A court in California has ruled that parents cannot homeschool their children, unless they have a teaching degree. Strangely, this ruling would prevent even parents with a doctorate in another discipline from teaching their own children, unless they go back to college to get a teaching degree. Yet I once even taught public school, though my major was never Education.
I believe that I am far better qualified to teach my own child, than most public school teachers will ever be. I am, however, not naive enough to believe that all homeschooled children receive a quality education; quite the contrary, since I believe that many homeschooled children are not receiving even proper education. At the same time, many, many other homeschooled children are receiving a far superior education at home, than what they would ever receive in a public school.
This is absolutely outrageous. The excuse given by the judge is that children must be in conventional school so that teachers can recognize abuse, thus jumping to the ridiculous assumption that homeschooling parents are abusing their children.
Parents of the approximately 200,000 home-schooled children in California are reeling from the possibility that they may have to shutter their classrooms — and go back to school themselves — if they want to continue teaching their own kids. On Feb. 28, Judge H. Walter Croskey of the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles ruled that children ages six to 18 may be taught only by credentialed teachers in public or private schools — or at home by Mom and Dad, but only if they have a teaching degree. Citing state law that goes back to the early 1950s, Croskey declared that “California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children.” Furthermore, the judge wrote, if instructors teach without credentials they will be subject to criminal action.
The debacle originated with a suit over child abuse. One of the eight children of Philip and Mary Long, a Los Angeles couple, had filed a complaint of abuse and neglect with the L.A. Department of Children and Family Services. The agency determined that the Long children were being home schooled, taught by their uncredentialed mother while officially enrolled in independent study at Sunland Christian School. The DCFS then turned to the courts to mandate that the children attend public school so that teachers might spot evidence of abuse (a charge the parents deny). A juvenile court, however, determined that the Longs had a constitutional right to home school their children. The DCFS appealed and the case landed in Croskey’s appellate court.
You can read this entire infuriating article by TIME Magazine here.
First read about this one in the Baptist Standard a couple of weeks ago. California is one of the stricter states with homeschool regulations. The opposite end of the spectrum is Texas that has almost no restricitons on homeschooling. I have seen this abused many times by parents who just really don’t do anything. Some of them pull their kids out of school because they are too lazy to enforce homework getting done or get up to take them to school. Others, are abusive and want to avoid being caught. With that said those parents are in the minority. There are many parents who do a good job of homeschooling. Some parents may only provide an ok education while others provide a top level education. The same can be said for public and private schools as well. After 3rd grade I had a pretty sorry public school education. The school I attended through 3rd grade was excellant. The worst teacher on that campus was merely above average and in most schools she would have been the best teacher. About 4 out of 15 teachers were outstanding, award winning teachers.
Yes, you would probably be a good teacher but not all parents would make good teachers. There needs to be some guidelines to prevent the abuses that happen in Texas but Califorinia has crossed the line.
I certainly bow to your superior knowledge and judgment when it comes to homeschooling, Dee.
I agree, not all parents make good teachers. I’m quite sure there are some parents who home school their children simply because they are too lazy to help them succeed in regular school, just as there are some parents who home school their children to ensure their child receives a superior education.
How much regulation do you think is appropriate in homeschooling? What guidelines would you suggest?