What Happened to Father Knows Best?
Is choosing the best environment to learn a bad thing? Well, it is if you live in the state of California. Under current law, parents may home school their children if they hold a credential or if they qualify as a private school.
This is a wake up call to all parents who want to have the right to decide the best education for their own children.
The California Department of Education has submitted a brief to the state court of appeals addressing the court’s recent ruling that parents do not have the constitutional right to home school their children.
California’s free public school system provides a range of educational options for students. Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell said that he recognizes and respects that some parents choose to send their children to private schools or to home school their children.
This is a benign statement hiding the real truth about the state’s view of parent’s constitutional right to home school their children. The state of California seems to want to make all the decisions about your child’s education.
Hypocrisy, you decide....
There are many teachers in the state of California who are not certified and teaching in the high school, junior high and elementary classroom. The practice is becoming common to have a non certified teacher in the classroom. This does not mean that the teacher is not working toward certification. Usually, the teacher is performing their student teaching but as a “regular” teacher – getting paid for on the job training.
How often are parents told that the teacher of their son or daughter does not have credentials? Even if the parent is told there is a non certified teacher in the classroom − what are the options? Does the school offer to move your son or daughter from the non credentialed teacher to a teacher that is certified?
Explain the difference between the non credentialed parent and a non credentialed teacher.
Why is it that the opponents to home school or private school assume that parents who home school their children are not preparing their child for higher education? The private schools and home school students do go on to higher institutions of learning. In fact, the rates are very high compared to some public schools.
The public school system uses the excuse−we have to teach whoever comes through the door. That is true because it is free public education! The public school system says there cannot be a comparison because the students at the private schools and home schools have a choice. In essence, the parent and child are choosing the best environment in which to learn. This is bad?
The parents and students are learning in an environment that they choose in order to ensure the students will succeed. What is wrong with this thought process? Don’t we want our children to succeed?
The state government seems to want to take away yet another right or whittle away at the constitutional right of parents to home school their children to the point that it is non existent. Why not allow for home schooling and private school when it is proving to be successful?
In private school if the student fails continually not too many parents keep the child in the school ... why pay when public is free? Just as in home schooling, if their child is not learning the majority of the home school parents seek the free public education.
There are many parents who remove their child from public school because the child for whatever reason needs to be monitored closely by the parents. Then there are parents who send their child to private schools for many reasons some of which are: religious atmosphere, smaller school enrollment and finally, the issue of parent involvement. Parents have more of a say within the smaller environment of the private school than the huge government entity of the public school system. Parental involvement is a no brainer when it comes to home schooling.
Why would a common sense person even entertain the idea of allowing the state government of California to step in and make educational decisions on individual children that it does not even know? A better question is – why are so many of us not outraged and letting our government officials know that we want and demand to be parents of our own children.
California is just the first state to openly challenge parent’s rights in deciding what ideas and concepts should be placed in young minds. If we do not mind our P’s and Q’s – what was once Father Knows Best just might very well become − Government Knows Best?