In a nutshell, the issue at hand regarding homeschooling in the USA is this: are parents guilty until proven innocent, or as with everything else in this nation, are we innocent until proven guilty?
What this means for educating and decisions regarding our own children is this: do parents have the right to make choices for their children's education? Those of us opposed to Elizabeth Bartholet and her vague, unfounded concerns about homeschooling parents would say that, "Yes, parents have the implicit right to make educational decisions for their own children." There are loads of facts to demonstrate the success of home educated kids over their public school peers, regardless of the parent's level of education. Public school children are bullied and often abused by teachers, and many take their kids out of public schools for that reason. It is terribly irresponsible for Bartholet to imply that homeschooling parents do so for any reason other than love for their kids. She and the government do not love people's children more than parents, and our right to make choices for our kids has been around long before the federal government came on the scene.
Not convinced, think of it this way:
Should we force Catholic parents to pull their kids from Catholic school and put then in an evangelical Christian school? Should Jewish kids be forced to go to a Catholic school? Should atheists be forced to send their kids to a Christian school? Should people who disagree with public education be forced to send their kids to those schools? The clear answer is 'no'; no parent should be forced to educate their kids in a way they disagree with.
Education takes many forms, and there should be freedom in that. It is an important part of understanding the differences with people, and especially children. Schools cannot possibly meet the needs of every child and family. If you want to send your kids to a government-run school with all of its ideologies, feel free. I'm certainly not going to force you to do otherwise. But to say that the government or 'professional' teachers are needed to give kids a solid education--please, you'll never convince me of that. There are too many studies showing the contrary, and I've known many well educated homeschooled individuals.
What this means for educating and decisions regarding our own children is this: do parents have the right to make choices for their children's education? Those of us opposed to Elizabeth Bartholet and her vague, unfounded concerns about homeschooling parents would say that, "Yes, parents have the implicit right to make educational decisions for their own children." There are loads of facts to demonstrate the success of home educated kids over their public school peers, regardless of the parent's level of education. Public school children are bullied and often abused by teachers, and many take their kids out of public schools for that reason. It is terribly irresponsible for Bartholet to imply that homeschooling parents do so for any reason other than love for their kids. She and the government do not love people's children more than parents, and our right to make choices for our kids has been around long before the federal government came on the scene.
Not convinced, think of it this way:
Should we force Catholic parents to pull their kids from Catholic school and put then in an evangelical Christian school? Should Jewish kids be forced to go to a Catholic school? Should atheists be forced to send their kids to a Christian school? Should people who disagree with public education be forced to send their kids to those schools? The clear answer is 'no'; no parent should be forced to educate their kids in a way they disagree with.
Education takes many forms, and there should be freedom in that. It is an important part of understanding the differences with people, and especially children. Schools cannot possibly meet the needs of every child and family. If you want to send your kids to a government-run school with all of its ideologies, feel free. I'm certainly not going to force you to do otherwise. But to say that the government or 'professional' teachers are needed to give kids a solid education--please, you'll never convince me of that. There are too many studies showing the contrary, and I've known many well educated homeschooled individuals.
No comments:
Post a Comment