Sunday, April 20, 2008
Ruling on Home Schooling
Parents of an estimated 166,000 children in California are eagerly awaiting a state appellate court ruling on whether they have a constitutional right to home-school their children without a teaching credential. That question sprouted unexpectedly on Feb. 28, when a panel of three judges ruled that parents or tutors of children who are home-schooled must be certified by the state, basing their ruling on a rarely enforced state education law. Few parents knew the law existed. Parents of an estimated 166,000 children in California are eagerly awaiting a state appellate court ruling on whether they have a constitutional right to home-school their children without a teaching credential. The court's ruling threatens to send back to the classroom those children who now spend their days studying math, Spanish or the Bible in the comfort of their living rooms. Do you think that parents without teaching credentials should be able to teach their kids at home? If the courts ruled that it is required to be certified, "99.5 percent of families wouldn't qualify." Can we really trust parents to teach their kids the right material that other schools are teaching?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I think that parents definitely should be required to have teaching credentials if they wish to homeschool their children. If a parent doesn't have the credentials, their homeschooled child will have an educational disadvantage and be less prepared to go out into the real world and get a good job. However, I don't think that requiring parents to have teaching credentials will stop parents who homeschool their children from trying to sway their children into believing one thing over another. I was watching "Jesus Camp" a few months ago and I remember this scene where an Evangelical mother is homeschooling her children and teaching them that not only is the theory of evolution completely fake, but that global warming isn't real either. Even if she had teaching credentials, she would still want her children believing certain things and unfortunately, her children are going to pay for their lack of knowledge later when they try to find employment.
I think homeschooling should be allowed without credentials up until a certain grade (maybe middle or high school) because I've read a lot of statistics that children that are home schooled are often far more advanced (academically) than their peers when they join the public school system, this is probably because they get one-on-one specialized attention. Maybe there should be a requirement that the parent has to use state approved materials and take some classes on teaching first, but not necessarily get a credential which takes longer. I think the parent should get a credential if the child is home schooled for middle or high school because the coursework becomes more in depth and requires more specific knowledge of the different subjects. Also, I think home schooling can limit a child's social interactions so parents should be sure to join a homeschooling group that meets to let their kids interact and develop necessary social skills.
I'm going to focus on whether I believe home schooling is a good alternative. I agree with Vicki's last statement. Children who are home schooled have proven to be less socially adept. While people may think that home schooling there children is better for them, often times this is not the case. Their children will not get the social skills needed to "survive" the real world. There are so many "tests" other than academic ones that high schoolers go through that cannot be found in a home environment. However, there are certain cases in which home schooling may be better, and even necessary. If, for example, a school is not satisfactory because of the administration or safety issues, home schooling proves to be a better option. It is on a case to case basis, but I think that most times going to an actual school will be better for these children in the long run.
It depends what those kids are going to use their schooling for. I mean the high school exit exam as we all know is not the most challenging test to pass. If the home schooled children want to appply to a college, then I think it would be much different. Perhaps a test harder than the exit exam should be given to home echooled students who wish to continue their education have to pass to show how much they have actually learned. As far as homeshooling for a high school deploma, then that shouldnt be a problem.
Considering parents who wish to teach the Bible in their home, then they sould be able to homeschool their children regaurdless. They couldnt getbBible classes even if they wanted in a public school regaurdless. I dont think that they should be requred to heve crudentials in order to school their choldren in that way, as well as a GED.
I think it should be left up to the parents.
One of my cousins has been home-schooled. I'm not entirely sure about the specifics, but I know that she still used High School textbooks, materials and learning programs. She's 16 and already "graduating from High School".
Then again, she focused on learning all year round.
It should be the parent's decision, but hopefully with the child's opinion.
Ultimately, they'll be held up to the same standards as everyone else, and it is up to the parent to prepare them for college. They'll fly or die based on what they've learned.
But even then, they have to get accepted first...
Something to take into account is that not all social interaction is based on school. There's tons of non-school related programs that kids can get involved in, and get their interactions that way, like camps, religion, sports. As long as the parent makes an effort to still give their kid the interaction needed, then that shouldn't be a problem. I agree though that a parents can't teach their kid anything they want. There should be some standards, but because it is one-on-one instead of one-on-thirty, not only would the kid get more attention but would also be forced to act a bit more instead of being able to let other kids answer all the questions for them.
Post a Comment