Posted on 12/12/2001 5:28:25 AM PST by George Frm Br00klyn Park
agapepress - Christian News Service
South Carolina Bill Threatens Graduates of Private, Home Schools
Association of Home Schoolers Leading Fight to Defeat Legislation
By Steven Yates
December 11, 2001
COLUMBIA, SC (AgapePress) - A bill currently before the South Carolina General Assembly poses a direct threat to diplomas earned by home-schooled graduates. A kind of sleeper, H.B. 3364 was passed by the South Carolina House of Representatives before anyone noticed, and is currently before the Senate Education Committee.
H.B. 3364, the sponsors of which include a number of leading conservatives in the General Assembly, was allegedly written to end fraudulent diplomas being obtainable over the Internet. The bill states that no “correspondence diploma or certificate” is acceptable for state licensing, office holding, or employment by state agencies unless “the correspondence program is approved by the state board or department of education in the state in which the school or entity issuing the diploma or certificate has its principle place of business ....”
H.B. 3364 jeopardizes the validity of diplomas issued by home-schooling organizations, private schools, and religious schools, according to the bill’s critics. It makes public schools the “gold standard” for what counts as a valid diploma, and places near-exclusive control over the issuing of valid diplomas in the hands of the S.C. Department of Education.
Accordingly, a mobilization aimed at scuttling H.B. 3364 is under way. Leading the fight is the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools, whose founder and former president is Zan Tyler.
“This bill at best complicates home schooling, and at worst would prevent home schooling graduates from running for state office, attending public universities or becoming employed by state agencies," she says.
She added that the bill “gives the S.C. Department of Education the ability to decide which diploma is valid and which is invalid, and which testing instruments are valid and which are invalid.” Tyler observes that because of the sweeping authority it gives state-sponsored education agencies, H.B. 3364 is as much a threat to private schools and religious schools as it is to parents who are home schooling their children.
According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, the country’s leading organization protecting the legal interests of home-schooling families, these fears are warranted. However benign its original intent, H.B. 3364 would discriminate against home-schooled graduates, because the bill can be interpreted as invalidating every diploma not issued by a public school unless the diploma met the state-imposed requirements outlined in the bill. In short, while H.B. 3364 would not eliminate home schooling, it would place home schooling -- and private and religious schools -- under the thumb of state government.
One of the complaints about H.B. 3364 is that neither SCAIHS nor any other organization of home schoolers was consulted about the bill. Tyler prefers a charitable interpretation of this, observing that it may simply never have occurred to the bill’s sponsors that it would negatively impact on home-schooling families.
Critics of H.B. 3346 concede that the bill’s original intent was sound. There is fraud on the Internet, and this includes fraudulent academic credentials. The government has a legitimate interest in protecting the public from fraud. But according to the critics, H.B. 3346 is not the appropriate measure.
“The bill was intended to outlaw fraudulent Internet diplomas,” Tyler says. “In that case, we need to write a bill that outlaws fraudulent Internet diplomas, not a bill so sweeping and broad that for the first time it would give the state Department of Education the capacity, in principle, to invalidate all diplomas other than those granted by public schools.”
H.B. 3364 will be considered by the State Senate in the session of the General Assembly to begin in January, with public hearings chaired by Republican Senator Mike Fair to be held. In the meantime, concerned citizens are being urged to contact their senators and make sure they are aware of the potential consequences of this bill.
Dr. Steven Yates is a freelance writer with a Ph.D. in philosophy. This article appeared initially in The Columbia World, a Christian newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, associated with The Charlotte World in Charlotte, North Carolina.
© 2001 AgapePress all rights reserved.
THIS Article at Agape Press
I have friends who homeschool in SC. Will be calling them to see what's up.
This proposed legislation in South Carolina is just another stealth attempt to force non-government schooling out of business by denying access to the professions. Like compelling nationwide standardized tests for students, requiring national service for young people, and harassing home schoolers, this is just another attempt by statist legislators and bureaucrats to make all submit to the false idol of the almighty State.
If they're not accredited, ignore the degree. If they are accredited, and the institution sounds suspicious (like from "Virtual Academics.Com" or "Regent University" -- just kidding, it's actually legitimately accredited), ask who accredited that school. Then go to the Council For Higher Education Accreditation and see if the accrediting organization is in their list. Or for a central source, put the education department to work and make them compile a central source of accredited programs and institutions for reference.
If it's not, don't believe it. Such as in the case of well-known creationist "Dr." Kent Hovind's alma mater, Patriot University (check out the campus), which was accredited by the American Accrediting Association of Theological Institutions (which will accredit an empty post office box for $100). Guess what, the AAATI is not on the list.
Accrediting is done by many different organizations, and I don't think there are many (if any) at all that are government organizations.
No disrespect to Steven Yates but three SC senators have told me that this bill is going nowhere until and unless it takes the needs of the Home and Private schoolers into consideration.
There are an enormous number of professions that require state licensing, from humble careers like food handling to high prestige ones like the medical profession, even in more conservative states. In the more liberal states, the number of professions subject to licensing increases. In some professions, such as the law, a private organization (the Bar Association) is given a government monopoly over a profession and thus have quasi-public status.
If a private group, for example a trade organization, wants to rate participants in their industry as qualified or not, that is their business. Consumers can use these as guidelines to choose products or services, just as they might use recommendations by Consumer Reports or Popular Mechanics. State run or sanctioned licensing boards limit the number of participants in a profession, thereby driving up the cost of goods and services.
Beyond the restraint of trade that licensing boards cause, they also raise the spectre of abuse by politicians with an agenda. Before World War II, it was extremely difficult for a woman to obtain a medical license. In various parts of the country before World War II, blacks and Jews were subject to quotas in the areas of medicine and the law. In the psychiatric profession, mental health practicioners who do not subscribe to politically correct beliefs regarding homosexuality have suffered sanctions at the behest of homosexual pressure groups. Creationist and conservative professors often must fight to obtain tenure at state universities, supported by taxpayer money.
A bill such as that proposed in South Carolina could have the effect of using the iron fist of government to close out many avenues of employment to those who will not submit to Caesar's school system.
Guys,The above is EXACTLY right, and such provisions are NOT necessary in a law. Hopefully the "three Senators" are not just mouth. Peace and loe, George.
There has to be something to tell me that a student got a good education, whether home-schooled or not. Accreditation, as opposed to a state board of education (which will be biased to public schools) is the answer. There are home schooling curricula that are accredited.
An extreme example would be a university entrance examiner looking at a student with a home-school diploma. This student wants to go on to a biology degree. How do you know this student wasn't home schooled as a fundamentalist Christian and has no idea of how macrobiology or the scientific method work?
I say that government accredited schools have a liberal agenda. They have goals that do match the goals I have for my children. Are their goals superior to mine? I think not!
I say again, accreditation is not the measuring stick. That is putting someone else's standards above what you believe as a parent to be the standard for a good education. What one person believes to be a good education differs from someone else.
It's about freedom. Some parents seek out accredited schools: home, public and private, and some parents do not. But, you are way off base if you think that accredited schools are superior.
Hello?! How about SAT scores? In addition, many states have general testing available for all students, whether homeschooled or government schooled. The outcome of these tests are obvious. Homeschoolers test out on the average, 30% higher than their government schooled peers.
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.