A California appeals court ruled that homeschooling your children is illegal unless the parent doing the teaching holds teaching credentials for the grades the students are in. This means that basically unless you are a teacher who stops working to teach your own kids, it will be illegal to homeschool your children. Perhaps the scariest part of this case is what the judge said in his ruling.
"A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare," the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue."
This is scary! I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up in front of the US Supreme Court.
unless it's overturned on appeal, I wouldn't doubt that this case heads to SCOTUS. That may actually be a good thing in the long run as the more conservative court will likely rule in favor of homeschooling and then there would be a federal precedent for the allowing of homeschooling by parents.
YanıtlaSilWow, that is a funny comment by the judge. If you look historically, education was NOT to instill concepts of citizenship and common welfare. It was to ensure citizens could read the Bible! Later, concepts of equality of opportunity were added.
YanıtlaSilHome schooling seems consistent with equality of opportunity, so long as materials are available and students are closely monitored to ensure they are being properly educated and given a chance to achieve. I know a number of home schoolers who went onto careers in law, the military, and film who are excelling in those careers and known for their scholarship.
That is not to say I am "for" home schooling. I do see the advantages of pooling people together for resources and to let them interact with their peers. But this ruling certainly makes no sense to me. Then again, perhaps the California Constitution speaks to it differently. We must remember that education is the purview of the STATES and not the Federal government.
That quote sounds to me like something you'd find in a totalitarian or socialist state.
YanıtlaSilPerhaps there is a middle ground to be found in this case as the original issue was that these kids were not getting a proper education. There are many homeschooling parents that are quite competent and can do a terrific job w/o teaching credentials. But there are also many that should be in school themselves rather than trying to teach their kids. So perhaps some level of education reached (e.g. college grad) or testing is required to see if parents are competent enough to be teaching the subjects they're teaching their children.
YanıtlaSilSean,
YanıtlaSilI agree. Here in CT, every year I believe that home schooled kids must pass a mastery test comparable to the tests in NY Regents exam. Any students who do not pass, will not be considered to have moved to the next grade level and the state or local officials are authorized to act. Thus, the problem is not home schooling, but in home school parents who do not take the job seriously.
But the Teachers Union - quoted extensively in the article - shows their interest is in ensuring Union members have a monopoly on teaching. Very different thing.
I am with wedge, training in patriotism is a very harsh ideal to lay at the foot of your schooling system. It reminds me of Stalin's reeducation camps.
YanıtlaSilnomad, i the only real problem i have with the conn. system is that it's reactive rather than proactive. i think that if parents want to homeschool their kids, they should first prove that they have the necessary skills to do so. otherwise the people that get hurt are the kids in having to repeat that grade. but i think that the testing of the kids also is a good thing in that it gives a reason and/or goal for the kids to learn and the parents to teach well.
YanıtlaSilI find it strange I am the one mainly defending Home Schooling here, when I was public schooled for all my life. Oh, well.
YanıtlaSilSean, I think it is impractical to test each and every parent to see "if they have the skills" to home school Especially when those "skills" are so nebulous. Yes, they can simply show a teaching degree, but do we want one out of every two parents to have to get a teaching degree? But the home school parents I have known are a relentlessly creative lot. Some make use of third party products to back up a lack of skills, other share teaching duties with other home school parents so the English skilled ones share with the Science skilled ones and vice versa. And frankly, not every student needs a teacher for every subject. If you had plunked me down in a room with some books, I would have learned computer programming on my own. In fact, I did. As public schools did not have many formalized programming courses when I started. For at least one teacher, I was the person who proved to them children COULD learn to program.
The test method may be reactive, but it is also practical. It sets an objective bar to teach to and learn toward. If you are worried about a whole year lost, then put out a system with 4 quarterly tests to show progress throughout the year. That way, they can't be more than one quarter behind and there is time to catch up before the year-end test.
I'd appreciate it if one of our home schooled or home schooling readers spoke up. I am purely working from observation here, not personal experience.
I was not home schooled, but some of my siblings were partially home schooled and my wife and her siblings have been at least partially home schooled. Check out http://www.hslda.org where they have a petition that everyone can sign.
YanıtlaSilHopefully, this will be overturned. It was a closed case and wasn't even made available until after the ruling. It was only a couple days ago that word started spreading. Taking one family that apparently had many problems and extrapolating that to all homeschool families is just insane.
As for testing, I think that there needs to be some check against parents who say they are homeschooling, but aren't actually teaching there kids, but I'm hesitant to go to standardized testing for each grade or quarter. What if a kid really excels in math and wants to go ahead in math, but is a little behind in English? Home schooling is perfect for them. Let them go ahead in math, while working to bring up their English. The problem is that the standardized test would be testing older math skills and could hold them back because of the English skills. So long as English is addressed before schooling is finished, I'd have no problem with a home schooling parent altering the schedule. Another example, let's say that a student is really good at algebra, but will have trouble with geometry. Maybe the state tests Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 whereas the parent would rather do Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and then Geometry to give the student some more time to grasp the skills necessary for Geometry. Finally, what about an issue like evolution. Should a family that rejects teaching something on religious grounds be forced to teach it?
[[Finally, what about an issue like evolution. Should a family that rejects teaching something on religious grounds be forced to teach it?]]
YanıtlaSilCan a person be truly considered educated if they have received NO teaching on evolution? I mean, it is one thing if they don't want to say it is fact, but it is another to let their children remain ignorant of the theory that drives most modern biological scientific theory!
In my experience, the parents who were not really qualified to do homeschooling figured it our very quickly and their children went back to public school or private school within a semester. I don't think unqualified parents is really a large problem. (Probably no larger than that of bad teachers who have tenure and can't be let go.)
YanıtlaSilGlen is right, evolution should be taught. What if God used evolution? I have a fresh can here... worms anyone? :-)
YanıtlaSilFYI...Connecticut does NOT require any testing for homeschoolers. There are no laws requiring things from CT homeschoolers unless they decide to file a NOI (Notice of Intent). If they file, they are then required to meet with the school system for a portfolio review, but the NOI is totally optional.
YanıtlaSilDang it, I did say evolution. I meant to leave a specific idea out and just talk about the more broad idea of someone religiously objecting. I agree, regardless of if you believe in evolution or not, you should learn about it if for no other reason than to have a defense against it. I'm just worried about having what becomes a state dictated curriculum.
YanıtlaSilBeing, as far as I can tell, the only person on here with actual experience being homeschooled... good thoughts all.
YanıtlaSilI think the NOI is mandatory if you don't want to be considered truant and come under more scrutiny by the state of CT. I've never heard of it being voluntary. I have heard of superintendents of schools being to swamped to really check on families (they try to schedule a yearly review of courses and all that) but that doesn't mean it isn't a requirement.
Let's not get into the creation thing.
The real problem with the ruling is that it assumes that the state, rather than the parents, is responsible for the education of the child.
While the state does have a legitimate interest in making sure all children are well educated, the state is not responsible for that education. The state should be the default position, i.e. if through testing or whatever the child is found to not be getting an adequate education (reading, writing, basic math) then the state should be allowed to step in, but not before. The parent should be allowed to homsechool, or to send them to a private school if they want to. This is why the CT system is actually quite good, provided it is working. Families notify the state they want to homsechool, the town school superintendent schedules a meeting to find out what courses and textbooks they will be using, and then schedules a yearly review to make sure everything is moving along and the child is learning.
And by the by, as for whether or not homeschooled students get a good enough education has really been settled and is a non-issue. Their test scores are much higher than all other schooling systems, and colleges often actively recruit homsechooled students because they study hard and get good grades. There are those that are truant, but as was said, and I said above, those are usually caught by the state through testing.
[[The real problem with the ruling is that it assumes that the state, rather than the parents, is responsible for the education of the child.]]
YanıtlaSilYou need to keep in mind that in many states, a "Right to Education" is actually written into the State Constitution. If so, this puts a very different spin on the attitude the government needs to have toward education. A Right must be protected by the governing body, and is primarily that body's responsibility. It may allow the parents to act in proxy, but the State is the one responsible.
In States without this language, it is the other way around. The parent is the responsible party, and the State can act as Proxy by providing public education.
I do not know offhand which way the California Constitution is written. Can Wedge look into it and perhaps report back?
"The right to a public education in California is a fundamental right fully guaranteed and protected by the California Constitution." Serrano v. Priest (1971) 5 Cal.3d 584.
YanıtlaSilhttp://ag.ca.gov/publications/civilrights/01CRhandbook/chapter6.php
Looks like we've set it up as the government's responsability to raise our kids. :(