Homeschoolers Protest Court Ruling (Gov. Schwarzenegger supports parents)

[The Straight Story]

Homeschoolers Protest Court Ruling


"We are protesting against this blatant attack on parents," said a group of parents. They are among thousands of California parents who home-school their children.

The parents are organizing a protest that will be held outside the California Department of Education Friday. The demonstration is in response to an appellate court ruling that struck a major blow against home schooling.

Justice Walter Croskey of the Second District Court of Appeals said that state statutes require children between 6 and 18 to attend a full-time public or private school. He said otherwise they must be tutored by a person who holds a state credential for the child's grade level. The regulation has been part of the state education code for years.

Croskey said, "Parents do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children." If they don't comply with the law, he ruled that they can be prosecuted.

....

Gov. Schwarzenegger has also come out on the side of the parents. He issued a statement that said, "Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interest of their children's education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don't protect parent's rights then, as elected officials, we will."

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=39260

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. the state owns your children...not you

so stop yer bitchin' :sarcasm:

sP

[Fireweed247]

19. all your children belong to us

and don't bother complaining when they come home with Bush propaganda, and are forced to attend military assemblies and face recruiters at 17.

When I went to school, almost everyone graduated. Every day now I hear commercials from the military along the lines of "high school is hard" that is why there are huge drop out rates. Could it be our government is purposely dumbing down our children and encouraging them to drop out so they have no choice but to join the military. No, that couldn't be.

Bush is king of Orwell's bizarro world. The first thing he did was implement No Child Left behind. Think about that!

[Ava]

2. Schwarzenegger is right in supporting them

as a homeschooler this kind of crap pisses me off. I get an education at home that is a million times better than what I was getting in our public school - and we couldn't afford private school even if there was one close to here.

[Stanley Nickels]

3. I think requiring home educators to hold a credential is unrealistic

How about a yearly visit from a school district official to ensure the child is getting some kind of education?
Or the parent has to submit their curriculum plans each school year?

[youthere]

13. When I homeschooled my kids, we had a state licensed teacher...

that came to the house every three weeks to help me with lessons plans and curriculum and any other issues I was having.

[TooBigaTent]

4. Kids sitting around, eating Twinkies and watching tv by themselves will make

for a great next generation. Throw in the bigotted teaching of parents who do not want their kids contaminated by the "wrong" kind of people and you have the beginnings of a national disaster.

Without standards, what kind of "education" are these children getting? Certainly not any socialization of how to interact with other human beings. They just learn that mommy can't hold a real job and that "those others" in public school are the enemy.

At least the kids can have guns in their own private classrooms.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. boy, you have homeschooling all figured out...don't you? n/t

[The Straight Story]

6. Yeah, tell that to Ava in reply #2

:)

[CRF450]

8. What the fuck are you talking about?!?

As far as I know, the vast majority of people who were home schooled turn out to be very inteligent and decent people unlike the millions of kids in highschool who have hardly any respect for anything, and end up failing because of a failing school system, and parents not being PARENTS!!

:rant: Damn I need a beer...

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

11. You dont pay attention do you..

http://www.oakmeadow.com/resources/articles/WSJArticle.htm

self-identified home-schoolers have bettered the national averages on the ACT for the past three years running, scoring an average 22.7 last year, compared with 21 for their more traditional peers, on a scale of one to 36. Home-schoolers scored 23.4 in English, well above the 20.5 national average; and 24.4 in reading, compared with a mean of 21.4. The gap was closer in science (21.9 vs. 21.0), and home-schoolers scored below the national average in math, 20.4 to 20.7.

On the SAT, which began its tracking last year, home-schoolers scored an average 1,083 (verbal 548, math 535), 67 points above the national average of 1,016. Similarly, on the 10 SAT2 achievement tests most frequently taken by home-schoolers, they surpassed the national average on nine, including writing, physics and French.

--

Once in college, home-schoolers appear to be living up to their test scores. Those enrolled at Boston University in the past four years have a 3.3 grade-point average, out of a perfect four. Similarly, Georgia's Kennesaw State University found that its home-schooled students had higher-than-average GPAs as college freshmen.

--

Yea Im sure they are just watching tv at home..


================

"Without standards, what kind of "education" are these children getting?"

The kind that gets better scores on the SAT and ACT... Wins national spelling bees (and geography bees), and does just fine in college..

================

"Certainly not any socialization of how to interact with other human beings."

How many home schoolers do you know? The ones I know make sure their kids get a ton of interaction with other children. Sport after school, field trips with other home schoolers, clubs, and other activities provide that.

================

[TooBigaTent]

12. Self-selected group NOT comparable to public school kids. Bogus research

obvious to anyone who does research.

Show me some legitimate research on the subject, not anecdotal shit (ala Reagan and his welfare queens).

Home schooling is the same shit that produced all the private schools when integration came in. Just an excuse for those with the capability to rescue their kids from an underfunded public school system.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

16. You made the initial claim

back it up..

[Stanley Nickels]

17. I don't see it as rescuing my kids

Because I think my kids would thrive in public schools just like they thrive being homeschooled. But I certainly think the option should be available for those that choose to remove their kids from the system. We're not hurting the schools by removing them - just taking the burden on ourselves. I still pay my school taxes and vote for nearly all school bonds. If it's underfunded that's not my problem.

[Fireweed247]

20. Socialization?

Have you seen what is coming out of our schools these days?
Socialization?
Yeah, kids are having sex in 6th grade, even younger...in class!! They can barely speak coherently, or locate Europe on a map. Many children think of Hannah Montana books as good literature...

[Heathen57]

22. Didn't happen that way

at least not in this house. Besides Math, Science, History, Current Events, Biology, our children also studied Critical thinking, World religions,and Creative Writing. Art was done just for the enjoyment. Sports were covered under community leagues.

We pulled our children when the youngest was entering middle school (6th grade) because while having better than average IQs they both had ADHD. The individualized instruction countered the problems and both aced the GED exams which are more advanced than the High School exams.

And our daughter did it a year earlier than if she would have been in school.

[LeftyMom]

24. I would be insulted if you weren't clearly ignorant. Instead, I'll just pity you.

:hi:

[nels25]

7. This is the kind of thing that can cost us votes

it is all over the radio here in SE Wisconsin and lake county Ill.

And the predictable stereo type of the know it all liberal and greedy teachers unions are of course being heard.

This is not the type of thing that endears it's self to Joe and Jane citizen.

That it is being pushed by the teachers union (as a similar suit that was sanctioned by the Wisconsin supreme court) only makes it look like it is for teachers and not for any good a student might gain.

Also it feeds into the myth that schools would like to indoctrinate students into a given world view (this is a widely held view by a decent percentage of home schoolers, it is why they would prefer to home school their children).

It comes across as elitist and I think in the long run does us not good.

And believe me the GOP will run with it.

:dilemma:

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

9. Terrible laws that infringe on our rights!

A requirement for some certification is fine but to require a teaching certificate which itself requires four years of school? A friend just had to go through that process and by requiring it you are putting a huge undue burden on parents..

[Irishonly]

10. California has some fantastic resources for home schooling

It may depend on where you live but the networking around here is great. Different parents will teach advanced science and other academic areas. A friend of mine took her child to another parent who taught him to play golf as part of a p.e. credit. When I first heard it the first thing I thought of was money. If they make it impossible for parents to home school and force the children into public schools, the schools get more money. I am not even sure this law will stand up in court.

[BigDaddy44]

14. You now have ZERO options

Lets say you have your child in a poor school. There is violence, teachers can't control the classroom, he is bullied, and he's miserable. Unless you spend four years getting a teachers certificate, you now have exactly ZERO options (besides moving). That child WILL stay in that poor school, perhaps at physical risk every day, and as a parent there is nothing you can do about it.

The people WILL comply with the rules, and there are no other options. How fascist.

[rockymountaindem]

15. What a rediculous ruling

As much as it pains me to be on the same side as the Terminator, I think he's got this one right.

[earth mom]

18. I wish more parents would homeschool. I believe in it 100%!

There should be standards though.

I'd love to see fundies required to teach the actual age of the planet along with evolution plus their kids should be required to be tested on it to make sure they were taught it. :evilgrin:

[Bennyboy]

21. For me, Homeschooling was CRAP.

My ex wife "homeschooled" her son. It was a way to get him to graduate high school, because he could not behave in school or get any passing grades. The work he was given was only about an hours worth a week or less.
He had a regular program, approved by the State of California and a teacher but she only showed up every other week and spent less than an hour on the visit. But really it was laughable.

My wife never one time tried to school him. In fact, he spent his entire HS years selling drugs, stealing cars and playing video games. He and his other "homeschooled" friends would do this all day and night.

During this period, I was almost shot during one of the drug deals and was eventually sued by the shooter for two million dollars. Another home schooler.

I know that a lot of parents take the time and really want to give their kids a better education, but in my experience, this is not true.

After these kids graduated, I gave them all a little test. None of them could operate the phone book. None of them could name five American authors. None of them had read ONE SINGLE BOOK while being homeschooled. Nor could they name the branches of gov't.

But, for me,it seems that if both parents are working outside the house, it is impossible to home school your children. even with a credential, if the parent is not home during the day it is impossible to homeschool them correctly.

[LeftyMom]

25. Public indepenedent study programs aren't homeschooling.

They're usually a scam for schools to get paid the full per-pupil amount for kids they spend almost nothing on, and in many places are a dumping ground for students who would otherwise be expelled. There are a few good ones (Natomas Charter comes to mind) but at least around here they're mostly a scam by the school districts. (As far as I knot this ruling does not effect those programs, since there's oversight from a credentialed teacher.)

There was a pretty good investigation about them in the News and Review a few years back. I'll see if I can find a link.

The situation you're describing isn't homeschooling at all- it's the school system collecting money on a dropout.

[Bennyboy]

26. And a Mom not wanting to parent her son......

I believe it was the Horizons program in the San Juan District. It was a joke. Now the kid is 22, still has never had a job longer than six months and still lives at her house. Finally I got tired of her telling me, One more year .....

[nealmhughes]

23. Several years ago I began a thesis on homeschooling/private schooling/religious schooling and public

schools in Alabama. The laws are distinct in differentiating the requirements for each group there. For example, "private schools" in Alabama are required to undergo certification for safety, i.e., fire and tornado drills, etc. as well as meet or exceed the public curricula. The "religious" schools do not even have to teach in English and have no ceritfication for their graduates, nor are the schools inspected for gasoline stored beside matches in the kindergarten classrooms. Home schooling have only to turn in attendence records periodically to the county board of ed.
After I began examaning the dissertations and theses on the topic I became so discouraged and sickened that I dropped it completely and decided to take a few extra hours of classes and drop the thesis completely.
What made me angry and sick were the websites touting various text books/workbooks, and home teacher resources. Overwhelmingly they were Xian fundamentalist in nature.
Nearly all those from "religious schools" were in remedial math, English and science. They were not parochial schools, the majority of the parochial schools are in fact "private schools" in Alabama.
Many of the so called "Christian Academies" in the South are just old fashioned "seg academies" hiding under the guise of a "religious school."
The test scores were not necessarily markedly higher between public and private schooled students, somewhat higher for private. The homeschooled and religious schools were horrid.
But, on the other hand, I have a friend who was so bored at the age of 16 her parents, one with a PhD and the other with an MBA agreed to allow her to drop out of highschool and take her GED. She aced it and had an AA before her classmates were graduating high school.
Another friend is based in Atlanta, her husband in Spain and her ex-husband in London! The kid is 11. She home schools him as he is in between ATL, London and Madrid constantly. His schooling is his one constant and he is one kewl kid, fluent in Castillian, London and Atlanta! She has great multicutural resources and he has a soccer team in Atlanta, London, and in Madrid where he plays depending on where he is. He has been to all of Europe and most of the US. When I saw him last he was reading Candide in French and laughing out loud, I asked him which part, and he said, "the experimental physics lesson!" "Oh, I love that part, too," blushingly, I replied, recalling Pangloss and maid in the hedges. 11!
In short, there are statistics, damned statistics and stinking stupid damned lying statistics. I had rather have a kid who can read Spanish, French and English and do all his well-above grade level work than see a kid stifled in a classroom, but his mother is an artist and a bohemian. I fear for the students whose home schoolers are Xian separatists saving Mary and Tom from Satan.