In many cases, the public school system makes no effort to accomodate parents with more conservative beliefs. Additionally, many schools have a complete absense of any enforcement of appropriate behavior. It’s not uncommon to see kids making out and groping each other right in the hallway. We seem to have lost our understanding that one of school’s function is to teach children how responsible adults behave in the workplace and in public.
Could you imagine Safeway allowing two of it’s courtesy clerks to make-out and grope each other in the front of the store. Could you imagine Bank of America allowing the people behind the counter to come to work dressed like drug dealers and prostitutes. Of course not all schools are the same. Some schools have more responsible leadership (usually a strong principal willing to piss parents off and take stands unpopular with parents and board members). But some schools are so lax that most parents would be shocked. This is because...while we have standards for math, we have no standards for conduct.
So I can see why some parents don’t want to send their kids to public school. The fear that eheir kids will be influenced by the hypersexual, hip-hop/MTV atmosphere that exists at some schools.
On the other hand…
There are a lot of parents out there who function at a 4th or 5th grade level. They don’t know (maybe they forgfot since they were in school) how to add fractions or punctuate a sentence, let alone explain photosynthesis or plate tectonics. Here in California, with the last decades immigration wave, we’ve gotten a lot of parents who can’t read or write (even in Spanish). If a child is home schooled and the parent is prepared or really interested, then that kid is going to be cheated out of an education.
There are no easy answers
Wing Chun Geologist - 03:03pm on 03/01/2008
Wing Chun: In most states, parents must demonstrate their competence to home school their child. In any case, the child belongs to the parents and not to the state.
pparets - 03:03pm on 03/01/2008
Home schooling requires a substantial parental commitment. How many parents with a 4th or 5th grade education and no teaching skills are likely to attempt it?
We lived on our sailboat in the Caribbean for seven years, during which we met quite a few parents who taught their kids because there was no viable alternative. The kids also had a wonderful experience in encountering different cultures and new responsibilities. Standing watch from midnight till 4:00 am out in the ocean, with responsibility for the boat and the family on board is instructive. Almost without exception, those kids were great! They knew how to interact with both kids and adults, and when they returned to the States they were well ahead of their peers who had received traditional public school “education.”
Of course, there are people who should not attempt to home-school their children. There are also people who shouldn’t drive. That is not a valid reason for preventing everyone from driving.
As parents become less and less responsible for their children, and the state become more and more the super nanny, I fear for our country.
Dan Miller
Dan Miller - 04:03pm on 03/01/2008
Incidentally, the right to home school, like abortion, is an unenumerated right under the 14th amendment.
jpe - 05:03pm on 03/01/2008
I’ll note also that there was a very tantalizing footnote in the opinion, alluding to other proceedings in family court that the family is involve in. These may be the kinds of people that Dan Miller suggests shouldn’t be able to school their own kids.
jpe - 06:03pm on 03/01/2008
Arguably it is an enumerated right under the First Amendment, as a religious right to educate one’s own children.
Fourth Amendment arguments have also been made for homeschooling.
Ken McCracken - 06:03pm on 03/01/2008
The Religion of No School? I’ll be tons of kids would love to convert to that.
jpe - 06:03pm on 03/01/2008
Does anybody know if the decision is online?
Lestat - 06:03pm on 03/01/2008
But they have to pay taxes,cut taxes.
groetzinger - 07:03pm on 03/01/2008
Rob: No matter how you might see a legitimate role for the government in education, and I agree; why do we need a multi-billion dollar Department of Education as a Federal enforcer of education standards? Why does the federal government have a right to mandate programs like no child left behind, except they redistribute our money to stagtes and school districts?
When did we give the Federal, State or even local governments the sole rights to indoctrinate our children?
I have really mixed emotions about this.
On the one hand…
In many cases, the public school system makes no effort to accomodate parents with more conservative beliefs. Additionally, many schools have a complete absense of any enforcement of appropriate behavior. It’s not uncommon to see kids making out and groping each other right in the hallway. We seem to have lost our understanding that one of school’s function is to teach children how responsible adults behave in the workplace and in public.
Could you imagine Safeway allowing two of it’s courtesy clerks to make-out and grope each other in the front of the store. Could you imagine Bank of America allowing the people behind the counter to come to work dressed like drug dealers and prostitutes. Of course not all schools are the same. Some schools have more responsible leadership (usually a strong principal willing to piss parents off and take stands unpopular with parents and board members). But some schools are so lax that most parents would be shocked. This is because...while we have standards for math, we have no standards for conduct.
So I can see why some parents don’t want to send their kids to public school. The fear that eheir kids will be influenced by the hypersexual, hip-hop/MTV atmosphere that exists at some schools.
On the other hand…
There are a lot of parents out there who function at a 4th or 5th grade level. They don’t know (maybe they forgfot since they were in school) how to add fractions or punctuate a sentence, let alone explain photosynthesis or plate tectonics. Here in California, with the last decades immigration wave, we’ve gotten a lot of parents who can’t read or write (even in Spanish). If a child is home schooled and the parent is prepared or really interested, then that kid is going to be cheated out of an education.
There are no easy answers
Wing Chun: In most states, parents must demonstrate their competence to home school their child. In any case, the child belongs to the parents and not to the state.
Home schooling requires a substantial parental commitment. How many parents with a 4th or 5th grade education and no teaching skills are likely to attempt it?
We lived on our sailboat in the Caribbean for seven years, during which we met quite a few parents who taught their kids because there was no viable alternative. The kids also had a wonderful experience in encountering different cultures and new responsibilities. Standing watch from midnight till 4:00 am out in the ocean, with responsibility for the boat and the family on board is instructive. Almost without exception, those kids were great! They knew how to interact with both kids and adults, and when they returned to the States they were well ahead of their peers who had received traditional public school “education.”
Of course, there are people who should not attempt to home-school their children. There are also people who shouldn’t drive. That is not a valid reason for preventing everyone from driving.
As parents become less and less responsible for their children, and the state become more and more the super nanny, I fear for our country.
Dan Miller
Incidentally, the right to home school, like abortion, is an unenumerated right under the 14th amendment.
I’ll note also that there was a very tantalizing footnote in the opinion, alluding to other proceedings in family court that the family is involve in. These may be the kinds of people that Dan Miller suggests shouldn’t be able to school their own kids.
Arguably it is an enumerated right under the First Amendment, as a religious right to educate one’s own children.
Fourth Amendment arguments have also been made for homeschooling.
The Religion of No School? I’ll be tons of kids would love to convert to that.
Does anybody know if the decision is online?
But they have to pay taxes,cut taxes.
Rob: No matter how you might see a legitimate role for the government in education, and I agree; why do we need a multi-billion dollar Department of Education as a Federal enforcer of education standards? Why does the federal government have a right to mandate programs like no child left behind, except they redistribute our money to stagtes and school districts?
When did we give the Federal, State or even local governments the sole rights to indoctrinate our children?