Sunday, March 23, 2008

California

I am not at all sure that I have understood the recent California homeschooling ruling. As I currently see it, homeschooling remains a perfectly legal option, you don't have to have teaching credentials, you just have to tell the state what you are actually doing, and not pretend to be using credentialed teachers when you aren't.

That aside, one really does have to take issue with the following from the judge, (and whip your child straight out of state school, if you do believe that there is a chance that it is the case):

“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. "
Justice H. Walter Croskey

Whoa, hold on there pal! I don't want my child patriotic and loyal to anything, let alone the state and nation. I want them to think about whether what they are doing seems good and right. I am not even certain that they should automatically have to protect the public welfare. This really would be up to them, thank you very much.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The judge and a lot of people running state education in the US and elsewhere think exactly what he wrote. Americans are a bit shocked because they're generally operating under the delusion that they live in a free country and that their schools exist to teach things like maths and geography.

Wobblymoo said...

In American schools they HAVE to recite every morning the pledge of allegiance, when my nieces were there I found this quit bizarre that they had to promise to be loyal to the US flag when it was pretty obvious that they are British, very similar to Hitler outh movemnet if you ask me

Carlotta said...

Scary, I agree.

Our local public school's motto is "Serve and Obey". Oh honestly...what sort of lesson is that!