11 March 2008
In California home schooling is being threatened due to a law saying that a credentialed teacher must teach home schooled students. The Supreme Court of California will be looking into the case after the appeal court ruled against the families. According to a AOL article, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will fight the courts ruling in favor of parents’ rights.
Now personally I don’t understand what parents’ rights actually are or where they are guaranteed. I think this might fall under one of the rights that people assume they have, when really they don’t (i.e. right to privacy).
But honestly, I believe that it does not matter if a parent is “credentialed” to home school their children. I know two families who have home schooled all of their children.
One of the families has four daughters. Part of their method of teaching was to join a group of home schooled students so that the girls would meet people their age and also learn from other people who may be more knowledgeable than the mother was. They go on hands on field trips at least once a month, but usually more often than that, in which they learn more on subjects like history and biology in a few hours than I learned in a few months. The oldest daughter spent her last two years of “high school” taking classes at the local community college and graduated the top in her class before going to Northeastern. The second oldest daughter has a tutor for Spanish but her mother teaches her most of her other subjects.
Both families have been highly successful home schooling their children, and all of their older children have proven to be upstanding members of society, even without credentialed instructors for all of their classes.
My parents and I considered home schooling me as well. In a way I wish I had been because it allows a personal relationship between instructor and student and also allows for a more focused education. My favorite subjects have always been math, science and history. If I had been home schooled I would have been able to focus on those subjects and been able to go on many hands on “field trips” to national parks and museums—where I learned the majority of my history and science anyway.
I don’t think a credentialed teacher is any benefit or requirement for a home schooled child. By using the many resources available to home schooling families, children can get as good, if not BETTER, education being home schooled without a credentialed teacher than being in a classroom with at least one credentialed teacher.
I agree. I'm homeschooled and luckily Texas doesn't have these bullshit laws like in California. It's funny, they're big on allowing alternative lifestyles, yet when it comes to parents teaching students, its wrong. Sounds a little hypocritical to me.
I agree. And the law doesn't put in to account that some of the reason that Californian parents are choosing home schooling is because it may be a cheaper alternative to private schools because some of the public school systems are dangerous. My roommate is from California and went to a private school because the crime rate at the local public school was so high that her parents did not feel safe to put her there. I don't think that could ever be considered the best learning environment for a student-a place where you have to worry about getting injured or killed in the hall between classes.
~Jessica Mondillo
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/jmondillo
It disgusts me that one family can potentially affect the lives of 166,000 children. The Longs may be despicable people, or not, but I find it a little crazy that every home-schooled child has to pay for their errors by being forced to attend sub-par public education institutions.
With that said... there is nothing in the Constitution that guarantees us the right to an education, much less forces everyone to utilize public education.
I completely agree with you that home schooled children can get as good, or better of an education with or without a certified teacher.
I agree that it is wrong that one family can effect that many people and the success of previous home schooled students (with uncredentialed teachers no less) is ignored in a case like this.
Having graduated from a public school, I would not say that it is completely sub par but nor would I say it was the best education money could buy. It was fair but it could never compare to a one-on-one learning environment which is basically what home schooling is. After all if you can personalize each child's education to his or her learning style and strengths, you will have more successful, happy and productive people in the long run.
~Jessica Mondillo
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/jmondillo
I also graduated from a public school. It's widely considered one of the best in the country. However, from living in areas like Upstate New York (Potsdam), and Saint Louis, MO I have learned that many public schools simply cannot offer kids the same educational experience. They are so focused on keeping the below-average students from being destructive, it detracts from the learning environment and the experiences of average and above average students. Unfortunate, but true.
This is where I believe home school comes in, and should a parent be willing to take the initiative and invest this kind of time and money into their child, then who do the California courts think they are to take this right away from them?
This is disgusting. This will afffect others as well. What about students who are athletes. I guess they are screwed as well. Not right or fair.
Published Author and Poet
Teacher Education Student.
Shouldn't this law be trumped by NCLB? This portion, specifically:
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/choice/schools/onpefacts.html
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman