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The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Ring
Do parents need professional credentials to homeschool their children? The answer is a resounding yes, according to a recent California appeals-court decision. The controversial verdict, upholding an unenforced ruling from 1953, requires California parents to receive teacher certification in order to homeschool their kids.
The homeschooling community has reacted to this decision with outrage: These parents insist they are both entitled and equipped to educate their own children. But many educators applaud the decision, believing that certified teachers should always be the ones who educate students, whether at school or at home. Was the California decision the right one? Tell us what you think.
Comments
Parents should be able to educate their own children. Government should not interfere so deep.
www.kindergarten-duesseldorf.de
Public School Teacher
I am okay with homeschooling. However, parents should have at least a Bachelor's degree and take the basic skills test. There has to be some proof that they can competently teach their children. Teaching high school with only a high school education-well, I see something wrong there. The children should have to take the same assessments public school children take as well. There has to be some accountability.
Grandfather...I have three grandchildren living in Texas. I have just learned that my step-daughter is homeschooling them. My step-daughter did not complete high school, was a poor student, and has lived somewhat a wild lifestyle. Yet, in Texas she is allowed to homeschool children without any accountability! When I questioned my wife about the children missing school (certified public ed), she replied that the daughter is homeschooling them. They have missed at least 3 days of ANY educational environment this past week, and will miss another four this coming week! I feel she is ruining the chance these children have for a quality education which 'WILL' affect them for the rest of their lives! Although my hands are tied from review of Texas homeschooling laws, DO YOU AGREE WITH ME???
What is being taught IS the reason I home school!
We are no longer riding wagon trains across the country in search of homesteads wherein to cultivate a life and way of living. Back then, who best to educate the children than the parents and family members who could properly train their precious assets for a successful existence.
Today we have schools and educators who have benefited from years of research and application to determine the 'best practices' for teaching children to survive and prosper in today's world.
That said, parents still have a vital role in the education of their children. Most often parents are the best advocates for their children. Should a child not 'fit' traditional modes of schooling, options such as online learning and homeschool should be available. In alternative modes of schooling there must always be a moderator/overseer/facilitator who needs to have the proper training and credentialing to ensure consistency in what is being taught.
I want my child to receive a Christ centered education and cannot afford the average ten thousand plus per year tuition of the private schools in the area we live in. I do not want my child learning evolution based science, nor do I want her attending a school with seventh graders that have their own children. Socialization is another key reason WHY we have decided to home educate. Anyone with an education degree should be well aware that certification is fairly useless when referring to one on one education as most of what a teacher learns is simply managing a large group of kids. There is no real reason to require a parent to be a teacher with a piece of paper. From my experience with my child's curriculum , as long as a parent can read and the child can read the system is set up so ANYONE can teach the material. I do not want the government dictating what it is that I pay to teach my child , nor do they have a right to regulate that. I still think that if we home school our children we should not have to pay taxes to send everyone else's kid to the submission and compliance prison breeding grounds that public schools are.
Grandfather...I have three grandchildren living in Texas. I have just learned that my step-daughter is homeschooling them. My step-daughter did not complete high school, was a poor student, and has lived somewhat a wild lifestyle. Yet, in Texas she is allowed to homeschool children without any accountability! When I questioned my wife about the children missing school (certified public ed), she replied that the daughter is homeschooling them. They have missed at least 3 days of ANY educational environment this past week, and will miss another four this coming week! I feel she is ruining the chance these children have for a quality education which 'WILL' affect them for the rest of their lives! Although my hands are tied from review of Texas homeschooling laws, DO YOU AGREE WITH ME???
I certainly agree with you! The one thing that stands out the most to me is that Texas claims to be one of the toughest states to become a certified teacher, yet it allows uneducated people to homeschool? The state does not even take reciprocity because of it. What is wrong with this picture?