Parents sit up and take notice – according to the NEA, one of this country’s most powerful unions and lobbying groups, parents are unable to provide an adequate education for their children. Honest, that’s what they said. Geesh, our we incapable because most homeschooling parents were educated by the government schools, i.e. public education, and therefore not equipped to educate our own kids – just a thought.

But, before we get to the home school resolution, let’s first take a look at a statement made in resolution A-4, “Parental Involvement” :

The Association further believes that parents/guardians who are active participants in the education of their children increase the likelihood of the achievement of educational excellence.

I agree & you can’t get much more active in your child’s education than home schooling.

However…. in resolution B-75, “Homeschooling” they (arrogantly) resolve:

The National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience.

When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking and passing of assessments to ensure adequate academic progress. (emphasis mine)

Home schooling should be limited to the children of the immediate family, with all expenses being borne by the parents/guardians.

Instruction should be by persons who are licensed by the appropriate state education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by the state department of education should be used. (emphasis mine)

The Association also believes that home-schooled students should not participate in any extracurricular activities in the public schools. (emphasis mine)

The Association further believes that local public school systems should have the authority to determine grade placement and/or credits earned toward graduation for students entering or re-entering the public school setting from a home school setting. (emphasis mine)

And this in spite of numerous studies showing that home schooled kids score well in many areas, often exceeding the performance of their public school counterparts. I don’t get it.

The only motive I can figure is more government control translating into more tax dollars for public education. (Isn’t it enough that I pay exorbitant, ever-increasing tax dollars to support public education & receive nothing for it! Am I the only one this bothers? On top of this, students have to do numerous fundraisers in order to buy new playground equipment or fix up the athletic facilities, yada, yada, because the schools don’t have enough money?!? OK, I digress…it’s just a real sore spot with me!)

For anyone who is concerned, there is an online petition at Care2Petition, to express your opinion to the NEA regarding their resolution. Not sure what good it will do, but it can’t hurt.

If you would like to see the resolution with your own eyes, it can be found here. You will need to click on “2007-2008 Resolutions Document” link which will open in a pdf document. While you’re there, check out some of the other resolutions – very interesting in a chilling sort of way.

Does anyone but me get riled by this? Let me know what you think.

Until next tirade, er..um, I mean until next time

Sue

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 1:36 pm and is filed under In the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.