[Jim Hill]

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?

[MrB]

Baby steps with a goal of forcing all children under the tutelage of a communist indoctrination “educator” from birth to age of majority.

[TalonDJ]

it works like this. If states have regulations like requiring homeschooling parents to ‘consult’ with a ‘real’ teacher every year (some states require that) then raising the age adds more years they have to jump through the stupid hoops. In order to get out of that you have to ‘graduate’ which means some new federal standards in what that means. This potentially means parents have to jump though some sort of federal regulation minefield in order to prove their kid has graduated. That is hard to prove because there is no standard yard stick except a GED or some podunk local school saying you are done. So one way to look at what the president is doing would be requiring all homeschool students to take the GED. Not even top colleges or the military require that in all cases. Once the Feds are in charge of who is and isn't graduated... well lets just say that is a pretty big camel nose.