This has been working its way thru the blogosphere for at least a few days now. I first saw it just before I went to California last week.
Pajamas Media: Do Homeschoolers Need Teaching Credentials?
California parents have “no constitutional right” to homeschool their children, the 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 28. Parents face truancy prosecution and loss of custody if they don’t provide a credentialed tutor or send their kids to a public or private school that requires daily attendance, wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey in a sweeping decision.
This probably won’t stand up in the court of public opinion and I’d expect the law to change in California if the courts don’t overturn this on appeal. The prerogative of parents over their children’s welfare has well established precedent. If they don’t LOOK mis-treated — starved, beaten, or otherwise physically damaged — parents get a pass on how they treat their kids. But this is an interesting time to be looking at why teach?
According to Justice Croskey, the purpose of state sponsored education is the indoctrination of children into the societal mores of the State. While that *sounds* a bit fascist, the reality is … what?
High Stakes testing so that “No Child Left Behind” can punish schools that don’t toe the line?
A few million dollars in connectivity rebates to connect schools to the internet and a few more million to pay for the filters to keep them from actually connecting to anything useful?
If we believe that Education is about the preparation of the next generation, then what’s this “life long learning” cark all about? Adult education isn’t really Education?
What’s the story?
March 18th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Home schooling should always be an option for parents who can and want to do it. If we lived in a perfect world, all parents would home school their kids to some extent. I don’t think parents need credentials, but they do need to seriously consider what they need to do in order to give their kids a good education.
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Parents who do not mistreat or abuse their children should retain the right to home school their children, if they believe that is the best course of action. I have talked to parents who want to pull their children out of school because of the social obstacles students have to cope with. Issues like bullying, popularity, clicks, etc. While their reasons to pull their children out of a public school system may be just, I don’t think it would benefit them. I am not a proponent of any of those issues I just mentioned. They should all be abolish from society, but we do not live in a utopia. What good can come from them is how we deal with them. Character develops in students by the way they handle those situations. It allows for them to grow as individuals. I was once bullied as a kid in middle school, I dealt with it, and it has made me a better person by going through the experience. I am not saying we should put all students through a similar experience, but we shouldn’t hide them away from interacting with their peers for fear of the possibility they may get bullied.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
As a teacher I have seen parents get mad and take their kids out to home school them. After they deal with them at home for about a month, they send them back to us. Now their child is a month or more behind the other kids.
Now as a parent I believe it takes a person capable of learning new things to teach. I am sure there are parents out there who could home school their child and do as good as any teacher. My sister-in-law home schools her children.
We both have 12 year olds. Her twelve year old is more advanced in math and reading than mine. There is something to be said about small groups.
I think if parents are home schooling for the right reasons and are able to do the work, they shouldn’t need the credentials.