The Washington Post recently published a piece on how homeschooling was going to “set back a generation of children.” To be clear (and they weren’t in their tweet), the Post was referring not to traditionally homeschooled children but those who found themselves suddenly thrust into things like virtual learning as schools closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
A piece published Friday in Harvard Magazine, though, makes no mention at all of COVID-19 when it talks about the risk of homeschooling, and Professor Elizabeth Bartholet argues for a “presumptive ban” on homeschooling. Here’s the Reason Foundation’s Corey A. DeAngelis:
Harvard Magazine:
"The Risks of Homeschooling"
The elites are terrified that families are figuring out they can educate their own children at home. pic.twitter.com/bXLEc0IMLR
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 18, 2020
Harvard's Elizabeth Bartholet "recommends a presumptive ban" on homeschooling.
They are coming after your right to educate your own children at home. pic.twitter.com/mxjfyTQarC
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 18, 2020
Yet Elizabeth Bartholet, Wasserstein public interest professor of law and faculty director of the Law School’s Child Advocacy Program, sees risks for children—and society—in homeschooling, and recommends a presumptive ban on the practice. Homeschooling, she says, not only violates children’s right to a “meaningful education” and their right to be protected from potential child abuse, but may keep them from contributing positively to a democratic society.
“We have an essentially unregulated regime in the area of homeschooling,” Bartholet asserts. All 50 states have laws that make education compulsory, and state constitutions ensure a right to education, “but if you look at the legal regime governing homeschooling, there are very few requirements that parents do anything.” Even apparent requirements such as submitting curricula, or providing evidence that teaching and learning are taking place, she says, aren’t necessarily enforced. Only about a dozen states have rules about the level of education needed by parents who homeschool, she adds. “That means, effectively, that people can homeschool who’ve never gone to school themselves, who don’t read or write themselves.”
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Also problematic? “… surveys of homeschoolers show that a majority of such families (by some estimates, up to 90 percent) are driven by conservative Christian beliefs, and seek to remove their children from mainstream culture. Bartholet notes that some of these parents are ‘extreme religious ideologues’ who question science and promote female subservience and white supremacy.”
In public schools, Karens like Bartholet can better ensure that “children grow up exposed to community values, social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people’s viewpoints.”
No, this is all real, and there’s no counterpoint.
The Harvard professor says "homeschooling violates children's right to a meaningful education and their right to be protected from potential child abuse"
Yeah because abuse never ever happens in government schools.
And all government schools provide meaningful education.?♂️ pic.twitter.com/NaQnlpMh75
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 18, 2020
Oh my goodness, some homeschool families have "conservative Christian beliefs"?? pic.twitter.com/vkQM1fT7nY
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 18, 2020
Elizabeth says parents currently have "authoritarian control over their children."
She also says it's "always dangerous to put powerful people in charge of the powerless, and to give the powerful ones total authority."
Oh the irony. pic.twitter.com/PSonhOILdE
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 18, 2020
Elizabeth says the burden of proof should be on parents to get permission to homeschool from the government.
She has it backwards.
Our children don't belong to the government. pic.twitter.com/hp9C78vcWq
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 18, 2020
Unreal. We wonder how much of Harvard’s $9 million share of cash from the CARES Act is going to maintain her salary.
Jesus.
— Erudite Donald (@Hi_IQ_Trump) April 18, 2020
The only way you get to that kind of conclusion is if you believe that children actually belong to the state.
— Leon Storie (@lstorie1971) April 18, 2020
They do.
— History by the ,5 Liter (@historybythpint) April 18, 2020
Gross.
— Primitive Contrarian Man (@meatmanbob1) April 18, 2020
She can go ahead and kiss my butt.
— Dr. Dathan Paterno (@DrDathanPaterno) April 18, 2020
"I Would Rather Be Governed By the First 2,000 People in the Telephone Directory than by the Harvard University Faculty." – William F. Buckley Jr.
— Bojan Tunguz (@tunguz) April 18, 2020
Parens Patriae has gone too far.
I’m happy to audit & challenge any data she can put forth in support of her position.
I teach my kids and I’d also be very happy to challenge her to a legal & subject matter debate any day, any time, any subject matter.— Cherie Poland (@PolandCherieM) April 18, 2020
I’ve heard that higher test scores and reduced teenage pregnancy and drug use are big risks.
— Joshua Dunn (@professordunn) April 18, 2020
Meet homeschooled, Fletcher Morton, (celebrating his 19th trip around the sun today.) Sailor, professional musician, and soon to be private pilot.https://t.co/3xZZGWSSut pic.twitter.com/08uwN9NY6D
— Bryan Morton (@BryanMo88320272) April 18, 2020
Happy birthday Fletcher!
Quite a few folks saying "I can do this".
— JimeV Augmented Mouse (@Jelwoodv) April 18, 2020
They should be terrified. https://t.co/4lbDVqWOZX
— CassianStylus (@CassianStylus) April 18, 2020
Harvard needs kids to be indoctrinated early because they will never be receptive to the crap that Harvard robots puts forth if those kids actually practice free thought. Harvard is a dying but wealthy institution with a reputation that they stopped deserving years ago
— kbloz (@kbloz) April 18, 2020
Again, the article never even mentions COVID-19 or the shutdowns … this professor thinks this year-round.
Harvard Law School is also hosting an anti-homeschooling conference in June.
The conference is invite-only.
From the description:
"The focus will be on problems of educational deprivation and child maltreatment that too often occur under the guise of homeschooling." pic.twitter.com/dKpfRu7vUP— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 18, 2020
Related:
Drag Queen Story Hour moves to public schools to teach first graders about gender fluidity and family structures https://t.co/I4v8uFTYwB
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 28, 2020
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