California bans homeschooling

[Mlenk]

From here

(03-07) 04:00 PST LOS ANGELES --

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.

The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.

"At first, there was a sense of, 'No way,' " said homeschool parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who is active with a homeschool association. "Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation."

The ruling arose from a child welfare dispute between the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have been homeschooling their eight children. Mary Long is their teacher, but holds no teaching credential.

The parents said they also enrolled their children in Sunland Christian School, a private religious academy in Sylmar (Los Angeles County), which considers the Long children part of its independent study program and visits the home about four times a year.

The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home.

Some homeschoolers are affiliated with private or charter schools, like the Longs, but others fly under the radar completely. Many homeschooling families avoid truancy laws by registering with the state as a private school and then enroll only their own children.

Yet the appeals court said state law has been clear since at least 1953, when another appellate court rejected a challenge by homeschooling parents to California's compulsory education statutes. Those statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day school, either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who holds a state credential for the child's grade level.

"California courts have held that ... parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal duty to see to their children's schooling under the provisions of these laws."

Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.

"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.
Union pleased with ruling

The ruling was applauded by a director for the state's largest teachers union.

"We're happy," said Lloyd Porter, who is on the California Teachers Association board of directors. "We always think students should be taught by credentialed teachers, no matter what the setting."

A spokesman for the state Department of Education said the agency is reviewing the decision to determine its impact on current policies and procedures. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell issued a statement saying he supports "parental choice when it comes to homeschooling."

Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which agreed earlier this week to represent Sunland Christian School and legally advise the Long family on a likely appeal to the state Supreme Court, said the appellate court ruling has set a precedent that can now be used to go after homeschoolers. "With this case law, anyone in California who is homeschooling without a teaching credential is subject to prosecution for truancy violation, which could require community service, heavy fines and possibly removal of their children under allegations of educational neglect," Dacus said.

Parents say they choose homeschooling for a variety of reasons, from religious beliefs to disillusionment with the local public schools.

Homeschooling parent Debbie Schwarzer of Los Altos said she's ready for a fight.

Schwarzer runs Oak Hill Academy out of her Santa Clara County home. It is a state-registered private school with two students, she said, noting they are her own children, ages 10 and 12. She does not have a teaching credential, but she does have a law degree.

"I'm kind of hoping some truancy officer shows up on my doorstep," she said. "I'm ready. I have damn good arguments."

She opted to teach her children at home to better meet their needs.

The ruling, Schwarzer said, "stinks."
Began as child welfare case

The Long family legal battle didn't start out as a test case on the validity of homeschooling. It was a child welfare case.

A juvenile court judge looking into one child's complaint of mistreatment by Philip Long found that the children were being poorly educated but refused to order two of the children, ages 7 and 9, to be enrolled in a full-time school. He said parents in California have a right to educate their children at home.

The appeals court told the juvenile court judge to require the parents to comply with the law by enrolling their children in a school, but excluded the Sunland Christian School from enrolling the children because that institution "was willing to participate in the deprivation of the children's right to a legal education."

The decision could also affect other kinds of homeschooled children, including those enrolled in independent study or distance learning through public charter schools - a setup similar to the one the Longs have, Dacus said.

Charter school advocates disagreed, saying Thursday that charter schools are public and are required to employ only credentialed teachers to supervise students - whether in class or through independent study.
Ruling will apply statewide

Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, said the ruling would effectively ban homeschooling in the state.

"California is now on the path to being the only state to deny the vast majority of homeschooling parents their fundamental right to teach their own children at home," he said in a statement.

But Leslie Heimov, executive director of the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, which represented the Longs' two children in the case, said the ruling did not change the law.

"They just affirmed that the current California law, which has been unchanged since the last time it was ruled on in the 1950s, is that children have to be educated in a public school, an accredited private school, or with an accredited tutor," she said. "If they want to send them to a private Christian school, they can, but they have to actually go to the school and be taught by teachers."

Heimov said her organization's chief concern was not the quality of the children's education, but their "being in a place daily where they would be observed by people who had a duty to ensure their ongoing safety."

Hmm, I'm not quite sure what to think. In many ways this can be a good thing, but a lot of public schools here are indeed not very good either.

[ray245]

Is there any academic competition between US public schools? Competition over results and resources given by the government should push the public schools to perform better...

Kinda like how private school or companies work. If you succeed, you earn more money or students, if you did not achieve good results you are shut down, and the students move on to better schools.

[Rye]

Is there any academic competition between US public schools? Competition over results and resources given by the government should push the public schools to perform better...

Kinda like how private school or companies work. If you succeed, you earn more money or students, if you did not achieve good results you are shut down, and the students move on to better schools.

You should look up something called "No Child Left Behind" and check the spectacular failure it has been. Removing money from poorly performing schools rarely makes children learn better.

Anyway, while I can sympathise with some of the parents, especially if the closest schools are shit, but at the end of the day, they can still teach their kids when they get home if they really want to.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I don't think teaching credentials should be required to teach children, but then again, I think that they shouldn't even be required to teach children in schools--a bachelor's degree is sufficient qualification to teach the subject in question without further preparation. However, that also pretty much implies that your dad has an English degree and your mom is a Bioengineer, or something like that, to cover the full range of subjects required suitably. Fat chance that applies to any of these fanatics, though I'm willing to give the lawyer the benefit of the doubt.

[Darth Wong]

I totally see where the state is coming from. Why should someone with no qualifications whatsoever be teaching children? It may not be a serious problem if it happens very rarely, but when you're talking about more than a hundred thousand kids who have basically been exempted from the school system and are being taught by people who don't know shit, that's a problem.

Of course, the counterpoint is that public schools are shit, or so their detractors say. And if someone can arguably do a better job of teaching than the public schools that's one thing, but we all know that the majority of these homeschoolers are doing it not to teach their kids more, but to teach them less. Specifically, to keep them from being "exposed" to things. Surely, if you are that keen on your child's education, you would want them to receive qualified instruction, instead of teaching things you barely understand yourself.

How many average adults, if forced to do so, could even complete a typical high school algebra exam, much less explain algebra to others? Sure, there are those of us who went much farther than that in school, but there are plenty of people who ran screaming from school the first chance they got, and I just can't see them doing a good job teaching what they hated themselves.

[Mr Bean]

Thank Xenu, can we please get this written into federal law? Homeschooling is a bad idea from a social standpoint(Kids don't have lots of social skills they need by default, public/private school helps them develop those skills) but also from the fact that lots of people abuse the Homeschooling laws to fill their kids heads with religious or mystical nonsense leaving them unprepared for anything but unskilled labor or the Ministry once they are out of homeschooling. Never mind collage.

[Agent Fisher]

My cousin home schools her two daughters. And frankly, I'm glad this ban has come in. I've seen there textbooks. Lots of religous shit mixed with a small bit of science to try and make it look good.

[Darth Wong]

I should clarify to say that I'm not opposed to homeschooling per se, but I am very strongly opposed to an unregulated homeschooling free-for-all, which is what appeared to be the case in California before this ruling.

[Vaporous]

"TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO, WHEN HE IS OLD HE WILL NOT DEPART FROM IT." (Proverbs 22:6)

Biblical imperative to brainwashing. Should we be surprised?

Good for California. I hope it holds.

[SCRawl]

Frankly, I'm of two minds about this. While I can see the benefit of keeping unqualified parents from under- or mis-educating their kids, what about those who are excellently qualified to do so? My wife -- who has two degrees, including one in education -- toyed with the idea of home-schooling our kids for the first few years. (She would have handled the humanities, and I would have been responsible for the sciences.) Should she be similarly barred from doing so?

I understand that the point of the ban is to preserve some (more or less) daily oversight for all school aged children, and I suppose you can't have that unless they're in some sort of school. I'd just hate, as an otherwise responsible parent, to have that possibility taken away because too many assholes abuse the system.

[SCRawl]

Ghetto edit: okay, if you're accredited, they'll leave you alone. It helps to read the whole article, sorry.

[Kodiak]

Ghetto edit: okay, if you're accredited, they'll leave you alone. It helps to read the whole article, sorry.

Except they define "accredited" by having a teaching creditial "for [the student's] grade level". My degree in Mechanical Engineering in know way qualifies me to homeschool my children in Math or science, and my wife's fine arts degree in Animation/Illustration and years of experience as an artist is no help for teaching "art". It seems to me that if you have private schools that routinely (i.e. monthly) monitor the quality of education through testing or evaluation by a credentialed teacher then there should be no problem. I don't think a blanket ban is the best solution, but I do think it is better than a totally unregulated homeschooling system.

[Lagmonster]

They're almost certain to uncover a number of light certifications that count as 'teaching credentials', such as tutoring certificates and the like, and this does nothing to improve what kids are being taught at home, just that they are being taught by someone who the state thinks is capable of delivering lessons properly.

It's probably a good step, but it doesn't cure the problem: the judge finding that these kids were poorly educated probably wouldn't be helped by the mom being an accredited teacher; she could still produce uneducated kids by teaching them bullshit.

[Superman]

I was actually over by the Capital in our downtown area when Arnie was giving a press conference to some reporters. I only heard the last bit of it, but he's clearly against this ban of non qualified teachers. He basically said he's going to fight this until it's reversed.

I think it's great. Fuck homeschooling. Parents who homeschool their kids don't seem to see the problem with creating little social retards who are often taught bullshit like creationism. I, for one, don't think it's a good idea for parents to have their kids educated in a social vacuum in order to indoctrinate them with whatever bullshit they happen to subscribe to.

[hawkwind]

Dont homeschooled kids have to pass yearly exam, to assure they actually learned required stuff ?

J.

[Gil Hamilton]

I don't think teaching credentials should be required to teach children, but then again, I think that they shouldn't even be required to teach children in schools--a bachelor's degree is sufficient qualification to teach the subject in question without further preparation. However, that also pretty much implies that your dad has an English degree and your mom is a Bioengineer, or something like that, to cover the full range of subjects required suitably. Fat chance that applies to any of these fanatics, though I'm willing to give the lawyer the benefit of the doubt.

A degree in what would qualify? I personally know people with Bachelor's degrees that I wouldn't trust to potty train a puppy, let alone educate a child sufficiently to prepare them for further education.

This leads to a real hornets nest of "What is good enough?" You have to start subdiving which degrees involve enough skills and which don't and that hits a REAL gray area in a lot of degrees. Like, say Biology... one holder of a biology degree, at least in my experience, might be rubbish at math beyond basic statistics, while another might use complex differential equations to describe biological and ecological systems. Both, however, might have the same BS and MS in Biology, possibly from the same university.

Further, you have to factor in that one or both parents will be working and won't be around to provide a lot of time education. A particular engineer might be well qualified to teach mathematics, but if he's working 50 hours a week at the job site, chances are he's not going to be that active or be able to conform to any sort of educational regimen.

Really, with the amount of work you need to put into a child to properly educate them, if they are being homeschool then whatever parent is there "teacher" might as well be required to get their teaching cert. I'm only familiar with the PA Teaching Cert requirements, but they aren't TERRIBLY hard to meet. Largely, it involves passing a state education program including some sort of hands on (like student teaching), sitting the PRAXIS, and filling out some applications. I'm sure some of my friends who've gone through it will probably glare at me for belittling it, of course, but getting your teaching cert isn't particularly a massive trial. There are levels of teacherhood, however, like a Highly Qualified Teacher has to have an actual bachelors degree in their field of study, but that largely revolves around how much money they make, which doesn't apply to a homeschool situation.

But that would be work, I guess, and give them less free reign to avoid the Evil Liberal Socialist Education machine that wants to destroy their children with evolution and sex ed and won't let them pray to White Jesus.

[Phillip Hone]

Dont homeschooled kids have to pass yearly exam, to assure they actually learned required stuff ?

A lot of people I've talked to think that, but it isn't true. At least not in CT. I was home schooled for over 8 years and I never took a single state test. Granted, I'm doing better in high school than a lot of my peers who went to middle school (though I guess that doesn't mean very much), but then again I'm sure there are also a lot of home schooled kids who received a greatly inferior education compared to their peers in school.

I was home schooled for all the wrong reasons and I for one support this ban.

[Surlethe]

As far as "raising a social retard" goes, that is certainly not a safe generalization to make regarding homeschoolers. In many communities, homeschoolers pool their resources and teach cooperatively so that various parents can focus on teaching their strengths. This way, children gain plenty of experience socializing.

Dont homeschooled kids have to pass yearly exam, to assure they actually learned required stuff ?

J.

It depends on the state. For example, in Indiana, you don't have to do jack shit to homeschool; in Maine, IIRC, you have to pass yearly exams and fall within a certain score range to be permitted to continue homeschooling. Lends itself to a lot of illegal homeschoolers who don't want their children "indoctrinated".

[Superman]

As far as "raising a social retard" goes, that is certainly not a safe generalization to make regarding homeschoolers. In many communities, homeschoolers pool their resources and teach cooperatively so that various parents can focus on teaching their strengths. This way, children gain plenty of experience socializing.

I'm sure that many families do get together so that their children will have a chance to be around other kids... kids who are just like them with the same ideological beliefs. I think my main complaint against homeschooling is that this system allows parents to block out anything which they disagree with, and it denies kids the opportunity to grow up around lots of different kids with different backgrounds.

[Medic]

It's so enlightening to hear this story from Glenn Beck 1st.

To state the obvious, if you didn't know the context of what he was complaining about (the subject of the thread, CA's decision to disallow non-credentialed homeschooling) then you MIGHT have thought he was a Democrat circa 2004 seriously considering leaving the country for Canada. (cause of phrases like 'god-given right' and 'if people can't do it here then they will go elsewhere!' and that LAST comment stated with a tone of voice that implied "and that's the last thing ANYONE in the world should want!)

Kudos to the Golden State though, we deserve it.

"California courts have held that ... parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal duty to see to their children's schooling under the provisions of these laws."

Although Justice H. Walter Croskey did not articulate this to my satisfaction, for the way I will describe this to those that might disagree with it is:

"California courts hold that parents do not have a constitutional right to espouse to their children what they're not academically and legally entitled to teach to children, theirs or anyone else's." That sentence sort of drags on and can be refined, but it's a better appraisal of the state-of-affairs than that quote the author used.

[Medic]

Bah, entitled really should read 'qualified.'

I hate these ghetto-edits, so: GO CHARGERS! *blares bad disco*

[Darth Wong]

It's so enlightening to hear this story from Glenn Beck 1st.

Glenn Beck's fat bigoted smiling face would look sooo much better with a fist planted in it.

Anyone else remember that "prove you're not working with our enemies" shit he pulled on that Muslim congressman? Followed immediately by "I never said that", in the same interview?

[Patrick Degan]

As far as "raising a social retard" goes, that is certainly not a safe generalization to make regarding homeschoolers. In many communities, homeschoolers pool their resources and teach cooperatively so that various parents can focus on teaching their strengths. This way, children gain plenty of experience socializing.

It is not the same thing as having the child in an open environment, exposed to children of many different backgrounds and ideas, learning how to fit in to a clique, how to defend themselves or avoid trouble, having expectations imposed on them from authorities other than Mommy or Daddy (like in the Real World), experiencing life outside the home and the family circle, and yes, even running the daily risk of falling in with the wrong crowd, getting into trouble, and running afoul of authority and all on a continual basis every day, eight hours a day, five days a week. Even if the school is crap, academically, it is still the only place where certain hard life-lessons get learned and also where a kid takes shape as his or her own person.

[SirNitram]

It's so enlightening to hear this story from Glenn Beck 1st.

Glenn Beck's fat bigoted smiling face would look sooo much better with a fist planted in it.

Anyone else remember that "prove you're not working with our enemies" shit he pulled on that Muslim congressman? Followed immediately by "I never said that", in the same interview?

I have successfully replaced this memory with him whining like a little girl over having, I believe, a cyst removed from his ass. Having had this done to me, seeing this self-proclaimed tough guy practically sobbing and decrrying the horrible situation made me burst out laughing.

I seriously need to find that video.

[brianeyci]

What are the chances of failing in homeschooling?

I ask because I cannot envision a parent failing her own child, while public schools have atrocious failure rates. And say what you want about failing, but the possibility of failure is what makes education worth it in most cases.