I'm at a loss for words. It's as if you assume that a family is by default an abuse mechanism. And that schools are a safe haven?
Not sure which is worse.
I have an education thanks to my family and despite public education. I was partially homeschooled. It was my family who helped me go through high-school, not the other way around. For the high-school I went to, I could have (and almost did at one point) ended up being dead, for all they cared.
I won't deny there's abuse and cases in which public institutions have helped and saved people, but by assuming that this is the norm you completely overshot it here with your absolutism.
I think we can agree that most families aren't abusive towards their children. And that homeschool education can be as good if not better than public school education. I was homeschooled K-12 myself, and I now have a college degree in software.
Homeschool requirements vary wildly by state, and even in states with more requirements like testing, kids slip through the cracks. I was never required to take a standardize test by either of the states I lived in (Washington and Oregon). I knew a homeschool girl my age (12) who could not read. Her 16 year old brother could read, but could barely do math. They had no learning disabilities, their mom just wanted the welfare paycheck for them and otherwise ignored them. She already had a 5 year old and a newborn as well to keep the gravy train coming.
I had very little access to mandated reporters, and again nothing enforced by law. Those I did have access to, like my annual visit to my doctor, my mother insisted in sitting in the exam room with me. The doctors made no effort to remove her (they asked me in front of her if I was comfortable with her staying. Of course I said yes, I would have been severely punished at home if I admitted I wanted her to leave.)
Safety rules are not made with the 99% of good people in mind, but to catch the 1% of bad actors. Homeschooling is attractive to good parents because they can improve the outcomes for their children. It is also attractive to bad, abusive parents because it removes children from any external oversight and support structures outside their abuser's control.
I am not trying to downplay any risks here, and even less disregard very unfortunate situations and cases that for sure happen more often than they should.
However I can't see how this becomes as absolute as the parent comment is suggesting, in which by default it is assumed that parents are nefarious agents and public school is the saviour.
Which brings me to:
> Safety rules are not made with the 99% of good people in mind, but to catch the 1% of bad actors.
The risk in accepting this, as it happens so often in society, is ending up having to downgrade everyone to the worst case scenario, and working from that.
> The risk in accepting this, as it happens so often in society, is ending up having to downgrade everyone to the worst case scenario, and working from that.
I think most folks would be fine with homeschooling if there were reasonable regulation for it, including sharing your curriculum and schedule with the state, and allowing surprise inspections during your schedule, so that abuses can be found.
The biggest problem with homeschooling right now is that the lobbying group for homeschooling is vehemently opposed to any form of regulation, which makes it the wild west, which allows abusers to flourish.
If homeschooling wants to prevent the worst excesses, it has to standardize oversight and enforcement mechanisms.
"Zero regulation is the only acceptable amount of regulation," the talking point, enables abuse.
Not by the 99% who are doing it well!! But by the few bad apples out there.
By my thinking:
- Requiring a child be registered with the state as homeschooled
- Requiring a background check on parents who homeschool, and disqualifying those with child abuse priors
- Taking annual standardized tests (grade level or better)
- Surprise inspections (once a year? With parent-requested follow-up surprise inspections, if the first happened on a bad day)
Those don't seem overly onerous to prevent abuse from taking advantage of homeschooling options.
And the homeschooling community should want these things too, because they would provide a firm rebuttal to anyone attacking the practice from a perspective of abuse.
But now... when some abuse happens... but there are continued calls for zero oversight...
Not sure which is worse.
I have an education thanks to my family and despite public education. I was partially homeschooled. It was my family who helped me go through high-school, not the other way around. For the high-school I went to, I could have (and almost did at one point) ended up being dead, for all they cared.
I won't deny there's abuse and cases in which public institutions have helped and saved people, but by assuming that this is the norm you completely overshot it here with your absolutism.