In August, 1977, a small church in Louisville, Nebraska – Faith Baptist – was raided by armed agents of the state Department of Education for running a Christian school. The ostensible reason for the raid was that they were NOT adhering to the state “requirement” that ALL schools and teachers be “certified” by the state. A judge issued an order that the school be closed.
They remained open and the raid ensued. The teachers and 17 students children were terrorized as they were held at gunpoint on the floor. The pastor, one Everett Sileven, was arrested and held in jail for some time.
Public pressure forced his release and he began a crusade the effects of which are still felt today in the Christian and home school communities.
Here’s the take away message about which I have the clearest memory: Pastor Sileven appeared on a TV debate program to defend his church school. Also there was an official of the Nebraska Department of Education.
At one point, either the moderator or Pastor Siliven turned to the school bureaucrat and asked the real reason why the state had such a problem with their small church school?
Without missing a beat, through a sneer anyone who has visited the DMV will recognize, the bureaucrat declared (and I’m paraphrasing): “Because you are denying the state schools needed money. And because you are educating children outside the public school system, in the world we’re designing for the future, THEY WON’T FIT IN!”
Dwell on those last 4 words for a moment.
If you’re curious about just what that world they were designing might look like, LOOK AROUND.
You’re living in it!!
A short time later, we got pulled into the government school enforcement grinder. A TRUE STORY!
In 1978, my wife and I came to know a young woman named Patty. She was a devoutly religious young mother who'd become more devout when her husband and father of her two small sons aged 2 and 6 informed her that he was leaving. In dire economic straits, I offered to let her stay in our former home in Chamblee -- which was not rented at the time – rent-free until she got back on her feet. She had been clandestinely home schooling the 6 year old for about 2 years using very well done Christian course materials from an organization in Texas the name of which escapes me. The lad had recently been tested and had placed at least a year ABOVE his chronological age. As required by the government school authorities at the time, she dutifully apprised the authorities of his scores.
For reasons which would become clear in a moment, Patty had been harassed by the DeKalb County school authorities for about 6 months and, by the time she moved into the Chamblee house, had been -- unbeknownst to us -- ORDERED to put the 6 year old into the nearest government elementary school or suffer the consequences. Because she wanted the boys to be educated Christians, there was no way she was going to do that and she told them so.
At approximately 2 am one morning, a loud knock on the door announced the arrival of the aforementioned "consequences." Dressed only in a nightgown, she was confronted by several burly police officers who thrust an arrest warrant in her face. With the now awakened 6 year old watching and the 2 year old wailing in the other room, she was handcuffed and led out the door to jail. She was tossed into a large cell with a couple of hookers and a junkie who spent much of the rest of that morning vomiting in the corner.
The two young boys for whom the educational authorities professed such great concern were just left AT THE HOUSE -- ALONE! Patty was later told that the bureaucrats from Children Services who were SUPPOSED to accompany the cops were late and, in their haste to get this dangerous miscreant behind bars, the cops just missed the fact that the Children Services people were, well, missing. The CS folks showed up an hour later to find two terrified kids, one of whom had just seen his mother hauled off in cuffs.
Patty was ultimately brought to trial under the Georgia Truancy Statutes. Her pro-bono attorney tore the school authorities to shreds and hers has been called THE case that opened the floodgates to home schooling in Georgia. Once they had all the facts, the jury didn’t take long to acquit her. I’m proud to have played a small part in that.
At Patty’s trial, a previously overlooked aspect of the government schools was put into sharp focus for those paying attention: The Director of Instruction for DeKalb County testified that the then current 7 hour school day consisted of an average of approximately 3 hours or less of instruction. At that time, Patty was devoting 4 to 5 hours a day to direct instruction.
He also as much as admitted that the REAL reason they wanted ALL these kids in school was the $3,000.00 per kid per year they then got from the state and federal government. Empty seats = lost funds. As in most things, follow the money. Patty home schooled these two boys through high school.
And how did the boys turn out?
One is now a physician and the other a budding journalist.
But that now seems to be the norm for the growing legions of home schooled kids – which most likely explains why the NEA and the government school folks feel so threatened. Shortly after I wrote this, a home schooled child won the National Spelling Bee and the record is clear that home schooled kids generally perform better than those who are not.
Thomas Jefferson believed an EDUCATED PUBLIC to be the cornerstone of the system he and the other Founders TRIED to leave behind. He would NOT, I feel certain, be a big fan of the current government education system. If he returned today, he’d home school his children just as he did before.
Great story. Thanks for sharing it.
L