HSLDA defends home schooling from state investigation

Someone needs to call a spade a spade.

Friday, May 31, 2002 5:21AM EDT

POINT OF VIEW

Don't link home school with abuse

By ROBERT A. ZIEGLER AND JEFF
TOWNSEND

                 A recommendation by the state Child Fatality
                 Review Team that the "correlation of home
                 schooling and protection issues for children"
                 should be examined is a classic example of a
                 state fiefdom attempting to convert an
                 unspeakable tragedy into increased political
                 clout and power.

                 For state agencies to do this is alarming enough, but to do so in the wake of
                 events that transpired in Johnston County last July -- the murder-suicide of two
                 boys and their older sister -- seems almost heartless.

                 The team found that home school laws "allow persons who maltreat children to
                 maintain social isolation in order for the abuse and neglect to remain undetected"
                 and called for a task force to look into the issue. But there is no logical
                 connection between the practice of home schooling, which is the chosen means
                 of education by the parents of more than 2 million students nationally, and child
                 abuse.

                 Parents who home school almost always do so out of a great regard for their
                 children's future and a heartfelt belief that they can make a difference by more
                 personally directing their education. Many parents come to this decision due to
                 real concerns about their children's well-being, whether emotional, intellectual,
                 physical or all three, in the public school system.

Where in that is a recipe for abuse?

                 Obviously parents are free (at this point) to choose what they see fit in terms of
                 their children's education. Obviously there are differences of opinion within
                 mainstream thought as to what the best way is, but to take one of the choices
                 and attempt to say that it has some special link with abuse is nothing short of
                 ludicrous.

                 Make no mistake about it, abusing a child is a decision that a parent makes. The
                 parent chooses to do evil. While sociologists and psychologists may spend hours
                 determining the factors leading to this decision, it is an inexcusable decision
                 nonetheless. To say that it might somehow stem from the choice of educational
                 format is so remote a thought that it defies belief that a state-appointed panel
                 would actually raise it.

                 So why target home schooling this way? If there's no real link to child abuse,
                 what is it about home schooling that causes certain establishment entities
                 concern?

There are two main threats that home schooling provides to certain interested
parties in the current context.

                 One, it is a direct challenge to the liberal big-government notion that the public
                 schools can be the be-all, end-all vehicle for social services delivery. This notion
                 has led to such a diluting of the mission of public schools that they could not help
                 but lose effectiveness. This is not to slight all the well-meaning teachers and
                 families who strive to make public schools the best they can be. But the state, in
                 burdening them with so many non-academic tasks, has given them an impossible
                 mission.

                 The second threat has more to do with the education establishment
                 decision-makers. Teachers' unions recognize all too well that home schooling is a
                 threat to federal funding, because so much of that funding is based on enrollment
                 figures. While there are many well-meaning and decent teachers in public
                 schools, the organization that represents them is agenda-driven, and in our view
                 dollars are that agenda.

                 Home schooling is a means by which parents take back their central role in the
                 development of their (not the village's) children. And so, many in the liberal
                 big-government, educational and social services conglomerate fight against it
                 desperately.

                 They have failed to stigmatize it academically, due to outstanding test results and
                 college and work performance by home schoolers. They are losing (on a
                 family-by-family basis) the battle to spread the myth that home school students
                 cannot be properly socialized. So now they are getting out the heaviest and most
                 desperate artillery. They find tragedies like that in Johnston County, most often in
                 families so dysfunctional that they are more properly termed dropouts rather than
                 home schoolers, and try to use them to put their failing apparatus back in a more
                 secure position of power.

This is why such outlandish charges are popping up, and this is why they should
be ignored. Shame on those who would try to exploit a tragedy.

                 Government should recognize that its responsibility is to protect its citizens, not
                 harass them. Instead of trying to make a bogeyman out of such a good thing, why
                 not recognize that thinking of the public schools as the answer for every possible
                 social problem is flawed, and work on developing a better way to prevent and
                 uncover real child abuse?

                 Robert A.Ziegler is with the Home School Legal Defense Association in
                 Purcellville, Va. Jeff Townsend, of Bolivia, N.C., is president of North Carolinians
                 for Home Education.

This fiasco isn't "state fiefdom" - it's marxist authoritarianism. Why don't we all just turn our babies over the state after their born and let them be raised in a state indoctrination center? I would move out of this God-forsaken country before I would let the state have my children. I echo the sentiments of William Wallace, who cried in the last seen of the movie Braveheart, "F-R-E-E-E-E-E-E-D-O-M-M-M-M!

Friday, May 31, 2002 5:21AM EDT POINT OF VIEW

Don't link home school with abuse

By ROBERT A. ZIEGLER AND JEFF TOWNSEND

A recommendation by the state Child Fatality Review Team that the "correlation of home schooling and protection issues for children" should be examined is a classic example of a state fiefdom attempting to convert an unspeakable tragedy into increased political clout and power.

For state agencies to do this is alarming enough, but to do so in the wake of events that transpired in Johnston County last July -- the murder-suicide of two boys and their older sister -- seems almost heartless.

The team found that home school laws "allow persons who maltreat children to maintain social isolation in order for the abuse and neglect to remain undetected" and called for a task force to look into the issue. But there is no logical connection between the practice of home schooling, which is the chosen means of education by the parents of more than 2 million students nationally, and child abuse.

Parents who home school almost always do so out of a great regard for their children's future and a heartfelt belief that they can make a difference by more personally directing their education. Many parents come to this decision due to real concerns about their children's well-being, whether emotional, intellectual, physical or all three, in the public school system.

Where in that is a recipe for abuse?

Obviously parents are free (at this point) to choose what they see fit in terms of their children's education. Obviously there are differences of opinion within mainstream thought as to what the best way is, but to take one of the choices and attempt to say that it has some special link with abuse is nothing short of ludicrous.

Make no mistake about it, abusing a child is a decision that a parent makes. The parent chooses to do evil. While sociologists and psychologists may spend hours determining the factors leading to this decision, it is an inexcusable decision nonetheless. To say that it might somehow stem from the choice of educational format is so remote a thought that it defies belief that a state-appointed panel would actually raise it.

So why target home schooling this way? If there's no real link to child abuse, what is it about home schooling that causes certain establishment entities concern?

There are two main threats that home schooling provides to certain interested parties in the current context.

One, it is a direct challenge to the liberal big-government notion that the public schools can be the be-all, end-all vehicle for social services delivery. This notion has led to such a diluting of the mission of public schools that they could not help but lose effectiveness. This is not to slight all the well-meaning teachers and families who strive to make public schools the best they can be. But the state, in burdening them with so many non-academic tasks, has given them an impossible mission.

The second threat has more to do with the education establishment decision-makers. Teachers' unions recognize all too well that home schooling is a threat to federal funding, because so much of that funding is based on enrollment figures. While there are many well-meaning and decent teachers in public schools, the organization that represents them is agenda-driven, and in our view dollars are that agenda.

Home schooling is a means by which parents take back their central role in the development of their (not the village's) children. And so, many in the liberal big-government, educational and social services conglomerate fight against it desperately.

They have failed to stigmatize it academically, due to outstanding test results and college and work performance by home schoolers. They are losing (on a family-by-family basis) the battle to spread the myth that home school students cannot be properly socialized. So now they are getting out the heaviest and most desperate artillery. They find tragedies like that in Johnston County, most often in families so dysfunctional that they are more properly termed dropouts rather than home schoolers, and try to use them to put their failing apparatus back in a more secure position of power.

This is why such outlandish charges are popping up, and this is why they should be ignored. Shame on those who would try to exploit a tragedy.

Government should recognize that its responsibility is to protect its citizens, not harass them. Instead of trying to make a bogeyman out of such a good thing, why not recognize that thinking of the public schools as the answer for every possible social problem is flawed, and work on developing a better way to prevent and uncover real child abuse?

© Copyright 2002, The News & Observer. All material found on newsobserver.com is copyrighted The News & Observer and associated news services. No material may be reproduced or reused without explicit permission from The News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Hah! As if there were never any cases of horrendous child abuse that went undetected by the public (and even private) school educators who are supposed to be on the look out for that sort of stuff. I can list at least 3 instances in my area alone wherein children were being abused sexually and physically by parents and even their own classmates. After the abuse came to light, there was the usual "we can't predict/control or know everything that goes on" from their suprised teachers and administrators. I'll bet that there is far more undetected abuse going on in the public schools--especially from parents who don't give a hang about their kid's schools or education in general--than from homeschoolers.

The public schools are threatened financially and academically by the majority of homeschooling success stories. These power-hungry bureacrats will do anything to destroy any other viable alternative to the educational and social mess that they have created via red-tape, PC programs that the students know are hypocritical, moral relativism and ridiculous rulings from the so-called "zero-tolerance" policies...

That said, I'm glad that the writer of this opinion piece pointed out that there are some decent teachers and parents who sincerely care about the state of their schools. Fine. They are more than welcome to clean-up their own homes. Just leave mine alone. My homeschooled son is doing very well academically and socially. I don't need any liberal government busy-bodies or more paperwork to interfere with my son's educational or social needs, thank-you.

And, of course, we knew this was coming, didn't we? After the Andrea Yates' case and all the hooplah surrounding her "homeschooling"... The press kept repeating: "She homeschooled five children!" Hmmm... how does one "homeschool" a six-month-old baby? Only two were old enough to attend school... Oddly, when there are shootings or abuse at public schools, no one calls for shutting them down...

just like if a home schooler wins a geography or spelling bee, someone complains that they just focus on that subject, but if a public schooler wins, this is never a suspiscion.

Home schooling is a means by which parents take back their central role in the development of their (not the village's) children.

I love it!

A typical state remedy to alleged or real abuse on a child perpetrated by a parent is to remove the child and place the child into foster care. Foster care accounts for over 50% of all child abuse fatalities annually in America while only a small percentage of children are in foster care. This disproportionate number of child abuse fatalities occuring in foster care situations marks the State as the entity which deserves investigation and reform. To target families who educate their children in the home defies all logic and reasoning unless your agenda is to attack homeschooling.

As home schooling continues to grow in this country we will see more and more of these types of charges leveled in attempt to reign in home schooling. Home schooling is a danger to the government schools in that they loose funding on a per student basis, but more imporantly, the children who are home schooled are not adopting the state-approved value system. This is the real danger to the system and why I believe that the success of home schooling will put it squarely in the radar of those who would control our children's minds. I firmly believe we will see more legislation and more up front attacks in an attempt to exert control over home schooling.

HSLDA is right out there in front in fighting these issues and informing us of what is going on. I am a member and would strongly urge anyone who has an interest in home schooling to support HSLDA. I think they are right on in what they are doing.