Posted on 03/07/2008 6:36:30 PM PST by GVnana
(03-07) 13:37 PST SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised today to ensure that parents have the right to homeschool their children, after a state appeals court ruling severely restricted the practice in California.
"Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what's best for their children," the governor said in a statement. "Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children's education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials, we will."
An estimated 166,000 children are homeschooled across the state.
The ruling by the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles said all children ages 6 to 18 must attend public or private school full-time until graduation from high school or be tutored at home by a credentialed teacher.
The Southern California case stemmed from a child welfare dispute involving the children of Phillip and Mary Long of Lynwood (Los Angeles County). The couple's eight children have been home-schooled by Mary Long, who holds no teaching credential. The children were also enrolled in a private school through an independent study program, which included quarterly home visits. Although the case did not involve the question of the children's truancy, the court decision broadly addressed the legality of homeschooling in California while specifically ruling that the Long family's situation violated state law.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Brother-in-arms.
Congratulations!! You win the Most Ignorant Comment Award for this post.
Home schooled children have to take benchmark tests administered by California repeatedly throughout the year to make sure they are learning.
It might interest you to hear that home schooled children here in California are scoring a full two grade levels higher than their state educated contemporaries.
The teacher’s union head is happy because there was no other way they could compete against vastly better educated children that are home schooled. They were losing more students each year. So an activist judge just eliminated the competition so the useless state can keep their indoctrination camps running. Who cares if students are learning less and less each year.
Eliminating something that is producing better educated students on average is a BAD thing. This ruling is going to hurt us all in the long run because there will be more poorly educated people in our future.
After ranting for a day about how screwed up California law is, I got wind of official document suggesting that homeschooling had actually not been outlawed. I felt bad about my rants because I had evidently swallowed bogus information. But I felt less embarrassed when I was "upstaged" by Gov. Schwarzenegger's seemingly misinformed reaction.
Uh, yeah, humblegunner. Her odds are probably better than classroom instruction. And the children wouldn't be treated like "little rats".
Freedom of choice in a free society.
Do we really need such a freedom stifling agenda taking away government powers only there for the promotion of freedom of the people? /s
Let me guess, the reasoning is that it discriminates against Heather who has two mommy's, right?
Denny has pegged it.
It's so blatantly obvious that trust in common sense of the majority of the public is lost for me.
Amendment 10, I didn't read all of your posts, but you probably were right in your rants. The court has ruled that "homeschooling" by a parent "without teaching credentials" is not permitted by CA law. There's no other way to read it.
I do believe that media initially overreacted to judges' decision to "outlaw" homeschooling.
The state isn't kicking in doors to arrest parents, but remember it would take time for the state to take action, if it decided to do so based on this court's decision. And then the action taken probably would begin with letters mailed home, etc.
The good news may be that this case has brought to light the lack of laws to protect homeschool families in CA, and maybe the governor and the legislature can craft new legislation to protect them. (At least, one can hope...)
“The greatest argument against democracy is listening to the conversation of an average voter.” ;^)
We should hear this from more politicians WAY more often.
The greatest argument against democracy is listening to the conversation of an average voter. ;^)
If I recall correctly it was Winston Churchill who also said: (and I'm paraphrasing)
"Democracy is far from the perfect system of government but it's the best that we have". ; )
Some liberals can be right some of the time. I am glad Arnold took this stand.
You will hear the likes of that from true leaders always, sometimes from true politicians but NEVER from a true socialist.
So, let me get this straight: I graduated from high school (first person on one side of the family to ever do so), have at times been in charge of a $26 million airplane and up to 80 human lives, graduated from community college with high honors, sit on the board of two local non-profits, run my own business (part of which is being managing editor of a national trade magazine) and lead a Cub Scout pack, but I'm not qualified to teach my youngest son third grade Math and English? I also wasn't qualified to teach my daughter to read or teach any of the Math, English, Science or History I've imparted to them (a sixth grader and a fifth grader) so far?
With all due respect, I'd like an explanation on why you think I'm such an inept troglodyte dipstick.
First, let's blast the notion about parents teaching: If you can read, write, and do simple math, you can teach your young child to do those things. Once a child can read, write, and do simple math, he can take it further on his own (with only some books, supplies, and supervision from you). I explain more in this post #133.
Secondly, ask yourself: Who decides which parents are capable of homeschooling? Do you really trust the state to make those decisions? The public school system is controlled by the NEA, a powerful teachers' union. They have enjoyed tremendous influence on governors, legislators, and presidents.
The NEA passes a resolution against homeschooling year after year. They will find any reason to push all children into school because, as a union, their main concern is job security. First, they claimed homeschooled children would never learn. When that didn't turn out to be true, they started harping on "lack of socialization." Given the power to oversee parents, they will always decide against homeschooling. Teachers themselves who are homeschooling their own children have been challenged by the schools. Many parents are working professionals and/or have college degrees. I think they can handle teaching their children reading, writing, and mathematics. But, if the state (under influence of the NEA) is given the power to decide who can and who cannot homeschool, homeschooling eventually will be outlawed for most families, parent credentials be damned.
Why? You already said the credential was a joke.
Keeping alternatives and diversity in education is important to the health of this country.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.