Freedom of Education

(Article written in an Ohio Newspaper)

A request was made by a local public school administrator at a recent board of education meeting that the newspaper "do" an exposé on home schooling.

Such a request, and one made in a public forum by a school board president, at the very least implies some knowledge of something amiss.

If this administrator is aware of anything which ought to be "exposed," maybe he should simply contact the proper authorities. If he suspects cases of abuse, there's Children Services, the police, the Highland County Sheriff's Office, the Juvenile Court judge, all of whom would, no doubt, respond to the legitimate complaints of a school administrator.

Why challenge the newspaper? We are not the home school police. Frankly, we have enough to do to keep up with those public bodies that spend more and more of taxpayers' money each year. But I digress.

Families who choose to home school their children have every right to do so. At least for the time being. A number of states are working hard to change that. Some state lawmakers - encouraged, no doubt, by the contributions from the teachers' unions - would like to force parents of home schooled children to earn degrees in each subject they teach (to their own children).

This suggests the government can usurp parental guidance and parental responsibility.

That's too bad. And, sadly, it has less to do with educating each individual student and much more to do with capitalizing on the government funds attached to each student.

From a myopic viewpoint, it is understandable that a public school administrator would oppose home schooling. For lack of a better term, it's called "follow the money." Public schools profit from higher student body counts, all the while lamenting an increase in the teacher-to-student ratio.

Rather than seek investigations of the parents of home schooled children, perhaps public schools should be thanking them. After all, the public schools continue to receive the tax levies from those parents who home school and, at the same time, they have an improved teacher-to-student relationship.

Rather than, in a public meeting, cast aspersions on those who choose to home school, perhaps the administrator would be a better public servant by demanding better results from that which he has a degree of authority and control.

To quote a recent college graduate who was home schooled, "Home schooling is, simply, educating children at home. The most important points of home education are the freedom to create the best possible curriculum and its unique atmosphere advantageous to students. Parents and students have control over the curriculum; so if they don't like some of the books by one company, they can substitute by using books from another company. For example, when I was home schooled, my parents used the A Beka curriculum. Because my parents knew exactly what my strengths and weaknesses were, they were able to design an education plan that would help me get the most out of my schooling."

For the full story:
Home School Educated