Posted on 06/02/2008 6:19:50 AM PDT by Between the Lines
NASHVILLE, TN, Five people in Tennessee, who hold homeschool diplomas, have recently been deemed unqualified for certain positions of employment becasue of their homeschooling. Since last year, the Tennessee Department of Education has begun withholding approval of such diplomas, but Representative Mile Bell has been fighting to gain back the recognition these diplomas previously enjoyed.
Bell told LifeSiteNews.com that until last year, no person in Tennessee had ever had an issue with an employer for holding a category IV diploma - the official title of diplomas issued to private church-related students, including homeschooled students.
Recently, however, employers that are required by statute to hire only those persons with a high school diploma, including the police department, day-care workers and education workers, have either suspended or denied employment to five category IV diploma holders.
After graduating with a 4.0 average from a police academy, one Rockwood police officer lost his certification, possibly deeming all of his arrests invalid, "because the DOE refused to recognize his category IV diploma." Bell also mentioned that this occurred seven years after the officer received his category IV high school diploma.
Likewise, Bell mentioned four daycare workers who have been deemed unqualified to carry out their responsibilities because they have category IV diplomas.
The representative was also keen to point out that many institutions of higher education, such as Harvard, grant scholarships based on such diplomas.
According to Bell, "It is hard to put a finger on when the Department of Education stopped giving full recognition to category IV diplomas. Throughout the course of four meetings with the DOE, they were either unable or refused to answer this question clearly." Bell does not understand why the problem occurred because homeschool diplomas have been part of a statute since 1976.
He suggested one incident that might have acted as a catalyst for the change. In February of 2007, the Control of the State of Tennessee audited the DOE, and was displeased to see that the department was not regulating category IV diplomas and the curriculum related to them.
Yet, Bell commented on the fact that one of the main reasons parents choose to homeschool their children is so they do not have to use state provided curriculum and testing.
"Regulating category IV diplomas leads to regulating home school curriculum, but I believe parents have a God-given right to choose their child's education."
In an effort to protect homeschooling in the state of Tennessee, Representative Bell has been spearheading an effort to establish a compromise with the DOE. After several negotiation periods with the department, as well as proposing a bill to the legislative process, Bell believes that category IV diplomas will once again gain the recognition they deserve.
He speculates that a person holding such a diploma, who applies for a position with an agency that requires by statute their employees to possess high school diplomas, will have to write a standardized test, receiving a grade no lower than a C. Homeschooled students have a reputation for often achieving academic test results well above the average of students from pubic education institutions.
It seems as if Tennessee only wants the dumber than dumb(politically and socially brainwashed in the public system) to work for the state.
hs ping
As I would demand with a story in the MSM, it would be nice to have some real names and more details attached. If these five people have truly been denied employment solely because of being homeschooled, I’d think they’d be happy to be quoted.
The NEA agenda = relativism, egalitarianism & secular humanism = liberal voters for generations to come.
Unions colluding with each other!
LifeSiteNews is a far cry from being MSM.
Universities honor homeschool diplomas (my kid has his BA, is working on his Masters and for each college all we did was sign an affidavit saying he graduated from high school and provide a copy of his curriculum to the schools.)
There’s got to be more to the story, IMHO, maybe the DOE is just ticked that these individuals didn’t “get with the program” and attend a government school.
“LifeSiteNews is a far cry from being MSM.”
I don’t understand. Does that mean we should hold it to a lesser standard?
Not in my book.
You would think someone would have done his homework. If you need a diploma for your chosen career, a GED is the equivalent, is it not? And a GED is child’s play for the average homeschool graduate.
So an idiot with a GOVERNMENT ISSUED diploma who doesn’t know the difference between trapezoid and a hemorrhoid is somehow more qualified than a 4.0 police officer?
My daughter will be attending law school at Twin Cities in 2010. Gee, if she gets a public defender job I hope that she was home schooled doesn't void her law degree?
Her GPA after 3 years is 3.94 as a History major.
Lawsuit time!
It may be that a GED is also not recognized for these jobs; the article doesn’t say. I do know, as someone with a homeschool diploma, that I was insulted when it was suggested to me that I take the GED to clear up a paperwork issue. I was not a dropout. I found another way to provide the information required (a state requirement in PA that before a student can be granted a college diploma they have their high school diploma on record. Idiotic beyond all words, but the law apparently)
MM, ping for the HS list.
Welcome to the Educational-Industrial Complex.
The best ER physician I ever met was a high school home schooled doctor. His sense of humor was amazing. He got so fed up with the hospital’s board of directors that he quit and moved to Australia, where he is doing just great as an ER doctor.
What homeschooler would want to soil their reputation by getting the dropout diploma? Anyone knows GED means the holder is dumb, dumb, dumb.
“One Police Officer and Four Daycare Workers Deemed Unqualified Because of Homeschool Diplomas”
Were they considered over-educated?
If you want to be a cop and the GED is required, you just do it. You don’t have to hang it on the wall.
Sometimes the rules are dumb, dumb, dumb.
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