I think the boredom factor is a major cause of bullying and trouble-making in general. My experience is that bullies are quite often the really clever ones who are lacking in mental stimulation as well as empathy. I would love to see schools pay more attention to individual talents or interests and try to divert children’s energies into something more productive and stimulating. It would be more effective than putting bullies in detention where they become even more bored and frustrated.

Other children just need to get rid of some physical energy. I have been continuously amazed by teachers who complain about children who won’t sit still then spend all of break times telling them not to run! Children, especially boys and particularly those with ADHD, need physical exercise by the bucket load to be able to concentrate in class. Why they don’t just start each school day making them all run around the oval or do aerobics is beyond me. I am convinced that schools need a few punchbags and basketball hoops just as much as they need new computers!

There will still be a few bullies who are just plain thugs who should be separated from their mates in special classes or even separate schools under strict discipline.

Unfortunately, I think it will take more than this to solve the systematic problems that Jolanda has encountered. I am not sure what the answer is here apart from persistence and hoping that one day someone useful will answer the phone. I have had similar problems dealing with DIMIA (Immigration Dept.) – no-one has any accountability and they always seem to be on holiday! However, it only took the media to expose a few major blunders by DIMIA to get them to admit incompetence and promise changes – whether it makes any difference remains to be seen.

ps. I am a she not a he – not that it matters.

My conclusions on this topic-
Home schooling is in its infancy, although it is much more widespread a practice in the western world than I previously thought.
It has grown out of dissatisfaction, one way or another, with our conventional public school system. Most proponents (concerned parents), at this stage, are ‘reactionary’, having removed their child from the PS system as an act of last resort. Few seemed to have planned the use of Home Ed from pre education (this is not a criticism). This can be seen in the ‘fractured’ nature of home ed.
It is the responsibility of the government to supply adequate funding & staffing to deal with the ‘problems’ that drive people from public education. As mentioned above incapacity to deal with ‘fringe’ problems may be sourced to inadequate funding & staffing of our PS system. It is a flow on from the economic rationalism of our western materialist age.
Home Ed will be growing phenomena & for this reason it needs all the support it can get. Government needs to take it seriously. It will be much more expensive to support home ed correctly than to fix public ed.
Networking is crucial for the participants at this stage, as are support groups.
It is a highly political topic, where most of the direct participants are not particularly political. This is totally understandable & in no way a criticism of those doing the best for their kids..
I will support home ed thru the Humanist Movement, who are currently setting up a ‘Centre of Cultures’ in Sydney, modelled on similar ventures in NY & other. Links

http://www.humanisten.ch/hi/front/index.php?lang=en

http://www.humanistparty.org.uk/links.htm

http://centerofcultures.info/pMachine/weblog.php

http://www.humanistmovement.org/

Swilkie, your conclusions about home education leave a lot to be desired.

1. Home education is NOT in its infancy, home education predates formal mass education, which is barely 100 years old.

2. A very large number of home educators decide to home educate BEFORE their children reach school age (I am such a parent, my eldest was 6 months old when we decided we would prefer to home educate him).

3. There are many non-reactionary reasons for home educating (you would see the reactionary reason in this thread because this thread is about a problem in schools, bullying, however, there is much more to home educating than described in this thread alone. In our case, we home educate because children learn most readily in the company of people they love and respect, and because much time is wasted in school rooms, whereas at home our children can learn at their pace without the distraction of 25 (at least) other children's need for attention. At home they can learn from relevant life activities instead of from discussion of life occurring OUTSIDE the classroom. Our reasons for home educating our children are not reactionary but rather seeing "a better way" than formal mass education, we are part of the large contingent of home educators who view mass education (mass production) as resulting in compromise for the vast majority.

Please don't be to quick in drawing your conclusions about home education from this discussion alone. What you call "fragmented" is the strength in home educating, the ultimate virtue of home education is "choice", the ability to do it "your way" with no compromise!

Even if all the "problems" in mass education were ironed out (an impossibility, by the way), I would still home educate, as would many home educators I know - it's about ideology, not dissatisfaction for many of us.

Swilkie,

Thank you for taking the time to try to understand home ed. I appreciate your support and willingness to listen. I think you need to realise though, that the vast majority of home educators are not 'reactionary' and rather plan this course of action since pre school. Most parents I know who home educate (more than 70%) have been on this course since their children were infants and have never had their children enrolled in schools. I also am seeing a greater number opt out of the school system, but as yet, this has not been a higher percentage than those who make the choice prior to age 6. Having said that, I am speaking purely of the home edders I know.

The reason that I believe the balance is swayed in this forum is just that many who have been in the school system, have had a more difficult time and tend to be a bit more vocal. I for one, have never enrolled my children in school and the trend to do so is quite strong. The home ed group we belong to has more 0-6's than school aged kids and at least 70% of the enquiries I am currently getting are from Mums of pre schoolers not wanting to put their kids in school, the other 30% are from parents at their wits end on how to help their kids in schools.

I would like to see changes happen in schools as my daughter from my first marriage would benefit greatly from an overhaul of the system and I would support any such change. I just can't see any way to improve it enough to make it a viable alternative to home ed.

Sajo. I had to laugh about your comment about bureaucrats always being on holidays. I have actually worked out why that is!

What happens is that when you make a complaint etc, against a bureaucrat or public servant the relevant Department/person etc, is required to provide a report on the matter detailing their version or tale. They have that right! Then they are sent on “Holidays” probably on stress leave and at our expense, so that the person who is looking into the matter only has the report to rely on. You can’t ask a report any questions!

Because bureaucrats have great faith in their fellow public servants and they are by law innocent until proven guilty, those looking into the matter are required to believe the report on face value. Of course the report is a tale presented by those responsible and it usually is a total misrepresentation of the facts that discredits the complainant and justifies any action that was taken.

It’s the process that they use to deal with issues so as to ensure that those responsible always get the last word and that they cover everything up. Then of course they refer to the matter as being investigated. It’s all a process that has been designed to protect the reputation of those in power and of public servants.

Then any correspondence to the complaintant in relation to the matter starts with I have been advised, or it is my understanding.

Sorry about referring to you as a he and not a she. It was your name that did it and the fact that you didn’t say anything.

Thanks to Gen and SamA for providing balanced information to those of us who are genuinely interested. Some have seen our questions as some sort of attack on the system which is a shame. It is quite understandable that those of us without knowledge should want to know more and are likely to make some inaccurate guesses in our quest.

Homeschoolers were in a wonderful position in this forum to help 'educate'. Some have been very helpful and understood that we want to know the disavantages as well as the positives. I think I am a bit more enlightened as to how homeschooling works and the kinds of motivations behind it. Probably enough to investigate it further as a possibility for my children although I am passionate about the need for good public schooling so am not really ready to desert them yet. It is a shame it is not possible to combine the two somehow - more parental involvement in the curriculum and school management and better accountability for individual teachers could be a good compromise for a lot of people.

Some people have basically told us to go away and mind our own business which kind of puts me off a bit. This sort of attitude does nothing to alter the misguided opinion that homeschooled children are overprotected and isolated from society. Until homeschooling becomes far more common all those associated with it should realise that they are ambassadors for the movement and as such must be both welcoming and respectful of others and accept that their views will be challenged from time to time. The ones who challenge you the most are those who are most interested in what you have to say.

Thanks

Sarah