Submitted by Bob Hertzog on Sun, 03/09/2008 - 2:52pm.
MFP Tags: parents, Home School, Education, Child AbuseTopics: Education
MFP Tags: parents, Home School, Education, Child AbuseTopics: Education
Does a Parent Have the Right to Homschool Children, Regardless of their Ability to Do So?
Recently, California courts have ruled that perents may not homeschool their children unless they are certified as teachers or hire someone who is certified. Some of my Libertarian friends have argued that this is an outrageous interference into parental prerogatives. At first I agreed, then I thought a bit more about it.
First, I asked myself, what right does the state have to interfere with a parents' decisions about their children's education? But, then I thought, Who speaks for the child?
Children have a right to an adequate education, so that they are able to compete in a technological, information-saturated world. A good education is a requirement for that to happen. If a parent is unable or unwilling to provide that good education in their home, someone must protect the child's right right to that education.
We would certainly want the state to interfere if the parents were physically abusing the child. Failing to provide that child with an adequate education is intellectual abuse, from which we should want children protected.
To be very frank about this, I'm not sure that a state bureaucracy is the best entity to protect the child, but if not the state...Who? We know that parents don't always make choices in their child's best interests. Sometimes children need protection.
So, we are back to my original question. In this specific question, who speaks for the child? Is it simply to be left to the parents?
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Some governments require
Some governments require specific religious teaching. An argument could certainly be made, by a large portion of our population, that denying a child exposure to such teachings would be among the worst forms of abuse. Depending upon who is in charge, it's not impossible that our own government would require it. Of course, another segment of our population considers it a form of intellectual abuse to allow children to be taught anything that can't be proven scientifically. Things could take on a different slant when they are in charge.
I'm all in favor of protecting children from abuse, but we need to remember that governments have abused and killed more children than parents ever have. 99+% of the time, I'll trust the parents.
Bob Hertzog Hello Rex,
Bob Hertzog
Hello Rex, Thanks for the comment.
You're so right. People will have a difference of opinion about what should be taught in schools or in home schooling. I can only say that people of good will can work out differences. However, my main question is still unanswered. Who speaks for the child if the parents do not have the child's best interests at heart? I will have to admit that I'm not too keen on the government doing it, but if it is not the government, I don't know who.
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