Loyalty to the State

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by The Mother.
Categories: Daily Stuff.

Most homeschoolers (and major media) have been following the case in California that originally concluded that the family had no right to homeschool their children if the parent is not a credentialed teacher. The case has been appealed, and a new hearing should begin in June. Teachers’ unions* and others are busy filing amicus briefs, and the HomeSchool Association of California is busy filing counter briefs.

Homeschooling communications are in a loop on this. It keeps coming up again and again. One phrase I see quoted over and over is “loyalty to the state.”

“A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare,” the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue. (“Homeschoolers’ setback sends shockwaves through the state,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 7, 2008.)

What refreshing honesty. No pretense of helping students become critical thinkers, helping them understand the state of the world and how things got to be the way they are, or helping them navigation the choices they will face in their future. Just loyalty to the state. (Right. Sieg heil.) Open authoritarianism.

Among some homeschoolers, this means “indoctrination of a socialist type society.” Scary.

The more I hear this phrase, “loyalty to the state,” the more I think that acknowledging this as a primary purpose of public schools may be a point upon which all can agree — parents of student in public, private, and home education, teachers’ unions, principals, elected officials, and the rest. If this becomes a point of agreement, the discussion becomes one of:

  • rights - Does the state have the right to enforce this loyalty? Do parents and students have the right to resist this demand for loyalty?
  • rethinking education - Should loyalty be a primary purpose of education? If schools protect the state (”public welfare”), then who protects the people? What else might education be for?
  • the state - Let’s be explicit. What is the state for? What is loyalty for? Do the people agree? Do the people resist? Do the people, perhaps, just ignore and go on with their lives?

No conclusions. I just saw that phrase one more time this morning as I slogged through email discussion lists, and I wondered if it might be a key to the whole big question of home education.

*I like teachers, and I like unions. I AM a teacher, and I AM union. I realize the stance against homeschooling is ideological. It still saddens me that so many people I respect have so little respect for parents.

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Secular Homeschooling Magazine

Posted on August 15th, 2007 by The Mother.
Categories: No, we don’t homeschool for religious reasons, Home Education World View.

A new magazine has just gone to press: Secular Homeschooling. I watched the birth of the idea on a decidedly non-religious email list. In a short time, publisher Deborah Markus and her designer husband have put together a full-size magazine. The call for materials gives a hint of the content: articles, product reviews, work by young homeschoolers, cartoons, and columns. I’ll find out soon how good it really is, since I subscribed today. Real review to follow.

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The Dangerous Book for Boys

Posted on August 2nd, 2007 by The Mother.
Categories: Daily Stuff, Child-led, This is why I LOVE homeschool, Resources, Addicted to Books.

A birthday for one is a holiday for all in our family. When his sister had a big birthday last week, I bought my son a little present: The Dangerous Book for Boys. Boy, does he need this.

Conversation last week:

I’m bored.

I thought we already went over this. You know, “only boring people get bored” and all of that. What happened to all of the books and the planning for a summer project. Do you want to make paper logs for your log house? (His choice of project, not mine.)

No.

I tried reading Weslandia to him, to inspire him about another kid’s seriously homeschool-ish summer project.

Nu-uh. I’m bored.

I can’t unbore a seven year old. I tell him that, like Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz, that the answer is inside himself.

Now that’s all gone. I haven’t heard him say “bored” in a week.

What is your favorite part?

  • Bow and arrow
  • Go cart
  • Paper airplanes
  • I’ll have to read it tonight and tell you more tomorrow.

This book is the cure for “I’m bored” and “what can I do.”

We watched the short dangerous film about it together and went to the official dangerous website. The have a few downloads there. He wants badges — likely because his sister is a Girl Scout. I feel a discussion of Boys Scouts coming on.

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NY Regents Exam for Elementary?

Posted on July 24th, 2007 by The Mother.
Categories: Daily Stuff, Curriculum, In the News, Subjects, History.

We no longer live in New York, but I still pay attention to what’s going on there.  There was some small uproar about the recent U.S. History exam being so easy — the concern being the dumbing down of students being taught to the test. This state Regents exam is given to high school Juniors.
History is the spine of our curriculum, that structure on which we hang most of our learning.  My children have covered the nineteenth and most of the twentieith centuries in the past year, but they talk regularly of earlier U.S. history.  I wondered, how difficult would the June 2007 United States History and Government Exam be for my 4th grader?

Page one questions on the colonial and constitutional eras were a bit difficult for her to understand because of the language and vocabulary, but I explained in different language.  She got 5 of the 8 questions correct with no preparation.  We stopped after page one of the Regents Pop Quiz multiple-choice section.

In the document-based questions, she got all answers correct.  She could look at photos of suffragists of 1913 and civil rights lunch-counter sit in of 1963, recognize both situations, and say what they wanted and how they were attempting to achieve that.  Actually, when I asked, “What was a goal of the women shown in these photographs?” she answered, “Duh.”

Exactly, kid.  Duh.

I don’t understand why expectations are so low.  Most of the questions can be answered by thoughtful elimination of obviously wrong answers.  I guess we just learned a lesson about exam taking.  How very valuable.

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We don’t support vouchers

Posted on July 6th, 2007 by The Mother.
Categories: Daily Stuff, In the News, Radical Homeschool Watch, Home Education World View.

I get asked, so I thought I’d tell you. It used to be that conversations started like this:

  • Oh, you homeschool? Aren’t you worried about socialization?

Now, conversations start like this:

  • Oh, you homeschool? Are you for vouchers?

We do not need to privatize health care, the military, nor education. I find it appalling that radicals in the U.S. are selling their privatization and segregation of schools as “choice.” So, they believe in choice? Selective choice, let’s be clear. They don’t believe in my choice, for example, of whom to marry and when to carry a pregnancy. The conversation usually ends before I get all of that out.

My parents were both public school teachers, as was my grandmother, my father-in-law, and many of my beloved friends. I’ve been to many NEA (National Education Association) and UEA (Utah Education Association) meetings. I’ve even been to a few AFT gatherings. Homeschooling doesn’t mean we hate public school. If you get that impression from some homeschoolers, please understand that they are a radical fringe. Hating schools and hating governments seem to be part of a particular worldview that I don’t share.

On this subject, this morning I watched John Edwards’ speech a few days ago to the NEA. In addition to raising the minimum wage to $9.50/hr, he said we don’t need two public school systems — one for the privileged and one for the rest. If teachers didn’t have to teach to the test, he told teachers, they could spend their time encouraging creative and analytical thinking. Big applause.

John Edwards speculates that No Child Left Behind may just have been an excuse to move away from public schools to vouchers. When I taught teachers in the Graduate School of Education, my students (working teachers) called this “Every Child Left Behind.” No Child Left Behind seems closer to the Orwellian Clean Air and Healthy Forests pushed by the current administration.

In reality (rather than in the twisted world of the radicals), the public supports one public school system. I am one of that majority of the public.

  • I have my babies at home AND I support a health care system that cares for the health every person in the U.S.
  • I educate my children at home AND I support one public education system that provides an equal education to every child — and so does John Edwards, the person I want to call President. AND, he homeschools. (As of April. Updates?)

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