New Jersey Judge Orders Penal Charges Against Mom for Home-Schooling

Life Site News ^ | 03.07.07 | Meg Jalsevac

[JenB]

I don't know what the answer is, but surely there's got to be some reasonable middle ground between full-blown government oversight and total parental neglect.

Go after abusive parents for abuse, which there are already laws against, and the government stays out of educational matters entirely. Because once you say "the government can make sure homeschoolers are meeting an acceptable math and writing standard", how can you stop them from making sure homeschoolers are properly educated about global warming, alternative lifestyles, and rainforest depopulation?

[LWalk18]

Go after abusive parents for abuse, which there are already laws against, and the government stays out of educational matters entirely.

The government is interfering only because the parents cannot agree as to what education choice they want to make for their children. What do you when two parents with equal rights cannot agree as to how the children should be educated?

[napscoordinator]

Interesting article. Not sure how I feel about this. Is the mother inadequate at teaching? How are the kids test scores? Why is the mother not working with the school board according to the law (in article)? A Catholic School education is excellent and could be good for the kids. I think that if the women would follow the law and ensure she was good at teaching the classwork, the judge would have sided with her. There was no talk of sending the kids to government school like many posts are saying.

[Wuli]

Literacy rates, out of public education today, rise until sometime between 6th and 8th grade and fall between there and high school graduation. More colleges offer now, and find they need to offer, remedial English and English composition courses to incoming freshman than ever was needed in all US history - even in earlier eras of high immigration.

And the mantra of the education establishment and their Dim friends is that they just need more money. In truth, every dime of any additional money only adds to the size of the public education industry, in terms of employees and cost. It never adds to the product, education, coming out of the industry.

[TalonDJ]

What do you when two parents with equal rights cannot agree as to how the children should be educated?

Take them away and let the government indoctrinate them right!
Is that the answer you were looking for? What if a couple can't decide on where to move? Or what house to buy? Or what to name their first born? Or how to discipline their kids? Or what toys to buy them? Is that the government business?

[JenB]

Smack 'em both and tell them not to be stupid.

What I would do is continue the educational choice they'd made together previously. If they had the kids in school, leave them there. If they were being homeschooled, allow that. Otherwise one parent can use the courts to get back at the other.

I was addressing the generalized statement that implied the government had a right to judge home education at all, not the particular nasty sordid legal case.

[Colorado Mike]

"How dare people not want their kids in public schools.

Off with their heads!"

If only the home schooling was in Muslim subjects, they would hav ebeen afraid to touch the issue...

[MEGoody]

According to the court's opinion, Tara Hamilton is the defendant in a suit brought against her by her recently estranged husband, Stephen Hamilton.

If the court requires her to put the kids in parochial school, I hope they also require Stevie to pay for it.

[TalonDJ]

Someone ought to be able to check to see if the kids really are being educated, not necessarily the government, but we don't want to end up with dependent adults because they weren't educated, either.

Don't use the mistake of a welfare state to justify the interference of the government in a parents role. Two wrongs don't make a right. 'WE' will not have dependent adults because 'WE' don't have anything to do with this situation. I don't care if her kids are being taught by watching TV. They are not being abused or mistreated except in a long term sense, and 'experts' argue all the time what is bad for kids in the long term. The sad truth is that they probably will end up as educated as the average public schooler. Yeah, the Dad has a right here so he should fight for it. That has nothing to do with homeschooling and even LESS to do with the innate interests of the government in the situation.

[TalonDJ]

Smack 'em both and tell them not to be stupid.

Babe, you should run for a judgeship.

[MEGoody]

What do you when two parents with equal rights cannot agree as to how the children should be educated?

Tell the one who wants the more expensive option that he/she must pay those costs. That's when you find out how truly concerned about the children's education they really are.

[JenB]

Only if they let me dress up like the Justice statue - blindfolded and carrying a great big sword that I can menace people with.

[Bigh4u2]

"without his help the kids may indeed be getting a substandard education."

Wouldn't matter if they are or aren't.

According to the law this judge should have dismissed this case the moment it was brought to court. But instead the 'judge' decided that the law didn't apply to this bench.

This judge should be thrown off the bench and disbarred.

[TalonDJ]

but surely there's got to be some reasonable middle ground between full-blown government oversight and total parental neglect.

There are cases of similar things happening to kids that WERE in public schools. So, do we need to have social workers dropping in on all parents, just to be sure? That is right up there with 'register all guns because people break laws with them'. Law breakers ignore laws. That is the point. How many parents do horrific things to their kids? I challenge you to prove there is more abuse, by homeschoolers, in states with low governmental monitoring, as compared to public schooled kids everywhere. If you can't prove that then your argument goes up in smoke.

[TalonDJ]

That is one way to cut down on law suites....

[nmh]

Feverishly praying hubby gets a position in ANOTHER state!

I HATE New Jersey.

[Calpernia]

Ok, there is too much legal jargon in here. What does this mean?

"consider, by formal opinion, a request to join those parties to action."

[Calpernia]

ping

[DeFault User]

Judicial interpretation of the statute requires such steps to measure..blah, blah, blah...

It is obvious that the judge, much like the majority in the US Supreme Court (Kelo decision), cannot read plain English and should be remanded to a remedial reading class.

[RobRoy]

This is just a child custody issue. The homeschooling angle was a ruse.