There must be something in the water that negatively affects California judges from doing their jobs: applying and enforcing the law. Today the 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled that California parents without teaching credentials do not have a right to home-school their children. If the ruling is not overturned, California home schooling families could face criminal charges.
Can you imagine some social worker or law enforcement agent coming to your door to conduct a search of your home for student-aged children in your house? And then, if your home schooled kids are found, they are removed from the house and possibly even placed under protection services because you, as a parent, weren’t providing for their educational needs?
As a candidate for Congress, I could have overlooked this story and moved on to something else. But here in Michigan it is estimated that more than 100,000 children are home schooled. According to a 2008 Michigan State home school study, this equals 5% of the entire state’s student population. In fact, Michigan has been ranked as the best state in the country for those choosing to home school their children by The Home School Legal Defense Association. Here’s a quote from the MSU study:
“Donahue and Plank note that there is a debate about state monitoring of home schools. Proponents of monitoring argue that the state has a constitutional obligation to ensure that all young citizens are adequately educated.
Opponents of monitoring assert that parents are the primary authority figure in a child’s life, and that the state should have no role in how children are raised.
States vary considerably in how they choose to monitor home-school families, ranging from no involvement to requiring yearly portfolios detailing student achievement.”
The important thing to not be overlooked here is that parents, not state or federal government, should have the final say in how their children are raised and educated. If a parent doesn’t want their children to be exposed to homosexual lifestyle teachings, as they require in California, parents should be able to do something about it. If a parent doesn’t want sex education taught to their third and fourth graders, parents should be able to do something about it. And they should be able to do something about it without fearing their parental rights will be trumped by some judge who has his or her own intentions, political or social, to legislate from the bench.
I support parents and students who home school because I was a home schooler during my sixth grade year. My step-mother served as my teacher, and it was the most challenging year of school in my life. I discovered I was a great writer with an enormous imagination that year, and I am thankful for the opportunity that was afforded to me. After the first year, my parents gave us the choice to either continue at home, or to go back to school. I went back, because I remember missing my friends. When my youngest brother, however, was home schooled through high school graduation.
I know the sacrifice these parents make to invest in their children’s lives, and I support, and applaud, their efforts. Thankfully, it looks as if this won’t be an issue in Michigan, but the national onslaught by liberal judges on basic freedoms and liberties needs to stop. Parents should be raising their kids, and government shouldn’t be telling them how to do it.
My name is Bert Copple, and I’m ready to be your new Congressman.
HOPE. FAITH. CHANGE. 2008!
