Posted on 01/25/2012 12:27:51 PM PST by scripter
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Last night in his State of the Union address President Obama called on all states to raise their school compulsory attendance age to 18, unnecessarily adding to bureaucratic requirements for homeschoolers.
Homeschool advocates at the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) are dedicated to protecting the educational relationship between parents and their children. Parents—not the federal government and certainly not the president—are the ones who should decide how children are educated and when they’re ready to graduate from high school.
But President Obama presumptively spoke on behalf of parents and the states: “So tonight, I am proposing that every state—every state—requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.”
Michael Farris, founder and chairman of HSLDA, expressed the shock felt by homeschoolers: “There appears to be no limit to the president’s desire for power. Car companies, banks, doctors, and now schools and the family. He’s gone way too far this time.”
State-mandated attendance has not been the historical norm. In 1642, the Massachusetts Bay Colony stipulated that parents provide religious instruction for their children. For the next 200 years, most education laws were minimal and focused on family-centered education, giving children the tools to read, write, and do arithmetic, helping them understand what it meant to be virtuous citizens, and allowing them to learn a trade.
Ultimately, a formulaic and compulsory approach to education fails to instill in children a love of learning or a quality education. HSLDA President J. Michael Smith confirmed, “HSLDA has consistently protected homeschool families from the harmful effects of compulsory attendance education in their states, reinforcing the parental right to choose the method and duration of education most fitting to the individual needs and gifts of their children.”
Home School Legal Defense Association is a nonprofit advocacy organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children and to protect family freedoms. Visit us online at www.hslda.org
Urgent Calls Needed to Stop Obama's Attack on Educational Freedom
Dear HSLDA Members and Friends,
"So tonight, I am proposing that every state--every state--requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18."
--President Barack Obama, last night's State of the Union speech.
I was shocked when I heard that. Under our U.S. Constitution, education matters are left to the states. Our Founders wanted decisions about education and a host of other matters left to the states and local government so that these important decisions that affect every family could easily be influenced by the real decision makers: parents and the family.
Parents--not the federal government and certainly not the president--are the ones who should decide how children are educated and when they're ready to graduate from high school.
But last night, President Obama made it clear that he thinks the federal government should be in the business of telling states how long children should stay in school.
Since we were founded in 1983, HSLDA has fought attempts by state legislatures to increase the ages of compulsory attendance in school. We do this because parents--not education bureaucrats--are best equipped to decide how long their children should stay in school.
Now, thanks to President Obama and his willing allies in Congress, we're going to have to fight this in Congress, too. We need to make sure that the White House, and their allies in Congress hear our message loud and strong: leave education decisions to parents.
CALL NOW!
Right now, please call the White House, and your members of Congress, and give them this message:
"Last night, President Obama called for the government to mandate that all children stay in school until they graduate or turn age 18. This is not the federal government's responsibility. Leave education decisions to parents, not federal bureaucrats. Tell President Obama to withdraw his compulsory attendance mandate immediately." The White House: 202-456-1414, or send an online message: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=13517 Your U.S. representative and two U.S. senators: 202-224-3121 (Capitol Switchboard) or http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=13518 to find their names and contact info.
There appears to be no limit to this president's desire for power. Car companies, banks, doctors, and now schools and the family. But this time he's gone way too far, and homeschoolers and freedom-loving Americans need to make sure that he hears our message.
Thank you for standing with us for freedom.
Sincerely,
Michael P. Farris, JD, LLM Chairman, HSLDA
P.S. Click here http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=13519 to watch the president threaten education freedom in last night's State of the Union speech.
You probably have this in email. I thought I’d post in here for a wider audience.
Here is a list of current compulsory education, by state:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0112617.html
Longer government skool attendance = more goonion teachers = more dues = more goonion contributions to dhimmiecrats
So glad I didn’t watch - my heart probably would have given out listening to all this Big Brother Socialist crap ...
I don’t see how this will work on religious grounds.
I am not fully aware of the law, but in Maryland it is required that student stay in school until 16, but the Amish who live here do not go to High School. They stop in the 6th grade and generally the older ones stay and help the others by teaching. At least some of the girls do. I believe the boys are just truant after the 6th grade.
Of course Obama has already shown that Freedom of Religion means nothing to him, he showed that when he went against the Conscience act to force Catholics out of the adoption business and forced helping in abortion on Catholic nurses.
Oh Well” More Obama made laws and regulations coming down the pike, I wonder why we have a Congress when we have a President who rules like a King.
Exactly. Just a reason to try to justify more money to “schools and education”.
1. Steal the peoples’ money
2. “Give” it to the local school districts until they become addicted and can’t function without it.
3. Impose your indoctrination requirements on districts who “choose” to accept the peoples’ money that you stole.
And get all children under the thumb of leftist indoctrination. None can be allowed to escape, that would be dangerous.
I envy you. I watched about 5 seconds with the sound off and saw Biden clapping... that was enough.
I guess Obama’s answer to the dropout rate is the same as his answer to people not having health care—Throw your butt in prison if you don't comply.
I guess Obama’s answer to the dropout rate is the same as his answer to people not having health care—Throw your butt in prison if you don't comply.
I watched no more than 10 minutes of that cr@p, and I managed to see both his zero sum economics (you rich people need to pay more taxes because the $ has to come from SOMEWHERE) and his attempt to destroy homeschooling!!!!
I hope this gets mentioned in the next debate.
As I understand, attendance is already compulsory in many states. Is the issue that the Federal Govt wants to be in charge of this; i.e., centralization of control of children, or is the issue mandatory attendance itself?
I was homeschooled, and I hope to homeschool my (someday) children.
I might have to re-ask my parents, but as I recall, you only have to show the state that you are educating your child at home and that counts as attendance.
I dislike centralizing power, but how much more complicated is forwarding that same information to the government?
Serious questions—not trolling or playing devil’s advocate. I am a bit naive about the particulars of these laws.
What would be the point in forcing an unengaged kid to keep attending school?
Da teechers unions need mo' job securitah.
Cruachan! III%
What gets me is this jackass uses the excuse of “government should not interfere with private family matters” when it comes to justifying abortion.
“...I wonder why we have a Congress when we have a President who rules like a King.”
If there were no House or Senate, who would go to all those cocktail parties???
This is just about Obama sucking up to the teacher’s unions. Pure and simple.
The thing about homeschoolers is that they (we) are by nature... well... zealots. We’ll go to the mats to defend our rights to homeschool,
and the commies need to understand just what that means.
Help me understand the controversy vis-a-vis homeschoolers. The proposal Obama iterated was that students stay in school a.) until they graduate; or b.) turn 18. So, for instance, if a homeschooled student completed the requisite coursework for HS graduation at 16 years of age (i.e. graduated), then the 18 years of age restriction becomes moot. Are not most homeschoolers educating their children up to and including HS graduation?
Baby steps with a goal of forcing all children under the tutelage of a communist indoctrination “educator” from birth to age of majority.
Money. They get paid per body, engaged or not.
The more & deeper a distant bureaucracy gets in trying to dictate educational processes, the worse public education in America gets. (See Public Schools: Issues & Reality.)
But, of course, with the influence of the NEA, many public schools are avidly pushing a pro-Obama indoctrination. That explains a lot.
William Flax
This ping list is for articles of interest to homeschoolers. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping List. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added or removed from either list, or both.
The keyword for the FREE REPUBLIC HOMESCHOOLERS’ FORUM is frhf.
“and had been excepted to UNC Willmington”
That’s racist! What did you do when your child was denied entry? :) :) :)
Yes, I understand these communists’ agenda, and their incremental erosion of our individual rights and privileges. I suppose I can see this as another “camel’s nose under the tent” situation. Just trying to understand the specific implications for homeschooling if this becomes another federal mandate.
Actually, I don’t.
My youngest is a sophomore in college and we’re no longer members of HSLDA.
So, if you see anything from them that should be known, by all means, ping me again.
“...until they graduate....”
What’s the problem?
We signed up as “lifers” when my oldest was 4...
I guess I’ll be getting emails & publications for a while.
Between this and the message from HSLDA I saw on Facebook Monday regarding the “Homeschool Study” from the Dept of Education (http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/2012/201201200.asp), I am getting concerned.
I’m still curious as to how the federal gov’t got the names and addresses of homeschoolers to send out this study...I’m assuming that I had never heard of it before because we previously homeschooled in Texas and Germany (on a military base) where we didn’t have to report to anyone. Now we are in a state that I have to report in, but I did not give our county permission to pass along my info to the Dept of Ed.
Massachusetts now has a LAW against doing this, don't they?
The notion of compulsory education is for the most part ridiculous, and ignores the obvious fact that the only thing many students kept against their will do, is to interfere in many ways with the education of students that *do* want to be educated.
1) Teachers try to teach “to the middle” of their classes abilities. If the class has more smart, motivated children, the teacher can, at least theoretically, teach at a higher level. However, poor, unmotivated, and disruptive students can drag down a class proportionately much more than smart, motivated students can uplift it.
2) Schools need some means of culling disruptive and even criminal students. As was demonstrated by principal Joe Clark, once even an inner city school was purged of its troublemakers, it was able to thrive.
3) Students are often very aware of their own intellectual interests and shortcomings, seeing no practical advantage to graduating or even attending school beyond a particular point. While later, as adults, they change their minds and get their GED, efforts to persuade or coerce they earlier just creates a wall of resistance, and even anger from them.
Thanks for the ping. Homeschoolers were the first ones I thought of when I read this latest madness of King Barry.
Last night, the Washington Capitals vs Boston Bruins hockey game is the only thing I watched on TV.
It was an exciting game, and I became so absorbed in it that I actually forgot Obama was giving a campaign speech...
...I wasn’t going to say anything...
; - )
You have to remember that public education is primarily a (union) jobs program.
I had some extended family living in a state where the compulsory age was 16. They had a son who hooked up with the wrong crowd and started getting in trouble. His dad tried to put him into a parochial school where he’d get more structure and better guidance. But the kid did not like it, and when he turned 16 he dropped out. His father was told that was the law, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Then he kept getting in trouble with the cops. The police kept bringing him back to his dad. The dad was in a Catch 22 because he was still responsible for the kid for two more years, but could not legally force him to go back to school. And legally he could not kick the kid out either.
This is a stupid and untenable legal situation. Age of majority and compulsory attendance need to be the same.
He needs two more years to DUMB DOWN the public school (or as NY City spelpt it shcool) student, so they be WONDERFUL socialists.
mandatory age 18 is just mandated indoctrination and
MOST IMPORTANT mandated teacher union employment pay off.
School till 18 means more teachers means more union dues funneled to democrats.
According to STAR testing, my home-educated kids were intellectually ready to attend college at the age of 10. There is no way in hell I would ever allow them to remain in a school just to make life easier for incompetent teachers.
FUBO
“spelpt it shcool”
Sorry! But sometimes typos are funny!
By the time I was 18 I had an associates degree and was in a four year school. No diploma from anyone that the government would recognize because that’s what worked for us.
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.