Posted on 03/27/2004 6:44:45 AM PST by LadyShallott
It's called "soft dictatorship" – government's attempt to control every aspect of American life for your own good or for the good of the children. The ultimate issue is power.
This week's example: government's assault (at all levels) on the homeschool movement, which now includes threats to send homeschool parents to jail. Government's great fear in this matter is not that the kids are being short-changed or abused – it's that they might be getting a better education than the government-educrat de facto monopoly can provide and that the word might get out.
Yes, government has an obligation to ensure that children receive an adequate education. But in several states, such as California and Illinois, educrats are threatening parents with court action if they don't allow officials to intrude into their homes and evaluate their programs beyond the authority of state law. The game gets rough. In Illinois, according to the Chicago Tribune, truant officers arrive in police cars, bearing letters telling parents to come to "pretrial hearings" At least one officer told a parent "we can take your children away."
According to columnist Michelle Malkin, California "State Deputy Superintendent Joanne Mendoza wrote in a July 16 memo to all school employees that without official teaching credentials, these parents no longer can file required paperwork that would authorize them to homeschool their children. Thus, homeschooled children not attending public schools would be considered 'truant' by local school districts – making their parents vulnerable to arrest and criminal charges."
In many other states, such as Louisiana and Montana, education or legislative officials threaten "tighter" regulation and other laws or policies which seem to have the goal of making it more difficult for parents to educate their own children at home.
In a series of three illuminating articles by Angela R. Stoltzfus of Elizabeth, N.J., in the community newspaper The Informer, Stoltzfus writes, "Homeschooling is not a new concept or practice. Education in early America actually could be said to be a form of homeschooling. Settlers and farmers would sit and read the Bible and primary readers with their children, teaching them to read at the kitchen table, after the family was finished with daily chores."
So, what is homeschooling now? Basically, it's educating children outside the public-private-parochial school establishment. There are many varieties, from in-home parent-child private, to co-operative arrangements with other parents and organizations. There are curricula available and supportive websites. Some arrangements feature structured classes, others provide minimal guidance and let the kids run on "autopilot."
How many kids? A U.S. government report, "Homeschooling in the United States: 1999 (NCES 2001-033). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, D.C: National Center for Education Statistics," estimates 850,000 American children in 1999. Some homeschool advocates suggest the number may be as high as 2 million. Even if the government's 850,000 estimate is doubled to 1.7 million, this would still be less than 4 percent of school-age children.
But the threat to government control is not in the numbers. It's in the reasons why parents do it, and in their success.
Reasons for homeschooling range widely, from physical conditions and danger in government schools to concern about unacceptable teaching of ideology or religion. Many feel that their homeschool is more flexible and responsive to their children's needs. According to the U.S. Department of Education, "Parent Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program, 1999" – 49 percent of parents felt they could give their kids a better education at home.
Other reasons, in descending frequency, include "Religious reasons" – 38 percent, "Poor learning environment at school" – 26 percent, "Family reasons," "To develop character/morality," "Object to what school teaches," "School does not challenge child," "Other problems with available schools," "Student behavior problems at school" and "Child has special needs/disability" – 8 percent.
Please note well: The most important reason was that parents felt that they, the amateurs with no significant facilities, could do a better job than the professionals with their gargantuan resources.
So who homeschools their kids? Again, there's a wide variety, from ghetto parents and families in the Alaskan bush to affluent professionals and intellectuals of all political persuasions. Success stories are increasingly common, and involve both the challenged and the gifted. Among the most interesting: Jedediah Purdy, who went from homeschooling in rural West Virginia to Harvard, then Yale Law School, and whose first book, "On Common Things," appeared to rave reviews. His second, "Being America," comes out in January. Purdy's not yet 30.
The better homeschooling gets, and the better known it becomes, the more of a threat it poses to the soft tyrants. So they're attacking in the name of "standards." Some educrats want parents to prove they're succeeding while making it ever more difficult for them to do so. It's an old, tired tactic.
No, this is not our statement against public education which we also believe in (and so do our teacher wives). It's merely that we find education choice brings positive competition and better services benefiting the children. Parents, families and guardians should be allowed the freedom of choice to make an informed decision.
Two things come to mind: 1. A "good" teacher should not need a union to protect their job. Why would any taxpayer want anything beside a "good" teacher. 2. There are many forms of private insurance that are available to teachers that would protect them against school board actions, should their jobs be threatened. So they can't use the argument of no protection available.
The fact is teachers who belong to unions do so because they are socialist/liberal idealogs. Or they live in fear.
Standards of mediocrity.
Not only that but in Washington State the teacher's union is suing the state legislature for not allocating enough money to education! Talk about the inmates running the asylum! Remember when the people used to be in control?
Bingo! Perfectly said. Perfectly true.
I was at one time an elementary ed major. I remember looking around in classes and realizing these people would be my peers in the workplace. That, combined with a few other things, was what persuaded me that I didn't belong. I wanted to go into the ed system to change things and found that was not going to be the case.
Yup. Those were our reasons--all of them. Our kids were in public school for a few years. Once, our 6-year-old daughter showed up at home in the middle of the day, unsupervised and fresh from a field trip (half an hour early). Apparently, she had been cut loose and allowed to walk a mile home by herself. Nobody explained or cared. Another time, a group of boys were following her around on campus, threatening to "rape her." The self-proclaimed lesbian principle didn't listen, care or act. We supposed, at the time, that she was much too busy implementing Gray Davis' "inclusion" program for homosexuals.
Even here in Colorado, where we escaped to, our oldest son came home once with an assignment to "write a spell," in celebration of the release of the new Harry Potter movie. He tells us that the teacher announced also that he was "a pagan." I still haven't figured out what the assignment had to do with math. Our calls went unanswered.
My youngest is Down Syndrome and was coming home from Special Ed with work he could not duplicate for us. Once, when he brought home one of the many school illnesses, that all public school parents can attest occur regularly, we all got sick and, subsequently, harrassed by some bureacrat at the school who threatened "truancy" (we were not able to get to the doctor right away and, being sick, we did not keep the bureacrat immediately informed of our movements, or lack thereof).
Praise God! It is very easy to homeschool here in Colorado. We saw much too much in two states and at three seperate schools. Of course, we've read of much more. Our kids have been homeschooled over three years now, and we are blessed that they are away from these and other influences, found in these mini-concentration/indoctronization/illness incubation camps known as "public schools."
Sorry, but your union is not any better than NEA...
Sorry - but you are mistaken. The Association of American Educators is NOT A UNION.
The AAE is a nonprofit, national professional association that is meeting a critical need for many of America's educators.
In 1994, a group of concerned educators from around the country came together to address the problem of low public esteem for our public school system. This group included some of the most respected names in education, many of which you will recognize on our Advisory Board. We were inspired to establish an organization for professional educators who are more concerned about our children's right to a good education than they are with just their own benefits or personal agendas.
The AAE will serve as a new national advocate for educators who envision a future in education where professional teachers will be free to control their own careers. A future where true professionals can negotiate their own compensation package if they so choose, and make their own decisions about use of time, resources, and teaching methodologies...
We believe educators should be free from all forms of compulsory membership and endorsements. Furthermore, we believe strikes and boycotts are detrimental to students and to the reputation of teachers as professionals. AAE is dedicated to improving education through cooperation, not conflict.
The AAE endorses more local control of education-greater parental involvement, and higher standards for students and teachers. As an association of teachers, administrators, and support personnel, we are devoted to building respect and support for our nation's public schools by working with parents and local community leaders to improve our system...
There are many forms of private insurance that are available to teachers that would protect them against school board actions, should their jobs be threatened. So they can't use the argument of no protection available.
Association of American Educators Liability Insurance Plan
Every AAE member receives his or her own personal liability insurance policy instead of being covered under one blanket policy issued to an organization.
Accessing AAE's legal service benefits is never dependent on the discretion and pre-approval of an AAE executive. Access to your legal protection is not dependent upon whether or not your case is determined to be in the best interest of the AAE, as it is with some other organizations.
YOU are the insured party-not your organization!
On liability insurance-related matters, AAE members are free to use AAE's attorney referral network or they may prefer to seek out legal representation of their own choosing instead of having to accept a predetermined legal advisor-as with some other organizations...
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