Homeschooling
Under Threat
Bill Muehlenberg
I have just
penned a piece on how the secular humanists are targeting our children in
public schools, and how successful they have been in their war against
religion, as they push their own secular religion down the throats of hapless
school children: www.billmuehlenberg.com/2012/09/04/education-wars-the-battle-for-our-children/
Given just how
really bad the situation is throughout the Western world, many concerned
parents – whether religious or not — have opted for other options, such as
private schools, Christian schools, homeschooling, and the like. But sadly
these are not problem-free.
Thus many
parents look to homeschooling as a last resort. And that is certainly a real
alternative; it is a growing movement in places like America and Australia. But
even here, there are dangers to be found. The state wants access to our
children so it can turn out compliant, obedient and servile citizens. So it is
not crazy about parents educating their children independently of the state.
As a result,
homeschooling is not necessarily a safe bet. The truth is, in many countries it
is against the law to homeschool, and in other countries where it is legal,
there are often onerous state restrictions on it and intrusions into it. See here
for example: www.billmuehlenberg.com/2010/12/03/the-secular-state%E2%80%99s-homeschooling-crackdown/
If the state
does not ban it outright, it will seek to severely restrict it. Consider a few
more recent examples of this. Brazil is one country which does not allow
parents the option of choosing homeschooling. A bill put forward there late
last year to allow homeschooling was unanimously rejected.
Christian
activist Julio Severo comments: “Although homeschooling is common in many
developed countries and is associated with higher levels of academic
achievement, the increasingly-intrusive and socialist government in Brazil has
not only abolished its constitutional tradition of home education, but has also
repealed several homeschool bills in the Brazilian Congress since the 1990s.
“Control over
people requires quality and freedom to be discarded and sacrificed on behalf of
compulsory indoctrination. For a State possessed by socialism, it does not
matter if schoolchildren are not learning to read and write satisfactorily.
What matters is to turn away children from parental sphere, authority and
values in order to indoctrinate them directly into the state interests.
“This
indoctrination is a proven reality throughout Brazil. In a long story on the
Brazilian schools, Veja magazine (the Brazilian counterpart of Time magazine)
made the following revelations:
* A prevalent trend among Brazilian teachers of
imposing leftism in the minds of children.
* Leftist indoctrination is predominant in private
schools. It is something teachers take more seriously than classroom subjects,
as a CNT/Sensus poll, ordered by Veja, found.
* It is embarrassing that Marxism has stayed alive
only in Cuba, North Korea and in the Brazilian classrooms….”
He continues,
“Now, we have only two choices: homeschool illegally and suffer the massive and
violent state intervention in our parental, natural choice, or let our children
suffer social, moral, psychological and spiritual violence in the public
educational ‘jails’.”
But in places
where homeschooling is legal, the state often can and does seek to greatly
control it. Consider some recent developments in Alberta, Canada. Earlier this
year some ominous activities were occurring there. As one report states:
“Homeschooling
groups are sounding the alarm this week as the Alberta government prepares to
pass a bill that they say threatens to mandate ‘diversity’ education in the
home. The province’s new Education Act, re-tabled Feb. 14th by Alison Redford’s
majority Progressive Conservative government to replace the existing Schools Act,
stipulates in section 16 that all instructional materials in schools ‘must
reflect the diverse nature and heritage of society in Alberta, promote
understanding and respect for others and honour and respect the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Alberta Human Rights Act.’
“But, in
addition to publicly-funded school boards, the proposed Act defines ‘school’ to
include private schools and ‘a parent providing a home education program.’ Paul
Faris of Canada’s Home School Legal Defence Association (HSLDA) says the law
subjects homeschoolers’ entire families life to the Human Rights Act, the
provincial version of ‘human rights’ legislation that has been used to target
Christians and conservatives across the country, particularly those espousing traditional
views on homosexuality.
“‘Basically what
it would mean is all learning that goes on in the home, all material that goes
on in the home, would essentially be subject to the Alberta Human Rights Act,’
Faris explained. ‘At least when the child leaves the school and goes home it no
longer applies, but for a homeschooling family they never get away from this,’
he added.”
Another report
says this: “Under Alberta’s new Education Act, homeschoolers and faith-based
schools will not be permitted to teach that homosexual acts are sinful as part
of their academic program, says the spokesperson for Education Minister Thomas
Lukaszuk. ‘Whatever the nature of schooling – homeschool, private school,
Catholic school – we do not tolerate disrespect for differences,’ Donna McColl,
Lukaszuk’s assistant director of communications, told LifeSiteNews on Wednesday
evening.
“‘You can affirm
the family’s ideology in your family life, you just can’t do it as part of your
educational study and instruction,’ she added. Reacting to the remarks, Paul
Faris … said the Ministry of Education is ‘clearly signaling that they
are in fact planning to violate the private conversations families have in
their own homes’.”
Homeschoolers
south of the border are very worried about all this. “Homeschool defenders in
the United States are wary of proposed legislation in Alberta, Canada, that
could set a philosophical precedent for government intrusion into what parents
are allowed to teach their homeschooled children.
“‘This is
concerning to us because this is the first time we’ve seen anything like this
on North American soil, where a government has actually proposed to include
homeschools in a law that would constrain what parents could teach their
children or to alternatively require them to teach something in a certain way,’
Michael Donnelly, staff attorney for the Virginia-based Home School Legal
Defense Association, told Baptist Press….
“Donnelly
mentioned California becoming the first state last summer to mandate the
teaching of gay history in public schools, requiring social science classes to
include the ‘role and contributions’ of ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
Americans.’
“‘You see
increasing attempts across the country by legislators – Massachusetts too – to
impose teaching requirements on public schools,’ Donnelly said. ‘From there the
next step is private schools and then incorporating homeschools. So it
certainly appears to be part of a larger plan. I don’t know that there’s any
kind of conspiracy or they’re connected with one another, but there certainly
seems to be an agenda to try to control what children learn from the
government,’ Donnelly said. ‘That certainly is a very serious concern. One of
the things we pay attention to here is watching legislatures in all 50 states to
make sure they don’t do things like this’.”
Thus
homeschooling too is very much under threat. But for many parents it may still
be the best option currently available. But as always, freedom has to be fought
for, and it has to be fought in the area of homeschooling just as much as in
any other area.
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