so I know what it's like in a classroom with multiple kids at different ages that have different needs. Or I know what it's like in a classroom with 20 kids. Yes there are bad teachers, but you present the argument like "there are bad teachers therefore all homeschooling teachers are better" which is absurd.

"There are thousands of effective teachers without teaching degrees."

I doubt it. And there are countless thousands more that are terrible and whose kids are very behind.

"This attitude of I read a paper or two so I know what it's like in a classroom with multiple kids at different ages that have different needs."

How is this different from "I went to teachers' college so I know how to teach"?

I have one child. If I were to homeschool my child, I would not need to know "what it's like in a classroom with 20 kids".

I'd imagine there are approximately zero homeschoolers who are managing a classroom of 20 kids.

The skills, knowledge and behaviors required to obtain and keep a job as a public school teacher are not the same as those required to homeschool your own kids.

> think they know more than the experts.

Ah, the experts. I have no sort of education in education at all. Why was I better (and still am) at helping mates learn and solve CS exercises at Uni than some of the expert and qualified teachers? A friend of mine recently started a CS course to pivot his professional career. When he doesn't understand what the teacher is on about, he comes to me for help.

I have huge respect for the concept of teachers, but sadly a lot of people are teachers because they didn't know what else to be.

> from my limited experience the kids who are home schooled have huge holes in their education

I don't want this to sound snarky at all, but I'd honestly be happy to provide you with real life cases that would broaden your experience and hopefully tilt your viewpoint.

I'm so worried for those parents raising children outside of school without degrees in childhood development! Think of all the unqualified parenting time happening without skilled teachers to supervise!

Teachers are mostly very uneducated and ineffective at teaching itself and the subjects they teach. I don’t think spending time to get an education degree or certification means much. Parents care for their children more than any random teacher, especially ones that resist performance measurements to judge their effectiveness. I would expect the average parent to be FAR more effective just based on that care.

But good teachers can make a huge difference, it's a shame identifying them is a black art and so few people get that access.

I went to a rural public school, underfunded as they come, and my HS math teacher is still in the top 3 of all teachers / instructors I've had throughout my life. If my parents were to teach me math, I simply wouldn't be working in a STEM-field today.

The majority of my teachers were good. The dynamic was completely different compared to being around my parents.

Leave the teaching to the professionals.

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