#13 Not standing with other homeschoolers against anti-homeschool politicians.
Politics can be very divisive in any community, and the homeschool community is no exception. But when politicians start to threaten our homeschool freedoms we need to stick together.
Leonard J. Martin, a candidate for Superintendent of State Instruction for the state of California has, unfortunately, given us another opportunity to do so. As reported by enchanted musing, he says:
Home schooling’s appropriate for children who have special difficulties that make it impossible for them to participate in traditional schooling. But under California law, a parent has the right to home school provided the parent is qualified to offer instruction. Personally, I believe nearly all kids would benefit more from being in traditional schools. Many parents home school for religious reasons, because they still hold outdated views on race or ethnicity, or for what they consider to be moral reasons. Since we have provisions for students to attend a school outside of their local community when there are legitimate reasons to do so, home schooling as an alternative to “unsafe” campuses is hardly a legitimate alternative. For the most part – overwhelmingly – the public schools of California are not only safe but are providing a high quality education. Yucca Valley should be no exception. If it is, as Superintendent I would like to hear the complaints.
There has also been a tremendous amount of fraud connected with home schooling. Corporate organizations have sprung up to drain precious taxpayer dollars from the state budget to “supervise” home schooling. That has been to the detriment of those children, who by necessity, must be home schooled.
My advice? Send the kids to a traditional public school.
And then when questioned on his views, went on to compare homeschoolers to those who protested desegregation in the 1950's. I strongly suggest you visit http://enchantedmusing.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/wow-you-just-lost-my-vote/ to read the rest of it.
