Homeschooling[W:199]

Re: Homeschooling

Leo said:

I have not responded to the poll because, with respect, the options tend to be too absolute (such as thinking homeschooling is dumb). Home schooling is not popular in either the UK or Australia, but I have met one person who was home schooled, and while 'a single swallow does not a summer make', he was not a good advertisement for the system. I will qualify this by pointing out that he was part of a fundamentalist religious sect, so I doubt he was representative of the breed.

I have two problems with coming to any definitive view on homeschooling. The first being that I went to Public School (note the capitalisation - it means something different in the UK from what it means in the USA). The teachers were very highly qualified (few did not hold a doctorate in the discipline they taught) and by and large, both proficient and unbiased. (My school has the highest academic record in the UK - and has had for a couple of hundred years.) I was not therefore aware of the 'political agenda' - liberal or otherwise - of the education system to which I was subjected. I was aware of having available to me a master in whatever discipline I was studying, and to whom I could refer (outside class) with any issues therein which troubled me.

The second problem flows on from the first, inasmuch as I consider the cumulative effect of so many highly qualified teachers in all disciples to be difficult to replicate in the average well-educated household consisting of two adults, whose economic responsibilities might preclude them spending all day educating their children (assuming they are adequately qualified to do so right up to university entrance level).

I can see why the religiously fundamental might want to shield their children from what they see as overly secular influences, but I can also see why the German state has made public education mandatory. It is my view that parents should not have sole responsibility (and carte blanche) as to how their children are informed about the world in which they must live. A very wise man once wrote - "Your children come through you, not from you ..." We are not the property of our parents to indoctrinate as they wish.

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Wish they'd change that stupid line I encounter every so often.

It shouldn't be "those that can't do, teach".

It should be "Those that can't teach, do".

Or something like that.

Because really, teaching the stuff you learned requires additional skill and/or training over and above your area of learning.

Re: Homeschooling

Cardinal said:

The Christian example is the one I focused on because I live in the United States, we have mostly American members, and Christians are the majority religion. It would not surprise me in the least if you told me that Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish or Zoroastrian families were doing the same things with the same negative consequences.

And my knickers aren't in a twist. My middle name is Cucumber, as in "cool as a."

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We've interacted on this forum a few times so I'm guessing that you had some rough impression of some of my positions. Perhaps you're aware that I'm an Atheist. I bring this up because I want to ask you a question. If I assured you that I would not introduce any theological issues into a school curriculum would you, assume you have the authority, grant me a free hand to design a national school curriculum for children?

Re: Homeschooling

RiverDad said:

We've interacted on this forum a few times so I'm guessing that you had some rough impression of some of my positions. Perhaps you're aware that I'm an Atheist. I bring this up because I want to ask you a question. If I assured you that I would not introduce any theological issues into a school curriculum would you, assume you have the authority, grant me a free hand to design a national school curriculum for children?

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No. It's all very well and good that you're an atheist, but there are other things about you that make me decidedly nervous about putting you in charge of any curriculum.

You asked.

Re: Homeschooling

Cardinal said:

No. It's all very well and good that you're an atheist, but there are other things about you that make me decidedly nervous about putting you in charge of any curriculum.

You asked.

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Precisely so. (I knew the answer, which is why I asked the question.)

There are people on the other side of the intellectual divide who feel the same about what is taking place in schools these days, including the religious. So why do you believe so strongly that your viewpoint should be imposed on all young children when you're not willing to allow me to impose my viewpoint on all young children?

Re: Homeschooling

RiverDad said:

Precisely so. (I knew the answer, which is why I asked the question.)

There are people on the other side of the intellectual divide who feel the same about what is taking place in schools these days, including the religious. So why do you believe so strongly that your viewpoint should be imposed on all young children when you're not willing to allow me to impose my viewpoint on all young children?

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I've gone into this already throughout the thread. Your ideology being secular rather than theological doesn't change my position (or my explanations).

Re: Homeschooling

Cardinal said:

I've gone into this already throughout the thread. Your ideology being secular rather than theological doesn't change my position (or my explanations).

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I don't think that we have gone through this. My question focuses on why you believe that you have some right to force your position onto the children of strangers and why you know better than they what is in the best interests of their own children. I don't believe that I know what is better for other people's children. That's a very alien way of thinking for me. I'm trying to understand how it is that you've come to hold this peculiar position.

Re: Homeschooling

Paschendale said:

It seems that homeschool is often the last resort of the deeply religious to keep their children from learning anything about the world around them, either in terms of science, politics, economics, sexuality, medicine, or human behavior, so that they can never make an informed decision as to whether to adhere to the religious precepts of their parents or not.

Or, you know, "avoid Liberal/socialist brainwashing of the public schools". Basically the same thing.

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It's very popular among the liberal Seattleites and those of the surrounding suburbs.

Re: Homeschooling

RiverDad said:

I don't think that we have gone through this. My question focuses on why you believe that you have some right to force your position onto the children of strangers and why you know better than they what is in the best interests of their own children. I don't believe that I know what is better for other people's children. That's a very alien way of thinking for me. I'm trying to understand how it is that you've come to hold this peculiar position.

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My explanations at the beginning of this thread, and any clarifications of nuance that were made as a result of my discussion with Gathomas is sufficient.

Re: Homeschooling

The Mark said:

I'm both worried and in agreement with this seeming idea/trend.

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I think that the kids who are homeschooled for non-religious reasons and do well with it would do just fine in a school setting, too. And some (many?) of them might be adjusted fine. But the places where it really shows is the kids who go out into the world trained to be little soldiers for Jesus and lack any exposure at all to competing viewpoints. They don't know how to compare ideas because they were only ever exposed to one. Whether this happens in a homeschool environment or any other, it will really cripple a person intellectually. Homeschooling has simply proven a very effective way to achieve this. A more well-rounded upbringing, in a home or a school environment, will produce a person with a much healthier mind.

It's entirely possible that the negative trends in homeschooling are a result of larger problems, as opposed to anything from the homeschool itself. It should be recognized, however, that it is a completely unfeasible system for families that don't have a person who can stay at home to educate the children, and so the whole notion is a bit elitist. It is an impossibility for a really struggling family where both parents need to work, or for a single parent. So, for all that anyone wants to blast the public school system and praise homeschooling situations, the latter is simply not an option for a large number of Americans, and we need to ensure that the system that everyone can use is as good as it can possibly be. Anything else is just going to divide education and knowledge between the upper and lower classes and further stratify the nation.

RiverDad said:

I don't think that we have gone through this. My question focuses on why you believe that you have some right to force your position onto the children of strangers and why you know better than they what is in the best interests of their own children. I don't believe that I know what is better for other people's children. That's a very alien way of thinking for me. I'm trying to understand how it is that you've come to hold this peculiar position.

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Being related to someone has nothing to do with capability to act in their best interests.

Re: Homeschooling

Paschendale said:

Being related to someone has nothing to do with capability to act in their best interests.

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Let me guess, being a socialist best qualifies one for that task, right?

Re: Homeschooling

Leo said:

I have not responded to the poll because, with respect, the options tend to be too absolute (such as thinking homeschooling is dumb). Home schooling is not popular in either the UK or Australia, but I have met one person who was home schooled, and while 'a single swallow does not a summer make', he was not a good advertisement for the system. I will qualify this by pointing out that he was part of a fundamentalist religious sect, so I doubt he was representative of the breed.

I have two problems with coming to any definitive view on homeschooling. The first being that I went to Public School (note the capitalisation - it means something different in the UK from what it means in the USA). The teachers were very highly qualified (few did not hold a doctorate in the discipline they taught) and by and large, both proficient and unbiased. (My school has the highest academic record in the UK - and has had for a couple of hundred years.) I was not therefore aware of the 'political agenda' - liberal or otherwise - of the education system to which I was subjected. I was aware of having available to me a master in whatever discipline I was studying, and to whom I could refer (outside class) with any issues therein which troubled me.

The second problem flows on from the first, inasmuch as I consider the cumulative effect of so many highly qualified teachers in all disciples to be difficult to replicate in the average well-educated household consisting of two adults, whose economic responsibilities might preclude them spending all day educating their children (assuming they are adequately qualified to do so right up to university entrance level).

I can see why the religiously fundamental might want to shield their children from what they see as overly secular influences, but I can also see why the German state has made public education mandatory. It is my view that parents should not have sole responsibility (and carte blanche) as to how their children are informed about the world in which they must live. A very wise man once wrote - "Your children come through you, not from you ..." We are not the property of our parents to indoctrinate as they wish.

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Or is it possible that most parents who homeschool do so to allow their children the best possible education and solid grounding in all core subject matter? To allow their children to learn and educate themselves separated from the intense social indoctrination that is so often the case in the public schools? To provide an education customized for their child's benefit rather than a one-size-fits-all cookie cutter process that is dumbed down to accommodate the slowest students and that discourages independent and creative thought? To allow their child the ability to be the best he or she can be and not handicapped by a public school system that is one of the poorest among developed nations?

And the quotation you presented as your point of view, i.e.: "We are not the property of our parents to indoctrinate as they wish." That send a chill through my very bones. Once we remove the child from the authority of the parent, the child becomes the property of the state to indoctrinate as it wishes. That to me is a far more dangerous and unacceptable scenario.

Re: Homeschooling

Paschendale said:

So, for all that anyone wants to blast the public school system and praise homeschooling situations, the latter is simply not an option for a large number of Americans, and we need to ensure that the system that everyone can use is as good as it can possibly be. Anything else is just going to divide education and knowledge between the upper and lower classes and further stratify the nation.

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Oh brother. Coming from the ideological camp which inflicted the multiculturalist cancer on society, this concern about an increasingly stratified society is rich. If you didn't want a stratified society then why did you inject the cancer into society? Public schooling back in the 30s-60s actually did have the bank president's son attending school alongside the bank janitor's daughter. There was a high level of social cohesion and schools were great for bridging the class-gap. Go and check how many private schools currently exist in North Dakota, one of our least diverse states. Here's the list of all North Dakota high schools. Here are the 4 Catholic and 2 Lutheran High Schools in the state.

Re: Homeschooling

lizzie said:

So, you are taking a small sample of a large group, and painting them all to look like fringe religious fanatics?

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the way i have 'heard' his presentations, the homeschooled children of fringe/religious parents tend not to have an opportunity to explore anything outside of that fringe ideology primarily because they have been homeschooled. had they been in public school, they may have been able to view other perspectives, causing them to question the fringe ideology they were exposed to at home

Re: Homeschooling

RiverDad said:

Oh brother. Coming from the ideological camp which inflicted the multiculturalist cancer on society, this concern about an increasingly stratified society is rich. If you didn't want a stratified society then why did you inject the cancer into society? Public schooling back in the 30s-60s actually did have the bank president's son attending school alongside the bank janitor's daughter. There was a high level of social cohesion and schools were great for bridging the class-gap. Go and check how many private schools currently exist in North Dakota, one of our least diverse states. Here's the list of all North Dakota high schools. Here are the 4 Catholic and 2 Lutheran High Schools in the state.

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yours was not my observation as a student in the 50's and 60's
the absence of such 'cohesion' was due to the black kids being required to receive inferior teaching in an inferior facility
that's where the bank president's janitor's kids were taught
multiculturalism is one of the things that makes our nation great. it is hardly a cancer. we need more of it

Re: Homeschooling

Every time I start to have a little hope for the human race, along comes someone to remind me there are still racist out there.

justabubba said:

yours was not my observation as a student in the 50's and 60's
the absence of such 'cohesion' was due to the black kids being required to receive inferior teaching in an inferior facility
that's where the bank president's janitor's kids were taught
multiculturalism is one of the things that makes our nation great. it is hardly a cancer. we need more of it

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Re: Homeschooling

justabubba said:

yours was not my observation as a student in the 50's and 60's
the absence of such 'cohesion' was due to the black kids being required to receive inferior teaching in an inferior facility
that's where the bank president's janitor's kids were taught
multiculturalism is one of the things that makes our nation great. it is hardly a cancer. we need more of it

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The fact is though, that back in the 40's and 50's during the time that segregation was the norm, the black kids really weren't getting an inferior education. Thomas Sowell has written extensively about this. He was educated in inner city New York and has gone back to thoroughly research and evaluate the education in his all black school compared to the nearby all white school. He said in different years the 'white' school turned in a slightly better performance than the 'black' school when the next year the 'black' school would be on top. But it was obvious that the kids in both were receiving comparable educations. He himself received an education sufficient to allow him to compete with anybody anywhere.

He went on to do extensive research and has written much on the subject. One excerpt:


Further Sowell and others have meticulously documented how black people were the most rapidly advancing demographic in the country, academically, financially, professionally, right up to the time of the Great Society initiatives. Paraphrasing his extensive remarks on the subject: It was only after sometimes brutally enforced desegregation and the government's declaration of black people, and the government's declaration of black people as 'disadvantaged', etc. that such progress stalled and in many cases began to reverse itself.

And now we have one-size-fits-all schools that are managing to adequately educate only a select few who are the exceptions rather than the rule. We can do better. Homeschooling is sometimes the ONLY viable option for parents who care that their children receive the best education available.

Re: Homeschooling

RiverDad said:

If you believe that you, as a voter, have the right to exert your opinion on how I, a parent, educate my child, then doesn't this privilege also come with a responsibility? Can the parents send you a bill for a portion of their home, a portion of their food budget, a portion of their clothing expenses, and for all of the other costs that they incur in raising their children?

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Actually there is a bit of a strawman involved in your response. I am not trying to exert my opinion upon you via the ballot box (amongst other factors, I have never voted - I was not old enough until last year) but rather discussing a topic put up for that purpose. I do not live in the US (and have no intention of so doing), so the likelihood of my opinions (political or otherwise) affecting you is fairly remote.

My viewpoint is that children do not ask to be born, and that parents (for a variety of reasons) choose to have children. Having made this choice, they owe their children the responsibility of caring and providing for them as best they can, but the children do not owe their parents anything, and they are not the property of their parents.

I also happen to consider that the vast majority of parents discharge their duties admirably, and love their children as extensions of themselves - which is as evolving nature has intended. I was brought up in a single parent family (my dad died when i was little) and I am sure my mum has made many sacrifices on my behalf (for which I love her) but while reasonably well educated (one Baccalaureate and one Masters), she is not academically capable of the cumulative effect of the many highly qualified educators at the school I attended, or at the university at which I am currently reading. This is not a comment to her detriment, it a statement of fact, supported by logic and reason - knowledgeable though she is in her chosen disciplines, she cannot match the combined knowledge of the many educators to whom I am subjected.

In addition to which, were I educated by her alone, I would be more subject to the beliefs and prejudices which she, like ever other human being, entertains. I would emerge less well socialised, with a much lesser exposure to philosophies different from hers. I do not believe that would have been acting in my best interests. And this is leaving aside any religious influences.

And in closing, the fact that children are not your property to do with as you choose, does not validate the view that someone else, the state in particular, enjoys that right. No one does - the guiding principle at all times must be the rights and welfare of the child. I am aware that this viewpoint may be found offensive by the old guard of parents whose guiding principles may owe more to the Old Testament than the Convention on the Rights of the Child (a convention which only Somalia and the USA refuse to ratify), but that sort of 'traditional' thinking has never engendered progress, or justice, of any kind.

Re: Homeschooling

AlbqOwl said:

Or is it possible that most parents who homeschool do so to allow their children the best possible education and solid grounding in all core subject matter? To allow their children to learn and educate themselves separated from the intense social indoctrination that is so often the case in the public schools? To provide an education customized for their child's benefit rather than a one-size-fits-all cookie cutter process that is dumbed down to accommodate the slowest students and that discourages independent and creative thought? To allow their child the ability to be the best he or she can be and not handicapped by a public school system that is one of the poorest among developed nations?

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Not only is it possible, but I am sure that most parents who choose to home school their children have those laudable aims in mind. What I am questioning is several assumptions - one of which is that the parents concerned are capable of personally providing their children the best possible education. Another is that all public schooling is deficient, or to use your words 'dumbed down to accommodate the slowest students'. To which I may easily respond that some schools are more capable than others, and the same applies to parents - except that few parents can muster the academic resources that a half-way-competent school cumulatively can.

AlbqOwl said:

And the quotation you presented as your point of view, i.e.: "We are not the property of our parents to indoctrinate as they wish." That send a chill through my very bones. Once we remove the child from the authority of the parent, the child becomes the property of the state to indoctrinate as it wishes. That to me is a far more dangerous and unacceptable scenario.

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It was not a quotation when I presented it - but rather a point of view. I find the phrase 'the authority of the parent' as chilling as you apparently find the concept of the rights of the child. The alternative to parental dictatorship and manipulation is not that of the state, or any other body. The most desirable alternative is the over-riding principle of the needs, rights, and wishes of the child. The role of the state, or more correctly - the legal system, in these matters is one of regulation to that end - not an alternative dictatorship to parental tyranny.

Remember that your child did not ask to be born, and a parent's responsibilities are incomparably greater than any imagined (and often Biblical) parental rights.

Re: Homeschooling

Leo said:

but while reasonably well educated (one Baccalaureate and one Masters), she is not academically capable of the cumulative effect of the many highly qualified educators at the school I attended

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Giving an illiterate man access to the Library of Congress doesn't expose him to the wealth of information contained within millions of books. Exposing a young student to a gifted mathematician doesn't make the student's task of learning his multiplication tables proceed any easier than if the student's mother, who is fairly intelligent, teaches the child. I see this play out quite frequently at the university level - a gifted professor quite often has difficulty in teaching elementary knowledge in a manner which introductory-level students can fully grasp whereas some lowly TA attached to the class has better outcomes when explaining the same material.

Where expertise is crucial is in areas where nuances are instrumental and for most topics covered in public schools, nuance is not needed. Nuanced thinking develops upon a foundation of knowledge, it doesn't serve very well when it's used to construct the foundation.

In addition to which, were I educated by her alone, I would be more subject to the beliefs and prejudices which she, like ever other human being, entertains. I would emerge less well socialised, with a much lesser exposure to philosophies different from hers. I do not believe that would have been acting in my best interests. And this is leaving aside any religious influences.

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You have an entire lifetime ahead of you in which you can strike out on your own path and be influenced by the ideas of others. When you're young you're not really in a position to discern what is in your best interests. Of the people in your life who are best suited to determine what is in your best interests, your parents are at the top of the list. Exposing children to the cliched ideas favored by liberals likely doesn't do young children any favors. Some parents are supportive of that exposure and they know what is best for their own children. Other parents seek to avoid vacuous ideologies and seek to expose their children to a more enriched world of thought. Your position that exposing a young child to a panoply of ideas is a universal good is merely a normative position.

And in closing, the fact that children are not your property to do with as you choose, does not validate the view that someone else, the state in particular, enjoys that right. No one does - the guiding principle at all times must be the rights and welfare of the child. I am aware that this viewpoint may be found offensive by the old guard of parents whose guiding principles may owe more to the Old Testament than the Convention on the Rights of the Child (a convention which only Somalia and the USA refuse to ratify), but that sort of 'traditional' thinking has never engendered progress, or justice, of any kind.

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My, you certainly are a close-minded fellow who seems to be in love with the righteousness of your own position. So much for diversity.

Re: Homeschooling

Leo said:

Not only is it possible, but I am sure that most parents who choose to home school their children have those laudable aims in mind. What I am questioning is several assumptions - one of which is that the parents concerned are capable of personally providing their children the best possible education. Another is that all public schooling is deficient, or to use your words 'dumbed down to accommodate the slowest students'. To which I may easily respond that some schools are more capable than others, and the same applies to parents - except that few parents can muster the academic resources that a half-way-competent school cumulatively can.

It was not a quotation when I presented it - but rather a point of view. I find the phrase 'the authority of the parent' as chilling as you apparently find the concept of the rights of the child. The alternative to parental dictatorship and manipulation is not that of the state, or any other body. The most desirable alternative is the over-riding principle of the needs, rights, and wishes of the child. The role of the state, or more correctly - the legal system, in these matters is one of regulation to that end - not an alternative dictatorship to parental tyranny.

Remember that your child did not ask to be born, and a parent's responsibilities are incomparably greater than any imagined (and often Biblical) parental rights.

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I am seeing parents with no better than a high school education do an exemplary job of taking their children through the requisite curriculum with a whole lot of time left over for the child to explore those areas his heart is most drawn to. As previously posted, I am personally watching hundreds of homeschooled kids from kindergarten through high school learn, blossom, and excel on their college entrance exams. The statistics overall, across the entire country, are showing that the homeschooled kids are far surpassing their public school peers.

That there may be exceptions in both cases does not diminish the overall success.

And if you think the state and legal system are better suited to direct the education of children than are parents, for god sake never run for public office, never agree to go on a school board, and please stay as far away from the children as possible.

Re: Homeschooling

AlbqOwl said:

I am seeing parents with no better than a high school education do an exemplary job of taking their children through the requisite curriculum with a whole lot of time left over for the child to explore those areas his heart is most drawn to. As previously posted, I am personally watching hundreds of homeschooled kids from kindergarten through high school learn, blossom, and excel on their college entrance exams. The statistics overall, across the entire country, are showing that the homeschooled kids are far surpassing their public school peers.

That there may be exceptions in both cases does not diminish the overall success.

And if you think the state and legal system are better suited to direct the education of children than are parents, for god sake never run for public office, never agree to go on a school board, and please stay as far away from the children as possible.

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[emphasis added by bubba]

would you please offer a cite for your stats

Re: Homeschooling

RiverDad said:

Giving an illiterate man access to the Library of Congress doesn't expose him to the wealth of information contained within millions of books. Exposing a young student to a gifted mathematician doesn't make the student's task of learning his multiplication tables proceed any easier than if the student's mother, who is fairly intelligent, teaches the child. I see this play out quite frequently at the university level - a gifted professor quite often has difficulty in teaching elementary knowledge in a manner which introductory-level students can fully grasp whereas some lowly TA attached to the class has better outcomes when explaining the same material.

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All of which may be so, but also makes assumptions unwarranted in the course of this discussion. We cannot take into account individual capabilities when discussing a generic concept, but more importantly, none of that addressed the simple point I was making. That being, all other things being equal, many highly qualified teachers are likely to be more effective than one moderately qualified parent.

RiverDad said:

Where expertise is crucial is in areas where nuances are instrumental and for most topics covered in public schools, nuance is not needed. Nuanced thinking develops upon a foundation of knowledge, it doesn't serve very well when it's used to construct the foundation.

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To quote- "I am a bear of very little brain, and long words bother me." So I am not sure quite what point you are making. You appear to be saying that it is preferable for children to be given only basic information - if so, I cannot entirely agree. Much is dependent upon the child's stage of development.

RiverDad said:

You have an entire lifetime ahead of you in which you can strike out on your own path and be influenced by the ideas of others.

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LOL, apart from the fact that your claim is technically incorrect - at 19, I have already used up one quarter of my allotted life-span - the Jesuits have a saying that goes something like "Give me the boy until the age of six, and I will give you the man." You are much too intelligent for any need to explain the implications.

RiverDad said:

When you're young you're not really in a position to discern what is in your best interests. Of the people in your life who are best suited to determine what is in your best interests, your parents are at the top of the list. Exposing children to the cliched ideas favored by liberals likely doesn't do young children any favors. Some parents are supportive of that exposure and they know what is best for their own children. Other parents seek to avoid vacuous ideologies and seek to expose their children to a more enriched world of thought. Your position that exposing a young child to a panoply of ideas is a universal good is merely a normative position.

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Again, too many assumptions for us to discuss this objectively. Might I just mention that the school I attended is 700 years old, and so much a part of the British Establishment it practically defines conservatism. So much for 'the cliched ideas favored by liberals'.

RiverDad said:

My, you certainly are a close-minded fellow who seems to be in love with the righteousness of your own position. So much for diversity.

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What a pity you decided to descend into the realms of personal criticism - I had other expectations.

Re: Homeschooling

justabubba said:

[emphasis added by bubba]

would you please offer a cite for your stats

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May I second that request?

Re: Homeschooling

AlbqOwl said:

I am seeing parents with no better than a high school education do an exemplary job of taking their children through the requisite curriculum with a whole lot of time left over for the child to explore those areas his heart is most drawn to. As previously posted, I am personally watching hundreds of homeschooled kids from kindergarten through high school learn, blossom, and excel on their college entrance exams. The statistics overall, across the entire country, are showing that the homeschooled kids are far surpassing their public school peers.

That there may be exceptions in both cases does not diminish the overall success.

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While I accept your assertions, it would be nice to see independent and objective verification. Homeschooling is a rare occurrence in most of Europe, but the best academic results at sixth form and university level in the UK are generally obtained by people who attended the Greater Public Schools (Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, etc.)

AlbqOwl said:

And if you think the state and legal system are better suited to direct the education of children than are parents, for god sake never run for public office, never agree to go on a school board, and please stay as far away from the children as possible.

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Well, I do happen to think that independent and suitably qualified authorities are better suited to directing the education of children than many individual parents. But let not your heart be troubled, I am reading for a double degree in Laws, Jurisprudence, and International Affairs. I intend going on to at least a Masters in Laws and Jurisprudence, and, and if possible, taking silk at one of the Inns of Court. I am not likely to run for public office, nor have much to do with any children other than my own.