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Harvard to Host Pro-Homeschoolers in Response to 'Disinformation Campaign Against Homeschooling'
Townhall ^ | 04/25/2020 | Ellie Bufkin

Posted on 04/25/2020 7:53:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Harvard stirred controversy earlier this month when they announced a June invitation-only summit to discuss increased regulations and a presumptive ban on homeschooling. The event, dubbed, "Homeschooling Summit: Problems, Politics, and Prospects for Reform," is set to feature a who's-who of academics, lawyers, and activists who have been outspoken in their belief that parents should not legally be allowed to educate their children at home. 

Harvard Law School is officially hosting an event against homeschooling in June.

"The focus will be on problems of educational deprivation and child maltreatment that too often occur under the guise of homeschooling." pic.twitter.com/JF0kgEEIYp— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 9, 2020

One featured speaker of the anti-homeschooling summit, Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Bartholet, penned a lengthy article in the Arizona Law Review last year that concluded that homeschooling in the United States should be banned. Bartholet noted most specifically that children taught by their parents might not be exposed to the same social views as children in public schools. She contends that for this reason, homeschooled children are prevented from being "active, productive participants in the larger society."

Many homeschool because they want to isolate their children from ideas and values central to our democracy, determined to keep their children from exposure to views that might enable autonomous choice about their future lives. Many promote racial segregation and female subservience. Many question science. Abusive parents can keep their children at home free from the risk that teachers will report them to child protection services.

Noting the lack of homeschool supporters slated to speak at the three day event in Cambridge, many called on Harvard and the event planners to extend invitations to some advocates for family choice in education. A suggestion to invite the Home Schooling Legal Defense Association, which has worked tirelessly for decades to defend the rights of homeschoolers, was flatly denied. 

Founder of the HSLDA and homeschooling father of ten Michael Farris penned an Op-Ed for Townhall dismantling Bartholet's attack on home educators.

Since Bartholet loves anecdotal evidence, let me answer her charges with my own anecdotes. But let me first explain why my stories are appropriate. Harvard’s article derides an organization I founded: the Home School Legal Defense Association. Through her smears of the movement, she implies that HSLDA is associated with her imagined ills. So, let’s see.

As to her claim of female subservience, three of the four Supreme Court law clerks I personally taught are women. A conservative Christian college producing so many talented women lawyers is not what she has apparently imagined.

And I am the proud grandfather of an African American newborn baby. My daughter-in-law is Nigerian, and my grandson is a dual citizen.

Bartholet conjures up an imaginary profile of conservative Christian homeschoolers—yet, the life of HSLDA’s founder demonstrates how little she knows about a movement she seeks to denounce.

When the pandemic is behind us, I would be happy to come to Cambridge and take Professor Bartholet to dinner. She might be surprised if she actually took the time to finally meet one of the people she misunderstands so much.

Amid outcry from homeschooling advocates and allies, Harvard announced on Friday that they would be hosting a virtual discussion that would effectively counter the suggestions being put forward by the original summit. 

Harvard's Kennedy School is officially hosting an event to counter the Law School's conference attacking homeschooling.

Title: "The Disinformation Campaign Against Homeschooling"

I'm speaking at the event May 1st.— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 24, 2020

Titled, "The Disinormation Campaign Against Homeschooling," the May 1 event will precede the summit hosted by Harvard Law and being presented by the Kennedy School of Government. The event is also organized by the student-run group, Ideological Diversity.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: education; frhf; harvard; homeschooling
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To: SeekAndFind

I have a somewhat unusual perspective.

Both of my homeschooled sons graduated from the cesspool of demons that is Harvard. Class of 2016, Class of 2018.

I say unequivocally, Harvard should be destroyed, root and branch. It is a Hellmouth on Earth from which demons fly forth.


21 posted on 04/25/2020 12:33:56 PM PDT by sitetest (No longer mostly dead.)
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To: DoodleBob
Good comments, DoodleBob, about the source of the rights identified by the U.S. Constitution. And the rest of your post is good, too.

We had a friend of my 2nd-grade daughter over yesterday, along with her mother and younger sister. The mother was observing that she's giving more thought to homeschooling, after being forced to give it a try. "We can do everything so much faster!"

22 posted on 04/25/2020 12:38:00 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Make an animal friend today!)
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To: BobL; Liz; bitt; generally; jazusamo

How much money and/or human resources has Harvard spent to upgrade the education of the farm workers employed on the wine grape vineyards that are Harvard trust investments.

Total disruption of the local economy with the mega-investment in the monoculture wine grape conversion of rangeland into wine grapes. Who will pay for this exploitation of the resources and the human resources in these small towns? No one in Cambridge has a clue, in my opinion.

Check out Shandon and the western Cuyama Valley to see the maps of these changes in land use and exploitation of the ground water resource.


23 posted on 04/25/2020 12:46:08 PM PDT by ptsal (C Bust the NVIA)
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
...except that most of the parents and kids are within 20 feet of each other most of the day. And the kids are asking the parents for help, often during the parents workday. And the parents are, on balance, ok with what's going on. But a meaningfully large number of parents are like "WTF?"

Every Day the left prolongs this lockdown leads to greater positive vibes for HSing and lesser societal support for the Stalinist approach to education promulgated by Harvard et al.

24 posted on 04/25/2020 1:28:33 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: BobL

How much money and/or human resources has Harvard spent to upgrade the education of the farm workers employed on the wine grape vineyards that are Harvard trust investments.

Total disruption of the local economy with the mega-investment in the monoculture wine grape conversion of rangeland into wine grapes. Who will pay for this exploitation of the resources and the human resources in these small towns? No one in Cambridge has a clue, in my opinion.


25 posted on 04/25/2020 1:44:11 PM PDT by ptsal (C Bust the NVIA)
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To: sitetest

Fascinating!


26 posted on 04/25/2020 2:34:59 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Make an animal friend today!)
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To: Tax-chick

Why do you say that?


27 posted on 04/25/2020 3:00:52 PM PDT by sitetest (No longer mostly dead.)
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To: sitetest

Because it is a situation outside my personal experience.


28 posted on 04/25/2020 3:26:16 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Make an animal friend today!)
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To: Tax-chick

Okay.

It’s unusual, I admit. Harvard takes very few with any homeschooling background. I just never thought it was “fascinating.”

I think of it more as “tragic.”


29 posted on 04/25/2020 3:35:26 PM PDT by sitetest (No longer mostly dead.)
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To: sitetest

All situations are more likely to be “tragic” than “fascinating” when they involve oneself. I didn’t mean to seem flippant.


30 posted on 04/25/2020 3:43:16 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Make an animal friend today!)
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To: SeekAndFind
Many promote racial segregation and female subservience.

This woman is a complete idiot who doesn't have a clue about the homeschool community.

31 posted on 04/25/2020 3:45:44 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: Tax-chick

No problem. I like seeing things through other’s eyes. That’s why I ask.

It was a very difficult period for me as their father, and other folks’ insights help me gain perspective.


32 posted on 04/25/2020 3:52:33 PM PDT by sitetest (No longer mostly dead.)
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To: sitetest

I’m sure it was. I’ve been through some very difficult situations as a parent, too. However, none has been Harvard-related.

I hope things turn out better for you all in the long run!


33 posted on 04/25/2020 3:54:27 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Make an animal friend today!)
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To: Tax-chick

In the long run, my hope is in the Resurrection.

Beyond that, I’m not very optimistic.


34 posted on 04/25/2020 3:57:37 PM PDT by sitetest (No longer mostly dead.)
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To: sitetest

I’ll pray for all of you.


35 posted on 04/25/2020 4:25:43 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Make an animal friend today!)
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To: Tax-chick

Thanks.


36 posted on 04/25/2020 4:56:47 PM PDT by sitetest (No longer mostly dead.)
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To: sitetest

Hm?....In retrospect would you not send your children to Harvard?

In your opinion, what would have been a better educational path?


37 posted on 04/26/2020 2:28:50 AM PDT by wintertime ( Behind every government school teacher stand armed police.( Real bullets in those guns on the hip!))
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To: wintertime

No, I would not send them to Harvard again.

What I would have encouraged otherwise is a hypothetical, for which I have no answer. If Harvard were not a cesspool of rotting demons feeding on the souls of the young, Harvard would have been ideal for both of my sons.

The peer alternatives to Harvard - schools with academic programs competitive to Harvard, are just as psychologically and spiritually polluted as Harvard.

For both of them, given their academic talents, State U wasn’t the best option, and perhaps not much less polluted.

Higher education in America is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hell.


38 posted on 04/26/2020 6:55:56 AM PDT by sitetest (No longer mostly dead.)
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To: sitetest

Thanks for the response.

When I retired, I enrolled in our local community college’s Visual Arts program to learn fine art ( realist) painting. I have accumulated more than 60 credits in the fundamentals of art, illustration, photography, and Adobe computer programs.

In the 5 years that I have attended all the courses have been 100% focused on learning skills with no political discussion. Zero! ( really) I have no idea about the political, social, or religious beliefs of any of my teachers.

However....I do attend a weekly sketching group held in the art building of our state’s flagship university . The walls of this department are papered from top to bottom with examples of the student’s work. It is heavy on leftist/Marxist social, political, and religious commentary.


39 posted on 04/27/2020 5:14:55 AM PDT by wintertime ( Behind every government school teacher stand armed police.( Real bullets in those guns on the hip!))
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To: sitetest

I, too, have faith in the Resurrection.


40 posted on 04/27/2020 5:18:41 AM PDT by wintertime ( Behind every government school teacher stand armed police.( Real bullets in those guns on the hip!))
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