Planet America

[arthwollipot]

Insufficient data to answer the question.

Exactly. Perhaps all the barking and mask wearing was a response to all the publicity. We don't know.

But....here's the point of my last comment. The masks, barking, and complaints to teachers and administrators were very real, and the school spokesman said they were not. Regardless of the explanaiion, Mr. Sorenson was lying. That doesn't end well when there's video evidence.

What I'm interested in is how did it start, and why did it escalate?

[stanky]

easy: home schooling.

Easy?

I know people who have done it with great success. In each case, the woman, who was always the primary teacher, was very intelligent, and, for lack of a better word, disciplined. i.e. She wasn't flighty. She wasn't lazy. She was the sort who could stick to a schedule and get things done.

Not every parent meets those criteria.

i've seen it work well with minimal adult intervention. sometimes a kid has his own drive and motivation. it seldom has a chance to emerge under the stiffling routine of authoritarianism. pity it's gettiing worse. alternate lifesrtyles and communities are getting squeezed hard. Freak scenes like Sausalito are breeding ground for ideas that find homes in more normal society.

it goes like this: people that hate jobs find ways to live cheap. usually by dodging rent. At Sausalito, the rent dodge was to float a 'boat' at a bay, The boat could be an old schoolbus with funky pontoons and no motor. Like-minded sorts tend to sniff out such opportunities; next thing you know, there's a community with kids and all, that has extra freedom of time because they can live in a neat place for super cheap instead of grinding away to afford an apartment or mortgage.

That's basically crushed these days, homelessness replacing it; dignity destroyed for the worst of reasons. Americans should be outraged, because FREEDOM and all that hype...but they mostly don't even know alternatives existed.
same with school

[Meadmaker]

Insufficient data to answer the question.

Exactly. Perhaps all the barking and mask wearing was a response to all the publicity. We don't know.

The first "publicity" would have been an email sent to parents last week.

At the time of the email, "it", i.e. some sort of animal fashion and/or behavior, was going on. After the email, the protest occurred. After that, it hit the youtube.

The mask wearing, according to the mother of one of the mask wearers, began long before that.


In the protest video, a couple of kids identified a specific child as a leader of the furries, and it was said she had been doing it all year, gathering support as time went on.

So, it's not possible that it was a resonse to publicity. On the other hand, it could have been something vaguely like that. It could be a response to what you might call "internal" publicity. i.e. Events inside the school. Some people start doing a mask and/or ear headband thing. Others react. Factions form. People join one faction or another. This grows into harassment, threats, maybe some low level physical confrontation. Eventually some kid is caught throwing an orange, and that's enough to draw the attention of staff.

Although, the protestors said staff had ignored a lot of physical provocations before that. It's impossible for us on the internet to say exactly what went on or how much physical harassment or bullying was going on. Furries and non-furries have both been accused, by parents, of bullying.

[Meadmaker]

That's basically crushed these days, homelessness replacing it; dignity destroyed for the worst of reasons. Americans should be outraged, because FREEDOM and all that hype...but they mostly don't even know alternatives existed.
same with school

When it comes to school, Americans are outraged, and alternatives are being sought. Homeschooling is a much bigger thing than it was, and legal barriers to homeschooling have been removed in many states. And people are rightly calling it FREEDOM.


The left is generally opposed to it.

[arthwollipot]

The first "publicity" would have been an email sent to parents last week.

Really. At this particular school, perhaps. But furry panic has been going ever since it became the populist outrage-du-jour with the litterbox myth a few years back.

That's why I'm kind of dismissive of this current incarnation. It's bullshit populism that targets a demographic that already occupies a pretty low spot on the social pecking order.

[Admin]

easy: home schooling.

I love the fantasy world you live in, it must be really comforting.

[stanky]

it's not a "one size fits all" fantasy. but it's an obvious ingredient...and close to home.
my nephew, for instance, found school to be a bore. my brother suggested that he quit going. so he did. before high school.
in a few years, he was getting paid to tutor the kids in the school he quit. Many years later, he wanted to do college; got full scholarship offers to 4 ivy league schools. Reason why? He was free to travel with his dad. In the process, he learned fluent Spanish and computer stuff. Makes good living today from skills he honed by not going to school. Owns home, land, etc. Big education wants kids like that, ironically. Never would have happened if my brother wasn't the type to dodge a 'real' job and real rent. The boy got to live in Swaziland for a year. and La Paz. Looks good on resume'.

he's not the only one, by far. similar for other kids; many from radical anarchist communities. That experience, and global travel, teach these kids plenty...so much, in fact, that the normal (mono-lingual) kids seem kinda retarded.

I've spilled some details about this subject in the past; someone called me 'liar'. i'm not, but i don't want to invade friend's privacy.

around here (rural appalachia) kids are home-schooled for 2 reasons:
1. Public school isn't Jesusy enough.
2. Public school is too Jesusy.

maybe it's too late these days; don't know. but i know some kids that grew up on sailboats; sailed between Carribean islands and the FL keys. Motor bikes on board for when they docked; scuba equipment, odd jobs and travel. those kids shine. like, extra alive.

In my world, i know far more of that rare type than normal ones.
It seems to require a parent that rejects the regular job scenario.
kids adjust quickly to whatever, long as they got the love.

[Meadmaker]

it's not a "one size fits all" fantasy. but it's an obvious ingredient...and close to home.

Yeah, one size does not fit.all. I knew some kids who went to traditional schools, public or private, and did really well.



In all seriousness, it's true that there are some great coutcomes for people who eschew traditional education for their kids in favor of homeschooling or even more unorthodox ways of raising and educating children. It's also true that there are kids who are homeschooled, and end up ignorant and unemployable at anything beyond menial labor.. And kids who travel their world with their gypsy (not the actual ethnic group) parents, and who end up malnourished, unvaccinated, or maybe sold as sex slaves.

I'm glad that we in America have public schools so that people who don't feel like they can take on the burden of eduation themselves can have mostly ok alternatives to homeschooling. And for those who can, they have the freedom to choose.

[arthwollipot]

If you want to avoid the racial slur, "traveller" is an acceptable term.

[Admin]

In all seriousness, it's true that there are some great coutcomes for people who eschew traditional education for their kids in favor of homeschooling or even more unorthodox ways of raising and educating children. It's also true that there are kids who are homeschooled, and end up ignorant and unemployable at anything beyond menial labor..

The point is, if there was no school, the vast majority of parents would be unable to cope with home schooling and it would be an abject disaster.

2/3 of kids in America have both parents working. The idea that home schooling is an option is simple absurdity.