Christina’s Common Sense

In a post earlier this month, I wrote about a court case in California that effectively outlawed homeschooling. Naturally, that put homeschoolers across the nation up in arms.

Fortunately, homeschoolers have some big advantages in this matter. There’s a lot of them, they’re well-organized, and they make a lot of noise. They also have HSLDA on their side. Now, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is on their side too. In a statement earlier this month, the Governator blasted the court’s decision, saying that it penalized parents for acting in the best interests of their children.

“If the courts don’t protect parents’ rights,” Schwarzenegger said, “then as elected officials, we will.”

While I’ll admit to having enjoyed a few (all right, more than a few) Arnie movies in my day. I’ve never been too fond of most of his policies. But I’m quite fond of this one. California homeschoolers may be squirming right now, but they’ve got some very powerful allies: HSLDA, their governor, and most importantly the truth. Nearly everywhere homeschool rights have been attacked in this country, they have prevailed.

It is not likely that a hard and fast decision in this case until June, as American society hasn’t yet gotten rid of lawyers and sped up the justice system as revealed in Back to the Future Part II. Even after the case is decided,this is likely to be a long and anxiety-ridden battle, but I am confident that homeschoolers will emerge victorious with one more tally mark on the Government vs. Homeschoolers scoreboard.

Homeschoolers really deserve a break. I mean, they’re stereotyped as unsociable loners with no friends who’ve never seen another human being in their life and just sit around watching Star Trek all the time (OK, so maybe the last one’s partially true). And on top of all that, they’ve got the government hanging over their shoulder watching their every move.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that all homeschooling parents, regardless of how long they’ve been homeschooling, have to go back to school and get teaching credentials if they wish to educate their children at home. If upheld, the ruling would wipe nearly all homeschoolers off the map.

And that’s exactly the point. You think they’ll stop here? Have you ever seen a government stop unless forced to by its citizens? The government will start with homeschoolers. Then it will go to Christian schools, other religious schools, private schools, and everything else until a government-run public school is the only way to educate (and I use the term loosely) your children.

Even if you’re not a homeschooler, ask yourself: Should the government have this kind of power? Should it be able to dictate how you raise your kids? Unless you’re a liberal, the answer, is probably no. Mark Twain once advised not to let classes interfere with your education. I’d advise not letting the government anywhere near it, either.