A very dangerous precedent that threatens another of our freedoms (as always) was set this year by a California (of course) appellate court. According to an article in the LOS ANGELES TIMES, the California Second District Court of Appeals ruled that parents cannot homeschool their children unless they are certified teachers. The case came about as a result of a family that had repeated referrals to the Los Angeles Department of Family and Children Services. There were various allegations including claims of physical abuse involving some of their eight children. A lawyer appointed to represent two of the children requested the court to require the children to attend a public or private school so that adults could monitor their well-being. A lower court disagreed, and the lawyer appealed. The Second District Court of Appeals used this as an excuse to go well beyond the scope of the appeal. Instead of responding to just the lawyer’s request, the court went well beyond the scope of the abuse allegations and ruled that the private school’s home visits and tests taken on-site were not sufficient to consider them enrolled. The court continued saying that since the childrens’ mother did not have teaching credentials, she was violating state law. JUSTICE H. WALTER CROSKEY stated in his opinion that was also signed by two of the other judges, “Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children. Parents who fail to (comply with school enrollment laws) may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction, and subject to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program.”
I do not believe that it’s any coincidence at all that the private school in this case is a Christian school. The court seized the opportunity to criminalize the home schooling of children and to attack a religious school at the same time. The government is extremely protective of its schools which are used as indoctrination centers. All one has to do is look at what is being taught and read some of the textbooks. You certainly have not heard any of our politicians in Washington condemning this ruling, have you? Are we going to have Senate hearings on it? Not a chance. If the government had its “druthers”, there would be no such thing as home schooling. Home schooling means thousands of children avoid the government indoctrination into SECULAR HUMANISM as well as liberal revisionist history. Home schooled children nationally test two to three years ahead of their government school counterparts. This is a huge embarrassment to the government. Think about it. Parents are doing a superior job to the professionals in the government school system. I’m off on a slight tangent here, but it’s important to clarify something. Before we blame the teachers, we need to look much higher. The blame lies with the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION and the NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. The social and educational experimentation originates here. Teachers have no choice but to comply.
Anyway, getting back to the court ruling. A. J. Duffy, president of the UNITED TEACHERS LOS ANGELES said in agreeing with the ruling, “What’s best for a child is to be taught by a credentialed teacher.” In other words, government knows better how your child should be educated than you do. Government knows better how to raise your child than you do. The list goes on and on. Government wants you to believe that they know better what’s best for you and your family better than you do.
Still don’t believe that America’s government school system is substandard? According to a study by UNICEF in 2003, the United States ranked EIGHTEENTH out of TWENTY-FOUR developed nations in the effectiveness of its government school system. UNICEF took the averages of five international studies to make this determination. And for those who think spending even more money on education is the answer? The UNICEF report found that “educational success or failure is not directly linked to funding, and that there is no clear link between student-to-teacher ratios and test results.” One example of this that comes to mind is the Washington,D.C. school system. More money is spent per student in this system than any other system in the country. Yet it consistently ranks at or near the bottom.
If the government wants to have all children in its schools, the government needs to take the indoctrination out of the schools, stop the experiments, and go back to what worked for generations to try to catch up with home-schooled children.
One last thing. In the Los Angeles Times article, there is a family who asked their last name not be used for fear of prosecution – for home-schooling their child! The father of this nine-year-old child said he was “troubled by the idea that his son would be exposed to teachings about evolution (which is mostly taught as fact, not theory), homosexuality, same sex marriage, and sex education."
“I want to have control over what goes in my son’s head, not what’s put in there by people who might be on the far left who have their own ideas about indoctrinating kids.”
If the ruling goes into effect, this father said, “If I can’t home school my son in California, we’re going to end up having to leave California. That’s how important it is to me.” This is what I call a real parent and a man. Kudos to this father and mother for taking a stand against the increasing tyranny of our government.
8 comments:
great our wonderful government doing its finest again UGH!!! they need to butt out
Deb r
This is an outrage...I am probably not the best person to comment on this since I don't have any human kids but your points are so valid I just had to comment. If I had a child I would be reluctant to put them in the public school system for the reason the father stated...what they may teach would NOT be what I would choose for my kid. Secondly ~ and this does not apply to all teachers ~ some of the teachers I personally know may be "credentialed" but have morals of a fence post. I see nothing wrong with homeschooling provided the parent is doing what needs to be done in the best interest of the child. Our Govt. should focus on the deplorable state of our economy rather than a witchhunt for homeschoolers. Thanks for the information.
Lisa
This so sad! It's pathetic and scary. I hate the world that I am living in!! I was telling my son about him starting Kindergarden next year and how exiting it was to go to a new school. He is currently is a Christian Pre-K program. He said "Mommy, will I learn more about Jesus?"I almost cried.I will not bring another child into this world.-Missy http://journals.aol.com/ma24179/MISSYZSTUFF
Hi Dirk,
How is it that only 2% of America's pop. controls these vital matters. I believe it's the homo/ ACLU agenda that perpetrates most of these crimes against God and men. Too bad we couldn't form a 'Christian coalition' to put more legal minds in the field and the court to fight these perverts more effectively. I would be happy to contribute some funds and spread the word.
But then, even though honest, brave Christians fight with all their might.... God has His time table to "set all things a right." His people carry out for justice and He hears us! WE pray about such matters all the time at the Victory Baptist church we attend in Pleasant Prairie, WI.
Cordially,
Tom Schuckman
tschuckman@aol.com
"Old Soldier Tom's Journal"
Hi Dirk- as a homescholling Mom, you can bet I amkeeping up with this and a few other cases around the country! Actually, Gov. Arnold (Can't spell his name, but you know who I mean) disagreed strongly with the ruling and actually stuck up for the parents. These ignorant judges have no clue about the history of this country- it's a shame. The fact is that many of the founders were, if not totally home schooled, were largely taught at home, as were many of their children. Men like Lincoln, Edison, Einstein and others who had a hard time in public schools were either kicked out or quit early, only to learn better at home. You're right in the info about homeschoolers out performing in many areas- and although my son is having a hard time because of his hyper and distraction- he is learning at his own pace, able to spend more time on things he's strong in like science, able to have one on one time with his harder subjects like math. He's been a bit of a late bloomer, but not being forced into things too early, like reading- now he's flourishing! It's a shame that homeschool families are looked upon as wierd, and in many cases scruitinized by nosey social workers, over nothing. A few cases of homeschool parents abusing their kids so what- that makes all homeschoolers potential child abusers?! Please! Most of us are simply wanting the best for our kids, and know they couldn't make it inpublic school. I know there are many wonderful teachers out there who care about kids, but they have neither the time or resources to help each one individually, and they are stuck with what kind of NEA curriculum- most of which Christians don't agree with. Thank you for writing about this, and i ask that all would keep us inprayer about our GOD given right to teach our own kids. We teach them to walk, eat, talk- we would only like to keep up with the home education. God Bless!! Carolyn
Hi Dirk,
First I wanted to say sorry it took me so long to get over here. I have added you to my journal and hope you were able to stop by.... I have been reading Nelisha's journal for a long time and consider her a dear friend so I was really glad to hear you would like to read my journal as well. Second, bravo about this entry. I would prefer to home school my children but currently do not due to my workload. Although I work from home, it would be a real juggling act for me to properly educate my children and keep up my workload. The good thing is working from home I am at least here when my children come home from school and this helps me with raising my own children instead of having daycare all summer and after school care and all those issues. I see so many ways that public schools are failing my children. It drives me nuts. When I work with my child they learn twice as much, twice as fast. I was very interested in all you wrote here, especially being a Christian. Thank you so much for sharing. Another pitfall for us to watch for in our states. I think it is yet another sign that our time left here is very short. Lisa
I caught part of this on the news last week. I think it is a crock that the government wants to do this. I think parents should be allowed to home school their kids. Why should a parent be forced to send their child to public school and not be able to afford a private one? I wouldn't want my child going to an inner-city school. On another hand, I think that parents of troublemaking kids should be FORCED to homeschool their children. That would take the problem kids out of schools and allow the good ones the RIGHT to a good education without distraction.
I do disagree with the dad who doesn't want his kid being fed stories of evolution and homosexuality. Granted, yes, it is his right to move out of state. I don't have a problem with that. However, hiding his kid's head in the sand about these other things will only hurt his child in the long run. All because the words aren't going into his son's head doesn't mean that what he perceives to be "problems" will cease to exist. It also discourages his son from having a mind and opinion of his own.
Just my $0.02,
Sheila
I wrote about the schools here today in my J.
i disagree with the government again sticking their noses into something they are already screwing up themselves. The public school system all over the US is in shambles and it is only going to get worse. The way they fund schools in Ohio will bankrupt all home owners soon. I do not feel they have a right to say any parent must be a teacher to home school their own children.
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