Wednesday, January 6, 2010

WHAT?

It is rare that I read something as ludicrous as this op-ed piece masquerading as a scholarly article. While everyone has a right to his or her opinion, it is both polite and correct to at least have some credible and cited evidence for that opinion when it is published in a scholarly journal.

According to Robin L. West in her article The Harms of Homeschooling, I am uneducated trailer trash who probably lets her children skateboard all day, only calling them in to teach them Bible verses while beating and berating them, all the while potentially causing an outbreak or epidemic because of my medical negligence. Where has this lady been? Believe it or not, sitting on the full-time faculty of Georgetown Law School.

Hopefully you can easily spot the straw men, red herrings, ad hominem attacks, and genetic fallacies in her article ( my trailer trash 11 year old who just came in from skateboarding can) but if you'd like some help there is a neatly organized retort at Razzed.

As for me, all I have to say is I hope she doesn't teach logic. Maybe I ought to send her a copy of The Fallacy Detective?

1 comment:

Monica said...

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. That's just twisted.