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VT Christian Homeschooling Mom Taken Away In Shackles!
The Curmudgeon: A Vermont Newsletter | 10/17/02 | Cindy Wade

Posted on 10/21/2002 9:45:25 AM PDT by Truant Mom

Christian Homeschooling Mom Taken Away In Shackles!

by Cindy Wade

Source: The Curmudgeon: A Vermont Newsletter (reprint permission is hereby granted by the publisher to any and all other news agencies and their readers or viewers)

October 17, 2002

On Wednesday, October 16, Patricia L. O'Dell, 34, of S. Newfane, was arrested at 3:05 pm at the Bennington District Court in Bennington, Vermont for contempt of court. Mrs. O'Dell had been cited into court yesterday morning for refusing to submit to fingerprinting and a photograph for police files.

Mrs. O'Dell was ordered to submit to this procedure on October 7 at another arraignment hearing for 'custodial interference' and 'impeding an officer' as part of her release conditions. That condition involved Mrs. O'Dell going to the Bennington police station within 5 days of her release. On the following Friday, October 11, four days later, Mrs. O'Dell contacted U.S. Attorney Brian Marthage in Bennington through an advocate to inform him she wished to turn herself in because she was still refusing to have the prints and photos taken. Marthage informed the advocate that the courts are closed over the weekend and according to his calculations the fifth day would be Monday, October 14. Mrs. O'Dell waited the weekend and all day Monday until 5 pm. On the morning of October 15 she arrived at the police station to turn herself in and still refused to submit to the fingerprinting and photograph. She was promptly given a citation to appear in District Court the following morning at 11:30 am.

Mrs. O'Dell arrived at District Court at 11:30 am and was told her case had been moved to 12:30 pm. Mrs. O'Dell was finally called into the court room at approximately 2:30 pm where she represented herself and entered a plea of 'not guilty' to the charge. When questioned by Judge Howard about her refusal to submit to being photographed and fingerprinted Mrs. O'Dell informed him she believes a person is innocent until proven guilty and the procedure violates her rights. After hearing testimony from the prosecutor who expressed his concern for Mrs. O'Dell's ongoing contempt and that she basically "holds the keys to her own jail cell", Judge David Howard ordered a 'show cause' hearing be scheduled for the following week. Mrs. O'Dell was then released and presented with the conditions which she was expected to sign. Upon reading the conditions Mrs. O'Dell found difficulty in agreeing with the requirement that she abide by Family Court orders. One such order is that she turn over her 15 year old homeschooling son to state custody. Mrs. O'Dell refuses to do that because she feels strongly that it would compromise her religious beliefs and her son's Christian education. She also fears he would be subjected to abuse in the hands of SRS (Social Rehabilitative Services).

Upon Mrs. O'Dell's final refusal and a warning from the deputy sheriff that she would be taken into custody if she did not sign, she was quickly escorted from the court lobby to a small holding room where she was searched and relieved of her wrist watch and wedding band. She was place in hand cuffs attached to a leather belt around her waist and her ankles were secured with cuffs and a length of metal chain. These were placed on her to prepare her for transport by the Bennington County Sheriff's department to the Chittenden Regional Corrections Facility at 7 Farrell Street in South Burlington, Vermont.

It was brought to the attention of the attending sheriffs that they needed to take special care with Mrs. O'Dell's right wrist and hand which were wrapped in a support bandage. Mrs. O'Dell says this injury was a result of state trooper Jesse Robson's actions on Friday, September 13 when he tackled Mrs. O'Dell to the ground at the home of Mrs. Pat Stewart on Rocky Lane. Mrs. Stewart is Mrs. O'Dell's mother. Robson allegedly then placed his knee in Mrs. O'Dell's back and cuffed her hands behind her back. Officer Robson then tightened his grip on her arm while twisting it in an attempt to prevent her from shouting to her family members to not let the other officers into her mother's home without a search warrant, according to Mrs. O'Dell. Robson was there that day with several other officers to take Mrs. O'Dell's four children into state custody for what he describes in his affidavit as "The basis for the children being taken into custody was educational neglect."

Mrs. O'Dell also accused Officer Robson of pulling her by the hair and squeezing her face with his hand at the time of this incident. When Mrs. O'Dell was taken into custody she claims she was never read her Miranda rights although Robson questioned her extensively and alone in the cruiser and at the Shaftsbury barracks. She says she also suspects the reason why she was not photographed when she was first arrested was because Robson left marks on her face and those marks would have shown up in the photograph. Robson was unable to take Mrs. O'Dell's fingerprints because she was suffering pain from Robson's alleged abuse that caused injury to her right hand and wrist.

Mrs. O'Dell sought medical treatment at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center at around 12:20 am once SRS took possession of her three daughter and she was released from custody. Her arm was wrapped and placed in a sling by attending physician Dr. G. Pellerin. According to the medical report Mrs. O'Dell had a hand injury, sprained wrist and contusions. On Saturday, October 14 a highly visible thumb size contusion could be seen on Mrs. O'Dell's upper inside left arm where she alleges Robson grabbed her. The marks on her face were no longer noticeable.

Besides the alleged abuse by Officer Robson there is a huge discrepancy in the times of the arrival of the police officers and the time the search warrant was signed. According to Officer Robson and Sergeant Lloyd N. Dean, another state police officer at the scene, they arrived at approximately 4:15 or 4:39 pm. The search warrant was not signed by Judge Howard until 6:35 pm. This would show the officers entered onto the Stewart property without the proper warrant. According to Mrs. O'Dell's family members the officers were told more than once they needed a search warrant to enter the property. It was decided by Dean that he would leave to obtain the search warrant. Family members also say the back door to the kitchen was kicked in by two officers just prior to anyone actually being handed the search warrant. The search warrant specifically says "This warrant may (not) be executed without knocking and announcing the presence of law enforcement officers and their purpose." Neither the word 'may' or 'not' were either circled, underlined or crossed out. The requirement for the serving officer to knock and announce is a federal law.

Prior to Dean obtaining the search warrant O'Dell's youngest daughter, Elizabeth, age 8, was chased screaming through the wooded lot near the Stewart home for some distance before she "just disappeared", as her mother stated. This was of great concern to both Mr. and Mrs. O'Dell because just that morning Mr. O'Dell had been squirrel hunting in that same wooded area and he warned his wife to not let the children play in them for fear of them getting shot by hunters he saw there. Mrs. O'Dell says she was terrified for her daughter's safety because the five police officers who were chasing her were showing little, if any, regard for the hunting taking place in those woods.

O'Dell Family Find Themselves Homeless

The O'Dell family has been living in their car, in motels and have camped out in warmer weather since they lost their West Haven, Vermont home to a fire in December 2000 just three days after Christmas. The family is not entirely homeless though. With the insurance money from their destroyed home they purchased a one acre lot located on Hunter Brook Road in South Newfane in the fall of 2001. They also purchased a second hand mobile home from a woman in Shaftsbury to place onto their new lot. This mobile home was well kept and within the O'Dell's budget. The previous owner was happy to have the mobile home taken off her hands because she needed it removed in order to replace it with her new one.

Patricia found a company in New Hampshire willing to transport the mobile home to S. Newfane for a fee of $950.00 but the company had difficulty getting the home onto the lot. The mobile home continues to sit at the end of the O'Dell's driveway where it was left in the late fall of 2001. Plans are underway to connect the mobile home with the property by a group of concerned citizens who have taken the initiative to get the project done at no cost to the O'Dell family. The goal is to get the mobile home installed by Thanksgiving so the O'Dell's will once again be able to live in comfort and together as a family.

The O'Dell family purchased their S. Newfane lot as is meaning they had to remove the dilapidated mobile home and addition that was already on the property. These structures had been empty for several years and had been vandalized. There was also an abandoned car on the lot that needed to be hauled away. The O'Dell family went to work and dismantled both structures leaving huge piles of materials they intended to recycle into small structures for their pets and livestock. Mrs. O'Dell's goat would provide her with fresh milk since she was unable to tolerate cow's milk and the family would have fresh eggs and meat from their flock of chickens.

Unfortunately, a few members of the S. Newfane community decided to intervene in the O'Dell's plans and progress. According to a Newfane selectboard meeting on January 1, 2002, line 7B, item #4 a "motion was made by R. Marek and seconded by F. Bacon to have the Town Constable and the Windham County Sheriff's Department work together to file the necessary paper work to bring charges of cruelty and abuse against Patricia O'Dell and to have the animals removed from Ms. O'Dell's control. Unanimous. The Windham County Humane Society has home for all of the animals; dogs, cats, chickens and a goat."

While the O'Dell's were working to prepare there property and establish their new home they were living temporarily in a homeless shelter in Bennington. They traveled the distance of 38 miles each day to there secluded wooded lot located on a dirt road to feed and care for their animals they had built temporary shelter for. Since they were not allowed to have pets or livestock at the shelter they felt it best the animals remain on their new land. Apparently town officials were entering the O'Dell property without authority or permission to do so according to Mrs. O'Dell. At some point those authorities, without a search warrant and without warning simply removed the O'Dell's animals from their property when the O'Dell's were away.

According to another Newfane selectboard meeting on February, 7, 2002, line 7B, item #2 "R. Marek questioned what may happen if the amount due to the Windham County Humane Society if the alleged owner of the animals, Patricia O'Dell, does not pay for the housing and other services provided by the WCHS. Suggestions were made but no conclusions were reached at this time." According to Mrs. O'Dell her animals were never abused or neglected and the town had no right to enter her property illegally and seize her animals. She has since acquired the paperwork from federal court and plans to file a 'Notice of Claim' against the Newfane Town Selectboard, the Town Constable, the Windham County Sheriff's Department and the Windham County Humane Society for $10,000,000.00 and she fully intends to send the town a bill for the value of her animals.

A work crew will arrive at the O'Dell property in S. Newfane on Saturday, October 19 at 8:00 am to remove the unwanted materials and metal framing from the old mobile home. The old car will also be towed away along with remnants of the dismantled addition. Once this is done the new mobile home can be pulled up to the lot and set into place. The plumbing, water and electric will eventually be reestablished. This work is being done by volunteers from Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts who will donate their time, money and materials for the project at no cost to the O'Dell family. These volunteers include former homeless people, home educators, politicians, ministers, off-duty police officers, mothers, fathers, teenagers, youngsters, contractors, veterans and others. According to one of the organizers the work crew is not a formal organization but are a group of caring, concerned citizens who have seen the need to assist a family that is struggling to stay together and improve themselves. They welcome anyone who wishes to join them in this effort by simply showing up at the property this coming Saturday. They also want the media to know they are welcome as well.

DOE Prevents Christian Home Education

According to first hand accounts SRS is using the O'Dell's homeless situation as an excuse to keep the children in their custody. SRS is also acting on an order from the Vermont Department of Education for a charge of 'educational neglect' stemming from a Home Study Hearing held November 20, 2001 for Patricia O'Dell. According to written documentation surrounding this hearing Mrs. O'Dell established her right as a Christian home educator to homeschool her children without state or local interference and that she was providing her children with more than a minimum course of study as required by state regulations. According to documentation several state witnesses accused Mrs. O'Dell of having 'standards' and expectations that were too high for her children.

When Mrs. O'Dell first began to homeschool her children she received what some might call 'approval' from the Vermont Department of Education's Home Study Consultant Natalie Casco. According to law, however, 'approval' is not needed to homeschool in Vermont, nor are there any qualifications necessary to homeschool your children. Mrs. O'Dell is a homemaker and has a high school diploma from Mt. Anthony Union High School in Bennington. Mr. O'Dell dropped out of school in the eleventh grade and is on disability for a physical problem. A parent wishing to homeschool their child need only send in an 'enrollment notification' along with a course of study covering the six basic topics and proof of screening showing the child has no impairments. A child is automatically enrolled at that time but the state can call a hearing to determine whether or not the application is complete. The key word here is 'notification'.

The state statute also reads "a person having the control of a child between the ages of six and sixteen shall cause the child to attend an approved public school, an approved recognized independent school or a home study program for the full number of days for which that school is held...." The key word here appears to be 'a' home study program, not the VT DOE's home study program. Mrs. O'Dell states that her children attend their homeschool 365 days a year. They have never been tardy or absent, since they can homeschool anywhere, anytime, even when they are with relatives or friends. In public school her children were accused by staff members as having behavior problems. In their homeschool Mrs. O'Dell says the behavior of her children is not a problem for her.

Mrs. O'Dell's children appear to be happy, healthy, normal, rambunctious children who enjoy their freedom to choose what they like to learn and learn best in the loving, secure, Christian environment that Mrs. O'Dell provides for them. They use few workbooks and almost no text books. The use reading books including classic stories and do many hands-on learning which Mrs. O'Dell says works best for all her children. Mrs. O'Dell finds little need for testing because she can see their day to day progress since she lives with them. When the need arises to concentrate more on a subject or area of interest Mrs. O'Dell takes the time to do that and will give that particular child more attention than the others. The children learn from each other as well, helping each other with reading, math or chores.

When Mrs. O'Dell feels the need for support or assistance she calls on several others in her homeschooling community for help. Because of the lack of funding and their homelessness that community has come forward and established a fund for the O'Dell children at A Teacher's Closet in downtown Rutland, a teaching/learning material supply store. The O'Dell children were all provided with book bags filled with materials, supplies and books that can be used anywhere they may be including in the car, at a campsite or in a motel. Mrs. O'Dell says that due to the lack of education on the part of the public school system she has had to do much remedial work with her three older children. Her youngest had never been to public school until SRS intervened by taking the children. SRS with the VT DOE's blessings have place Mrs. O'Dell's three youngest children into public school against her wishes. Her oldest son, Andrew, is presently not in the physical custody of SRS.

Since the taking the children by SRS from Mrs. O'Dell's custody on September 13 she has discovered her three daughters have been subjected to blood tests, physical examinations, x-rays, psychological testing, and counseling, all against their will and hers. Both she and the girls have been denied their right to freely exercise their religion and SRS is withholding the affections of Mrs. O'Dell from her daughters as a tool to get the children to cooperate with them. Mrs. O'Dell was only allowed two one-hour supervised visits with her daughters each week until her arrest yesterday. Now her children will not be able to see her at all while she sits and waits in the S. Burlington prison.

Mrs. O'Dell says the first year Natalie Casco 'approved' her homeschooling they made her agree to keep two of her children in special education classes at the local school. However, Mrs. O'Dell found this burdensome and her children were being abused and bullied whenever they were on school property, sometimes even by the teachers in charge of their care and well-being. At other times the teachers themselves would actually do the work for the O'Dell children just to show they were making progress under their tutelage.

The second year Mrs. O'Dell homeschooled she chose to withdraw her children from special education classes, which is her prerogative according to the VT Supreme Court ruling in the Karen Maple case (May 2000). After much research and discussion with other homeschoolers Mrs. O'Dell also sights the 1920's Education Trilogy (Meyer v. Nebraska, Pierce v. Society of Sisters, Farrington v. Tokushige as well as Wisconsin v. Yoder in 1972) as supporting her constitutional right to homeschool and to provide a Christian education for her children. Things were fine in her W. Haven home and the local school didn't really bother her until her home burned to the ground just after Christmas. Within two months of the fire and with no place to live the Fair Haven Elementary School principal, Gloria Moulton, began pursuing the O'Dell family with the threat of SRS intervention. According to Mrs. O'Dell the harassment and persecution continues to this day. Mrs. O'Dell's present incarceration for pursuing a Christian home education for her four children appears to attest to that fact.


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Announcements; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: homeschooling; odell; vermont
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To: glory
How about - her kids have a 1st grade reading level, barely beyond "see spot run", and the only thing she has for them to read is the King James bible. As in, it is the only printed matter within a mile of them, and they can't read a line of it without repeated prompting. I don't know that is the case, but wouldn't that be educational neglect due to expecting too much of her kids?

I don't pretend to know all of the facts, I am just speculating. But it is to say the least not very promising circumstances for successful home schooling. We are not talking about an educated mother fully able to formally teach her kids the three Rs. We are talking about a harried poor woman with a disabled husband who must spend her days tending goats, feeding chickens, and re-arranging the dismantled trash that constitutes her entire household wealth. Her kids may very well do nothing more for edcuation than help her with household chores and other such tasks.

It is indeed possible for a parent to neglect to educate her children. Whether that is the case here is an empirical question. Parents have duties. If they do indeed perform them, then sure the state should butt out. But if they fail to perform them, hiding behind a smokescreen of disagreement with state education to attract outside sympathy and support, that is not acceptable.

Those who support her side in all of this would be well advised to leave the crusading against evil socialism for next year, and to spend their efforts getting this family on its feet instead. It appears they barely have a house - a cast-off mobile home without proper sewage and utility hook-ups - or means of livelihood - they are herding goats, the husband collects disability. And they react to these straighten circumstances how? By picking fights with the state and filing lawsuits. That is real practical, isn't it?

None of which makes any of the other actors in this little drama into saints, needless to say...

361 posted on 10/24/2002 11:43:22 AM PDT by JasonC
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
Either that, or you simply grew up - a lot of maturity can come with time.

You didn't answer my questions...in fact you are avoiding them.

The homeschool families I know tend to be some of the worst - they wouldn't be people that I would choose to homeschool, and tend to be kooks and flakes, and sit atop a mountain of Y2K rations, ammo, and copies of "Spotlight" and "The New American".

Well, then you need to get out more.

362 posted on 10/24/2002 11:45:39 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
...you want to see a bunch of underachieving, underearning losers churning out another generation of underearning, underachieving losers, then you'll...

Sounds to me as if you're describing the education establishment which is quite regularly turning out 'another generation of underearning, underachieving losers'...

Guess you haven't heard that it is homeschooled kids who are winning the national spelling and geography bees for the last few years.

I know quite a few public schooled kids who literally can't read their diplomas...yes, they received their diplomas anyhow.

363 posted on 10/24/2002 11:54:40 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance
Do you think that that makes me 'uneducated'??

I would say that your background hardly makes you a proper observer of what works and what doesn't work in the field of education. While you don't state that you've rounded yourself out with higher education, I tend to doubt it, given your rigid and uncompromising views on something that you are wrong about.

Does this disqualify me to make any or all of the educational decisions for MY children??

I don't know - I'd have to see you in action. From inception, it leads me to question the validity of your judgment, and you'd have to show me that you have the ability to do it.

Did you go to public school?

public school, Catholic school, military academy, doctorate.

364 posted on 10/24/2002 11:56:20 AM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: EternalVigilance
Guess you haven't heard that it is homeschooled kids who are winning the national spelling and geography bees for the last few years.

The great schtick of homeschoolers. Rote memory.

Its a great sales tactic for cottage schools and curriculum packets, but unfortunately, that doesn't help them solve problems, and does nothing for math and science skill (something which is generally lacking in all but a few homeschoolers).

Look, when teaching children, what works, works. Some parents are great homeschoolers, some are lousy homeschoolers, and a lot of kids (the great majority) do better in an organized school environment. most of us whose kids are in good school districts with sane curricula are getting pretty annoyed with the wrongheaded preaching coming from the "homeschooling uber alles" camp.

I know quite a few public schooled kids who literally can't read their diplomas...yes, they received their diplomas anyhow.

And that is TV movie garbage that you can't back up - so try not to repeat it - it makes you sound like a silly ideologue.

365 posted on 10/24/2002 12:07:10 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
a lot of kids (the great majority) do better in an organized school environment

Care to back that statement up with some hard facts?

366 posted on 10/24/2002 12:09:02 PM PDT by FourPeas
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
Do you think that that makes me 'uneducated'??

I would say that your background hardly makes you a proper observer of what works and what doesn't work in the field of education. While you don't state that you've rounded yourself out with higher education, I tend to doubt it, given your rigid and uncompromising views on something that you are wrong about.

Ah, but YOUR background makes you an expert...gotcha...spoken like a true educational elitist once again. And if a person is 'rigid and uncompromising' in his or her closely held views, that also means they are uneducated...uhuh....right. Well, I suppose I'm 'wrong' simply because you say so!

Does this disqualify me to make any or all of the educational decisions for MY children??

I don't know - I'd have to see you in action. From inception, it leads me to question the validity of your judgment, and you'd have to show me that you have the ability to do it.

I see, it is up to YOU and YOUR judgement whether I get to exercise my God-given liberty, or if I'm even qualified to exercise that liberty.

You're not convincing me or anyone else.

367 posted on 10/24/2002 12:13:29 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: FourPeas
In an organized school environment, children learn to do those things which will be required in adult life. This includes waking up in a timely fashion, keeping to a daily schedule, learning to take the commands of a superior and doing what they want done in an efficient fashion, completing paperwork and reports on time, managing relationships with peers, as well as cooperation and teamwork.

Meanwhile, all those spelling and geography bees won't mean diddly to the first boss, who simply wants the work done.

368 posted on 10/24/2002 12:16:37 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
I know the poor kids personally.

They never learned to read to begin with because of the failed experiment foisted on them by your friends in the educational establishment who just can't admit that whole language reading programs are nothing short of child abuse.

How many more millions of kids are going to get a substandard reading foundation because of this institutional abuse?
369 posted on 10/24/2002 12:18:11 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
...learning to take the commands of a superior...

Like you, I suppose....I mean after all, the trailer trash needs to know it's place.

370 posted on 10/24/2002 12:20:13 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance
Like I said - suit yourself. But ask yourself these questions:

1. Am I homeschooling these children for their benefit or mine?

2. Am I reluctant to let them grow up into individuals, and do I simply want to keep them close to me?

3. Am I really doing something for them - will their lives be personally and materially more satisfying than if I sent them to public school, or am I making some personal political point with my decision?

4. If I use the time and resources I spend on homeschooling into extra work, can I supplement my childs public school education with tutoring and maybe move to a nicer school district, or have better living quarters?

371 posted on 10/24/2002 12:25:32 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
In an organized school environment, children learn to do those things which will be required in adult life. This includes waking up in a timely fashion, keeping to a daily schedule, learning to take the commands of a superior and doing what they want done in an efficient fashion, completing paperwork and reports on time, managing relationships with peers, as well as cooperation and teamwork.

While all that's fascinating, it doesn't come close to hard facts demonstrating that "a lot of kids (the great majority) do better in an organized school environment". These same things can, and are, learned at home.

Meanwhile, all those spelling and geography bees won't mean diddly to the first boss, who simply wants the work done.

This is even more fascinating. You seem to have a beef with homeschool children and spelling/geography bees. Do I detect a chip on your shoulder?

372 posted on 10/24/2002 12:26:29 PM PDT by FourPeas
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To: EternalVigilance
Ah - the quasi-religious devotion to phonics.

Whole language uses quite a bit of rote memory - like that required to do a spelling or geography bee. most teachers are using a combination - with a great deal of success, I'll add, because I've seen both methods used.

Of course, as is expected, you are using hyperbole again - the shrill cries that we've come to expect from homeschoolers on this board.

373 posted on 10/24/2002 12:34:33 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
You have just described those very reasons the public schools as we know them exist today.

Public schools in America began as part of a progressive movement to supply a labor force suitable for factory work.

I have higher goals for the education of my son. He will have the advantages of an educated man from a good family. He will run or own the business for which your children toil for a wage.
374 posted on 10/24/2002 12:42:12 PM PDT by SarahW
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
Doctor, for all your education, I would expect you to have a rudimentary knowledge of the founding principles of our republic....but you obviously don't.

Because in the final analysis, all of the arguing over results is irrelevent. This is ultimately about my right to be free....to think think what I want and to teach my children what I want...without the interference of busybodies like yourself who think they are better than me because they have a piece of parchment.
375 posted on 10/24/2002 12:42:35 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: FourPeas; EternalVigilance
Um, yeah - it has a great deal of relevance in my experience with homeschoolers. In my experience, homeschooled young men don't like to wake up early, don't like to follow a schedule, and aren't reliable in terms of getting projects done. Homeschooled young women seem to have no goal beyond working at a day care center, and display no ambition or sense of competitiveness.

Thus, those critical work skills, so crucial to career success, aren't as likely to be imparted at home, despite hat homeschool advocates say.

376 posted on 10/24/2002 12:47:48 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: SarahW
He will? And while you burn countless hours homeschooling, who is saving to start that business, or the tuition money for for that topnotch college where those critical connections will be made?

How many homeschoolers find their way into vocational programs from which the better small businesses are started (I'm speaking primarily of electricians and plumbers)?

My children are grounded in entrepeneurism, get great educations, and know an entrepeneurial spirit.

377 posted on 10/24/2002 12:52:34 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
Finances are not an issue.
378 posted on 10/24/2002 12:55:07 PM PDT by SarahW
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To: Chancellor Palpatine
Um, yeah - it has a great deal of relevance in my experience with homeschoolers. In my experience, homeschooled young men don't like to wake up early, don't like to follow a schedule, and aren't reliable in terms of getting projects done. Homeschooled young women seem to have no goal beyond working at a day care center, and display no ambition or sense of competitiveness.

Utter hogwash.

379 posted on 10/24/2002 12:56:49 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance
And your lack of socialization through the normal educational process is obvious - you persist in your channeled vision of what you think the founding fothers meant when you have neither education nor experience in the areas in which you loudly speak your uninformed opinion.

In other words, like your few brethren out there (all of which seem to post on FR), you pretend you are the sole channelling medium of the original intent of the founding fathers - and deem every government program which you disagree with to be unconstitutional.

380 posted on 10/24/2002 12:57:40 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine
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