Home School Protection

Sue Ella Deadwyler's WMVV Radio Commentary, 1/31/07

During the early settling of the United States, almost 100 percent of the population learned readin', writin' and 'rithmetic at home. That's before public schools enticed parents to leave their children's book-l'arnin' to professionals. The only problem is, professional book-l'arnin ain't what it used to be and more and more parents are choosing to do the job themselves. It's been almost 20 years since legislators saw such good results from home education they passed a law protecting the right of parents to teach their children at home.

But home education is no easy job and parents that choose it make a huge investment. Not only do they sacrifice big chunks of time every day, they buy their own curriculum while paying public education taxes to fund government schools their children do not attend.

There was no mention of education when the Constitution of the United States was written because it was a given. Education is a local matter, not a responsibility of government. There was no federal Department of Education until Jimmy Carter became president and fulfilled his promise to establish one if the National Education Association would get him elected. They did and he did. Amazingly, he chose Shirley Hufstedler to be the first Commissioner of Education. But, Shirley was not an educator. She was a judge and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies.

With that appointment Jimmy Carter gave the reins of education to humanists and the humanist doctrine that God does not exist, that prayer is an empty gesture, that nothing is right or wrong, all things are relative and situation ethics must guide all decisions. Global government is the humanist goal and national boundaries must become irrelevant. That situation explains why many parents in the United States want to teach their children at home.

But European parents that want that same right are having a tough time. On September 12, 2006 the European Court of Human Rights issued a decision that the German government has power to ban home education. You might wonder what a ruling in Germany has to do with the United States. I'm reminded that our U.S. Supreme Court systematically considers international law when deciding court cases in this country, although international law has no jurisdiction here. Some believe the international threat warrants an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to protect home education here and the founders of the Home School Legal Defense Association are working toward that end.

The current home education issue in Georgia is S.B. 35 introduced by Senator Pearson of District 51. He wants a law to assure parents that home-educated students that complete their high school courses and meet residency requirements will be considered for college entry on the same basis as public and private high school graduates. Call Senator Harp's Higher Education Committee at 404-463-3931 and ask him to pass this out of committee. Home education is great and it must be protected.