Friday, March 07, 2008

All Your Babies Are Belong To Us

Recently, a judge in California has ruled that parents do not have a right to home school their children, and therefore state regulations and requirements pertaining to home schooled kids must be followed. The case in question regarded a mother homeschooling her kids without the state-mandated (and issued) teacher credential.(LINK)

"California courts have held that ... parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal duty to see to their children's schooling under the provisions of these laws.
This is troublesome for liberty on many counts. Personally, I believe that no parent should be required to educate their child at all. And when done, the parents should be the ones who decide what will be taught, and how much their kids are required to learn. Feel free to disagree with me, or not, and even hurl a few invectives if you so wish. Fact is: government screws the pooch on everything they say they're gonna do for us, and is not able to respect all citizens, and their personal values, once politics gets involved.

We currently have in California thousands of kids, taken into the government system, who are graduated without any education to speak of. My step-son has a couple friends: decent kids, from a shitty family background who are no less intelligent than any other 20yr olds running the neighborhood. Both of these boys cannot read past a Dr. Seuss level. I shit you not. I seen it myself. And they have High School diplomas. Step-son usually helps them fill out simple things, like employment applications, and reads them the directions on whatever widget they just bought. These kids are not idiots. Not in the slightest. But they are uneducated. And products of the California Education System.

And what happens when a parent doesn't follow the mandates for miseducation in California?

Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey
said.

"With this case law, anyone in California who is homeschooling without a teaching credential is subject to prosecution for truancy violation, which could require community service, heavy fines and possibly removal of their children under allegations of educational neglect,"


...statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day school,
either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who holds a state
credential for the child's grade level.


Whole lotta good it did for these two boys, didn't it?

Of course, nothing happens in the California courts without the approval of the state teachers' union. I'll quote this union thug for you:
"We're happy," said Lloyd Porter, who is on the California Teachers Association board of directors. "We always think students should be taught by credentialed teachers, no matter what the setting."
Maybe I'll add: all corrugated packaging used in California should be manufactured by card-carrying members of United Paperworkers International. See how ridiculous this sounds? Why does the Teachers Union get a pass?

"With this case law, anyone in California who is homeschooling without a
teaching credential is subject to prosecution for truancy violation, which could
require community service, heavy fines and possibly removal of their children
under allegations of educational neglect
,"

Now, I want to know, who is going to arrest and prosecute the teachers and administrators responsible for the non-education of the thousands of our kids in California who got screwed by the state?
Of course, nobody will.
Because they never were our kids in the first place.
They belong to the state.

8 comments:

Kristopher said...

My wife and I homeschool our children and will continue to do so no matter how legal it is. Thankfully, Arizona still has some sense left to it.

W.B. Picklesworth said...

I can now cross California off the list of states that I would consider living in (not that it was high on the list anyways). If my family lived there we would move as soon as possible. This is beyond arrogant and these people should be prosecuted after they are tarred and feathered by parents who actually care about their kids and their parental rights.

Jade said...

Wow, that really doesn't seem right at all. I mean, I can sort of see the point they are trying to make... I'm sure they want to make sure parents aren't just being lazy & leaving them at home in front of the TV...

But at the same time, if parents feel the schools are overcrowded and their kids aren't learning anything, they should have the right to pull their kids from the environment and home school them. My friend in Oregon does that, but she has to work with the school system - sounds similar to a registration of sorts, where she lets the state know her kids are home, and picks up an outline of what the school system expects the kids to know for their age. She plans her own lessons accordingly, but her kids get things like outings to the zoo to learn about animals, nature walks to learn about science (stuff that not all classrooms can do all the time)

Anonymous said...

AMEN, ALLELUIA, BROTHER.

(My initial response was somewhat more colorful.)

California is also the state that puts (or at least until recently put?) midwives in prison if a baby dies at or near birth, no matter how many motherbabies the midwife has "successfully" assisted, because midwifery (statistically safer, also wayyyy cheaper) was (is?) illegal (due to medical lobbying). Not so much with the doctors, eh? A doctor loses a baby with no reasonably known risk factors? "Well, these things just happen." (Yeah--and they happen a lot LESS when a woman avoids both a hospital and your medical "care," dumbshit, and that has been true since day one of doctors trying to 'manage' births.)

Compulsory Schooling is so clearly wrong.

Just. Clearly. WRONG.

And the fact that the professional teachers DON'T see that their own system, where they are (not) engaging kids everyday, DOESN'T work, blows my mind. Harder work isn't "fixing" it. The system is the PROBLEM. Not the teachers' fault, not the kids' fault, they SYSTEM'S fault.

Hopefully the California parents take the case to the US Supreme Court, where case law should help point the right direction. (1922: Catholic schools from Oregon won against a KKK-passed law requiring children attend secular state schools or be removed from their incorrectly-thinking families.)

Gino, is there a litigation fund for these guys? I would send a little money (don't have a lot). I can probably find other donors.

Oh, and: hey Gino, those Dr Suess 20 year olds? They should be told that they can teach themselves now, or get help and learn ... that their brains just weren't ready the first go-round, because the schoolsystem (which they already undoubtably know failed them completely, but which undoubtably taught them deeply that they were the failures) is flat-down scientifically-provably Wrong to push reading before age 9. Lots of kids, especially girls, _are_ ready and pick it up earlier ... but lots of kids, especially boys, aren't neurologically developed in that direction until later: and there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. It is the system that is the fuckup, not the kids.

It is all so abusive. (My kids are in school and I HATE that ... but they are in a developmentally better alternative school, which was a parental compromise. If they ever start shoving things down the throat of my kids, though ... (!) And I am very involved, they will get away with very little! Luckily for the parental compromise, kids really do love to learn if they are capable, even in areas where they aren't personally very interested.)

It totally sux how much an adult has to swallow their pride to get help with literacy--but that's mostly because those adults have been taught that they are the faulty ones in the equation. Maybe if these kids get angry, they will shove it to The Man and prove they can do it.

It should be easier if they have given themselves a break (as it sounds like maybe they have) from trying to learn the way they were taught. (Their brains need to let go the wrong connections, to open the way for new, helathier connections.)

Thank you, by the way, for believing in the kids instead of the system. I know, I know, you aren't stupid ... but the system teaches us how to think, and even smart people don't always see that the actual truth is outside the box, eh? So: thanks :).

Guitarman said...

Excellent Blog. I thought California was a respecter of all peoples. Apparently not so. Socialism just took one giant step forward in this our country.

Bike Bubba said...

If you want to help administer a well deserved wallop to the heads of these judges, one place is www.hslda.org. One of many.

And Kahleefornia has been going socialist/fascist for a long time, now. It's been off my list of places to live for about 15 years for that reason, and because of the smog--I could tell when a smog day hit LA because my lung measurements were off 10-20%. Scary stuff.

Gino said...

guitar man and bike bubba:
there was a time when CA was a very progressive place. (progressive in its traditional definition, not today's politically current one.)
we set trends for other states to follow in the ways of good govt (ballot initiatives, property tax reform, highway construction).

but, this was back when Ca was ruled by niether left nor right. we were center-right on fiscal issues, center-left on social issues. there were two parties in constant intellectual competition.
usually, the common sense center won the day.

popular things that could never happen in the east (due to centuries old institutions and entrenched interests), were possible here among an electorate made up largly of fed-up eastern transplants wanting something new and improved.

in the early 90's the GOP wobbled, the DEMS drove the stake into its heart, and its been far left ever since, and moving fast. the DEMS are weighted heavily to the far left, where a moderate DEM could never get elected.

and the GOP is dead as a party. as a result, there is no competing power to speak of, no alternate message. maybe even more so than massachusettes.

the same economic demographic (tax producers)that built this state is fleeing for TX,AZ,or the midwest. but the population is still growing (with immigration from the southern border,resource consumers).
so,yeah, its not gonna get better anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

bike bubba--thanks