Should homeschooling be legal?

[Associate Justice PiT]

No.  It's usually done to shelter kids from the real world. Never a good idea.

most institutionalized education has absolutely no relation to "the real world."

     A point that will likely be lost on many here. Schooling from kindergraten through college amounts to a bizarre formalization with no connection to other institutions in the world. Just read about the travails of those unfortunate enough to follow a K-Ph.D route and it quickly becomes clear how badly school can ultimately disadvantage the most intelligent people. They truly are drawn into a usually temporary shelter from the real world, without the experience to see it for what it is.

[CatoMinor]

No, I don't trust white parents to inoculate their kids against racism or to give them a balanced view of history.

Uh.... have you ever taken public school history classes?

Also, not scientific evidence, but one little observation I have made here in East Texas, 100% of the racist people I have known here were public schooled. I have yet to meet a single homeschooled person here who is racist.

[SNJ1985]

Of course (normal).

[TJ in Oregon]

Yes. There's something wrong with the idea of the government mandating everyone's children attend facilities where they are instructed through a government-approved curriculum without the legal possibility of the parents taking their children elsewhere (and what if there aren't decent private schools in the area or the parents can't afford private schools?). I know all of this sounds like I've been sitting in my concrete bunker with a stockpile of canned food, bottled water, and non-hybridized seeds too long, but there's a bit Orwellian about banning it.

Note, I'm not saying the government shouldn't be able to place some degree of standards on what homeschooled children must know and be able to do, but the government can't ban it outright or try and place so many restrictions on it that it's effectively banned.

Likewise, the point of keeping it legal is not just to help special needs kids (though that is certainly a good reason), it also needs to be kept legal to make it possible for parents to instruct their children in ways the government does not agree with. A bit like free speech, the point isn't to just let us all talk about the weather without interference, the point is specifically to protect speech against the government or speech that others might find offensive. In the case of homeschooling, it's perfectly fine for the government to require the students to be able to pass a test or set standards for things that must be covered, but apart from that their parents can teach them whatever they like.

Understand, I don't think homeschooling is actually a good idea in most situations and highly doubt if I have kids some day I'd ever consider it. But those are not sufficient reasons to merit a ban.

[muon2]

No. There's something wrong with the idea of the government mandating everyone's children attend facilities where they are instructed through a government-approved curriculum without the legal possibility of the parents taking their children elsewhere (and what if there aren't decent private schools in the area or the parents can't afford private schools?). I know all of this sounds like I've been sitting in my concrete bunker with a stockpile of canned food, bottled water, and non-hybridized seeds too long, but there's a bit Orwellian about banning it.

Note, I'm not saying the government shouldn't be able to place some degree of standards on what homeschooled children must know and be able to do, but the government can't ban it outright or try and place so many restrictions on it that it's effectively banned.

Likewise, the point of keeping it legal is not just to help special needs kids (though that is certainly a good reason), it also needs to be kept legal to make it possible for parents to instruct their children in ways the government does not agree with. A bit like free speech, the point isn't to just let us all talk about the weather without interference, the point is specifically to protect speech against the government or speech that others might find offensive. In the case of homeschooling, it's perfectly fine for the government to require the students to be able to pass a test or set standards for things that must be covered, but apart from that their parents can teach them whatever they like.

Understand, I don't think homeschooling is actually a good idea in most situations and highly doubt if I have kids some day I'd ever consider it. But those are not sufficient reasons to merit a ban.

So your answer is yes.

I know a number of homeschoolers and angus has described them as well as I could.

[TJ in Oregon]

No. There's something wrong with the idea of the government mandating everyone's children attend facilities where they are instructed through a government-approved curriculum without the legal possibility of the parents taking their children elsewhere (and what if there aren't decent private schools in the area or the parents can't afford private schools?). I know all of this sounds like I've been sitting in my concrete bunker with a stockpile of canned food, bottled water, and non-hybridized seeds too long, but there's a bit Orwellian about banning it.

Note, I'm not saying the government shouldn't be able to place some degree of standards on what homeschooled children must know and be able to do, but the government can't ban it outright or try and place so many restrictions on it that it's effectively banned.

Likewise, the point of keeping it legal is not just to help special needs kids (though that is certainly a good reason), it also needs to be kept legal to make it possible for parents to instruct their children in ways the government does not agree with. A bit like free speech, the point isn't to just let us all talk about the weather without interference, the point is specifically to protect speech against the government or speech that others might find offensive. In the case of homeschooling, it's perfectly fine for the government to require the students to be able to pass a test or set standards for things that must be covered, but apart from that their parents can teach them whatever they like.

Understand, I don't think homeschooling is actually a good idea in most situations and highly doubt if I have kids some day I'd ever consider it. But those are not sufficient reasons to merit a ban.

So your answer is yes.

lol whoops. After typing something up for long enough, I seemed to have forgotten what the question is

[traininthedistance]

Homeschooling is, in the majority of cases, a bad thing insofar as it serves to shelter children and, all too often, spoon-feed them religious and political dogma rather than actual knowledge about the world.  I share this trepidation with DemPGH, and wish to see it discouraged, stigmatized, and tightly-regulated.

Banning it entirely, however, is a cure worse than the disease.  The price of having a free society is that you, well, ultimately need to tolerate a certain amount of objectionable and even objectively false beliefs and actions.  It's a bit of an internal contradiction inherent to our society... but no ideology is consistent; I see no choice but to live with it, mitigate as possible, and muddle through.  I guess one could try and formulate an argument based on "children's rights" that would trump the parents' freedom to raise their kids as they see fit, but that's too much of a minefield for me to actually endorse.

Also the "what about severe bullying in schools?" point is in fact a salient one.

[Deus Naturae]

Homeschooling is, in the majority of cases, a bad thing insofar as it serves to shelter children and, all too often, spoon-feed them religious and political dogma rather than actual knowledge about the world.  I share this trepidation with DemPGH, and wish to see it discouraged, stigmatized, and tightly-regulated.

Because what better way to prevent children from being socially sheltered than to stigmatize them...

[dead0man]

Homeschooling is, in the majority of cases, a bad thing insofar as it serves to shelter children and, all too often, spoon-feed them religious and political dogma rather than actual knowledge about the world.  I share this trepidation with DemPGH, and wish to see it discouraged, stigmatized, and tightly-regulated.

Banning it entirely, however, is a cure worse than the disease.  The price of having a free society is that you, well, ultimately need to tolerate a certain amount of objectionable and even objectively false beliefs and actions.  It's a bit of an internal contradiction inherent to our society... but no ideology is consistent; I see no choice but to live with it, mitigate as possible, and muddle through.  I guess one could try and formulate an argument based on "children's rights" that would trump the parents' freedom to raise their kids as they see fit, but that's too much of a minefield for me to actually endorse.

Also the "what about severe bullying in schools?" point is in fact a salient one.

And if homeschooling is (your words) " discouraged, stigmatized, and tightly-regulated" it might not be that easy for them to escape the bullying (severe or the regular kind)....and you're ok with that?

[AggregateDemand]

Homeschooling is, in the majority of cases, a bad thing insofar as it serves to shelter children and, all too often, spoon-feed them religious and political dogma rather than actual knowledge about the world.  I share this trepidation with DemPGH, and wish to see it discouraged, stigmatized, and tightly-regulated.

What cultural richness do you imagine children discover in public school? Children form their own social monocultures, devoid of reason and impervious to outside influence, which is the genesis of the problems you describe. Students indulge themselves in group think and perverse cultural norms that stop them from learning. The public school system is the absence of culture and reason.

Homeschooling is vastly superior by comparison, which is a commentary on the ineptitude of school administrators and government policy wonks, not an endorsement of homeschooling.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Yes, because I don't want my kids brainwashed with the Campbell County Schools' right-wing propaganda.