Home schooling continues to be in the news on a number of fronts. The former Pennsylvania senator and Republican candidate for president, Rick Santorum, is getting hammered from all sides in the mainstream media because he is now perceived to be a viable conservative threat to the nomination of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
One of the avenues of attack has been Santorum’s support of home schooling, for which he has been skewered for not “believing in the existing public education system,” when what he is really talking about is the need to empower parents. This comment from his book It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good caused the above-mentioned attack:
“It’s amazing that so many kids turn out to be fairly normal, considering the weird socialization they get in public schools. In a home school, by contrast, children interact in a rich and complex way with adults and children of other ages all the time.”
Another commentator attacks Santorum because of religious convictions and the way he looks. This New York Times writer says, “My soul similarly rolls over and groans whenever Santorum uses the phrase ‘home-schooling.’ I feel sorry for the poor kids whose parents feel they’re qualified to teach them at home. Of course, some parents are smarter than some teachers, but in the main, I see home schooling as misguided foolishness.” He continues with this: “To deny kids the adventure and socialization of going to school . . . is shortsighted and cruel.”
I think these comments tell us a lot about the philosophy and worldview of the writer and why he opposes the right of parents to make educational decisions for their children. He sums up his column with this pearl of wisdom: “Again, teaching takes skill and education and dedication. Home schooling as an idea is on par with home dentistry.”
There are numerous studies that continue to show that parents are doing a terrific job of teaching their children, based on academic outcomes. This one shows that not only do home school students do very well academically, but the clamor from those who believe the state ought to regulate home schooling is also misguided.
The other topic that sometimes arises is safety when children are abused or neglected by people who are said to be homeschooling. These tragedies often bring shouts from people, like the commentator above, for the need to save children by strictly regulating home education. However, in every one of these kinds of situations I have been aware of, the children have been reported to CPS on numerous occasions, and those officials did not take action, which led to the tragedy.
Yesterday there was another horrific shooting in a public school in Ohio. A teenage student walked up to a table of students and shot five, killing two of them. “School superintendent Joe Gergant said, ‘I want to assure parents our facilities, and most important our students, that you will be safe when you’re re-entering our program. . . . As you’ve seen in the past, this can happen anywhere.’"
While this is a terrible tragedy, and I would not try to blame the public education system for it, it is interesting that there aren’t calls in the media for increased regulation and control of the public schools as a result of this tragedy. The superintendent says this can happen anywhere. But let a tragedy happen that involves a home school family, and the people who believe that government control of home schooling would make things better and safer, and that no student would “fall through the cracks,” would use a similar situation like the one in Ohio to push for taking freedom from parents to direct the education of their children.
This double standard will continue, and the increased attacks on home schooling and parental rights should serve to remind us that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance and action when necessary.
About Tim Lambert
Rick Santorum is not the poster child for homeschooling in America. He is getting hammered because he makes every statement he makes as a judgment call. As a homeschool mother of four (13th year) I believe it is right for our family, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for everyone. He comes across as very sanctimonious.
While I agree with your political thoughts on Santorum, Debi, overall I agree with the sentiment and point of the article that the arguments against home schooling on the whole are unfounded.
Debi,
I completely disagree with you. Who is the “poster child for homeschooling?” There are as many “posters” as there are people homeschooling. What do you think a homeschooler looks like? The media is certainly going to pounce on whatever platform Santorum has that none of the other candidates do, which in this case is homeschooling. Every last political candidate running for public office makes every statement a “judgment call.” I’ve never heard Santorum ever say that homeschooling is for everyone. If you can direct me to a link where he did, I’d certainly watch it and recant my statement. My opinion is that he is no more sanctimonious than Obama, Romney or Gingrich. Of course, we still live in a free country and can vote for the candidate we think is best. My vote will not be based on homeschooling status, but their view about educational choices in general come into strong play.
I agree! Santorum is NOT representative of all homeschoolers and absolutely is not what we would vote for in our home. DIRECT QUOTE:
“Libertarians have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do. Government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulation low and that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues, you know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world…” -Rick Santorum
He isn’t for freedoms for everyone. He does not portray what a Christian should be in the eyes of Jesus. He does not follow His example for us. He is full of hate and disgust and judgement of people who do not believe as he does or live their lives as he would want them to. That is a DANGEROUS president.
I choose Ron Paul who also is PRO HOMESCHOOLING (read his issues tab on his fb page and check for speeches given backing up this statement). He is Christian but not wanting to force it on everybody. He is for individual liberties, freedoms, and less taxes/less government! He is the only TRUE conservative on that stage and the only one that can beat Obama. Only man to strictly stick with the Constitution and a record to back that. He doesn’t treat the office of the President as church. He would treat all people equally – TRULY EQUALLY. That’s why he is getting my vote!