Letter to the editor

4/10/08 7:00pm

Home-schooling law threat to future pupilsTo the editor:

Recently, a court in California ruled that home-schooling is illegal except in the cases of parents possessing state-recognized teaching credentials. The result of this ruling is that California has become the first state in the nation in nearly 30 years to effectively outlaw home-schooling. Because my wife and I are currently home-schooling our children, I feel inclined to publicize this issue to my fellow students.

This ruling in California is weak for a number of reasons, which the court should have taken into account. While the law of the state recognizes and regulates public schooling, it refrains from regulating private schooling, which has only to meet certain minor requirements. The state law also mentions nothing about home-schooling. The previously judicially-sanctioned viewpoint held that home-schooling is a form of private schooling, and over 150,000 California home-schoolers have adopted that approach.

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An key point in the law is that private school teachers are not required to be certified. As one Californian newspaper editorial board wondered, why is it legal for a non-credentialed teacher to instruct an entire classroom of children in a private school, but illegal for a parent to instruct one or two?

Furthermore, the court ruled that the public education system was necessary to train children in "patriotism" and "loyalty to the state." Beyond the fact that I find such reasoning frightening, it is grounded neither in California law nor the California constitution. The latter merely reads, "A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural improvement."

Fortunately, the response to this ruling has been tremendous. In ten days, 250,000 people signed a petition supporting home-schooling and condemning the court's decision. The governor of California and other officials in the Education Department also condemned the decision and promised to protect home-schoolers from state persecution. The culmination of the good news is that the court has now agreed to rehear the case. The previous hearing was closed to the public and home-schooling organizations were unaware of it and unable to participate. This time, these organizations are petitioning to file amicus briefs in order to better represent home-schooling's legal position.

It goes without saying that those of us who home-school our children are hoping for a more favorable outcome in round two.

Seth James Nielson

Computer Science graduate student

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