Home schooling

Pope John Paul II wrote in his Letter to Families that “Parents are the first and most important educators of their own children, and they also possess a fundamental competence in this area: they are educators because they are parents." The 2nd Court of Appeals for the State of California ruled on February 28th “It is clear to us that enrollment and attendance in a public full time day school is required by California law for minor children unless,” said the appellate court, “(1) the child is enrolled in a private full-time day school and actually attends that private school, (2) the child is tutored by a person holding a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught, or (3) one of the other few statutory exemptions to compulsory public school attendance (Ed. Code, § 48220 et seq.) applies to the child.” This ruling essentially means that home schooling your children is not a legal option in the state and parents may be subject legal remedies. And while public reaction, including Gov. Schwarzenegger, seems to be on the side of home schooling families this clumsy over reaching attempt to control people outside the system affords us a view into the future. These people are not stupid and if and when they are rebuffed as we all pray they will be, they will learn from their mistake, regroup and move forward with their agenda which is to squelch “competition” and the people who live and think outside the box. It is interesting to note that the decision of the court whose ruling was overturned is “that keeping the children at home deprived them of situations where (1) they could interact with people outside the family, (2) there are people who could provide help if something is amiss in the children’s lives, and (3) they could develop emotionally in a broader world than the parents’ ‘cloistered’ setting.” With friends like these who needs enemies? Home schooling kids who perform well on standardized tests, win academic contests in math, science and other disciplines and are awarded merit based scholarships all point clearly to the dirty little secret that money spent on pupils, classrooms and books is not synonymous with academic success. Parents involved in their kid’s lives are all that really matters for success in the classroom and in the world.