Quote from Forum Archives on October 16, 2003, 6:50 am

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

Hello Hope Chest readers,

 

I've received lots and lots of replies regarding the CBS news reports on "the dark side of home schooling".  I don't have much more time to spend on this topic, so these are my last comments on it.  I didn't get to see the second report, but will try to go online later and play it.

 

First of all, yes, it would be wise to contact CBS News and its sponsors.  I have included contact information a the bottom of this e-mail message.  However, I don't think a boycott of the sponsors is in order here at this point.

 

Perhaps the best response to this report is to prove it wrong by your own lives, as we are admonished in 1 Peter 2:11-17:

 

[11] Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. [12] Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.  [13] Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, [14] or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. [15] For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. [16] Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. [17] Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Here are the comments from Hope Chest readers, as well as forwards from HSLDA and North Carolinians for Home Education.

 

~~

 

 

Laura Young wisely replied: "The report on homeschooling is completely unfair but corporate sponsors have no idea what the news will be about when they sign up to sponsor.  These same sponsors may have also advertised when there was a favorable report on homeschooling.  I just think we need to be careful about speaking negatively about companies who are not told in advance the news content.  Some of these ads are placed months in advance.  Thank you for keeping us informed and all your wonderful e-newsletters."

 

Sharon Doran writes: "I have worked with Home Schoolers for the past 10 years.  I have never seen a case of neglect.  Perhaps the children have learning disabilities and the parents think they can handle that when they should come to an Educational Specialist for the NILD program, but that is their choice for their child.  I never push, just suggest.  The National Institution for Learning Disabilities program is over 20 years old and in over 50 countries.  Although we do not use Christian materials it is a Christian Program, put together by Christians, for Christians first, and anyone else who avails themselves of the program.  We are not on every corner as you see Sylvan and Huntington because we do not do it to get rich, just to help children.  Besides, they are tutors (working on the student's strengths), and we work on the student's deficites.  All the new brain and learning studies and information have proven we are on the right track, but why wouldn't we be? God has used Christian Women and Men to put the program together with Dr. Rosa Hagen (Reading Specialist at Columbia University) and Dr. Archie Silver (NYC Psychologist) --- Jewish Scholars, now quite elderly.  The beginning purpose was to train missionaries so that they could meet the needs of their children educationally while in the field of their missionary work.  Before this program, the missionaries either had to send their children back to the US alone or come off their missionary assignment in order to educate their children in the US.  For the last 20 years, NILD has educationally trained missionaries so that they can stay in their missionary country and their children's needs can be met while they stay with them.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if the rest of the world could hear that?"  [email protected]

 

Miriam Spencer comments: "Virginia, thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my total disgust with last night's report.  I wanted to tell them, but didn't know how to reach them.  Now they know what one satisfied Grandma of 15 homeshooled children thinks of their outrageous, misinformed and irresponsible reporting! Blessings, Miriam Spencer"

 

J. Lavender writes: "As the homeschooling Mother of a beautiful, bright eight year old, I was more than sickened to read your latest newsletter. My husband and I are choosing to boycott the purchase of any products from all of the sponsoring companies, despite my long running love for Walmart. I was disgusted to see them take the actions of a horrid few and base the troubles on home education.  So, public school children who are abused; their parents send them to school to blend in and hide it? Does that make sense? No and neither does the poor logic used to exploit a bad case. The fact is most homeschooled children are far from hidden from the world. They participate in church activities, sports, roam about in local libraries, grocery stores, etc. If they were so abused, people would certainly see this, instead I constantly hear how happy my ten month old seems, always smiling and how plump cheeked he is and my eight year old, wow, she is on the local bowling team, swims with friends, visits the local library, takes karate and is on the look out for a soccer team. How's that for hidden from the world? No no, she's out and about and loving it! This entire broadcast sounds to be a twisted way of saying that something that is the forerunner of public education, something that has produced excellent SAT scores, college students, and great minds over and over is wrong. I have to ask myself why.  There are abusive parents out there, we all know it, but to link it to homeschooling is a shame. I'd like to ask the public school system, since they appear to have no children in their system who suffer abuse and are the majority when it comes to educating kids, where do all these reports of abuse and drugs and sexual abuse come from? Are they all from homeschooling families? Come now, that's just completely without merit! Homeschooling is growing and as the media would have us believe we're all giving up a second income (in most cases) and outside interests to stay home and abuse our kids year round. Sure, that'll sound logical to anyone with half a mind. I'd like to know of any suggest you have for protesting these remarks and uneducated biases."   J. Lavender

 

~~~~

 

Here is a letter that Karen Long wrote to CBS News:

 

October 13, 2003

 

Dear CBS News,

 

I would just like to make a comment on the documentary on homeschooling.  Actually, I would like to ask a question.  Did you research how many suicides and murders take place as a result of being in the public school system?

 

I also feel children should be protected and safe from harm and abuse of any sort.  That is why many of us homeschool.  Sometimes the damage from being part of the public school system and the lack of accountability therein is why many of us choose to homeschool, not to mention the lack of adequate academics.  While there are some wonderful teachers in the system, there are far more from my experience that leave a lot to be desired. 

 

I have noticed within the public school system, students are extremely judgemental of one another.  Many within the public school system have committed suicide.  Several shootings have happened at public schools.   I would count those as murders.  The shooters apparently were treated cruelly by their peers and probably also had many other reasons for feeling rejected.  None of these were homeschooled.

 

Whether a child is abused, is involved in murders, or whatever else, it is not because they are homeschooled.  I am sure there are homeschooled children who also have issues, yet I think these individuals would have problems whether or not they were homeschooled.  To judge the entire homeschooling community as having a problem with abuse, is unfounded and unfair.

 

Many parents choose to homeschool their children simply because it is a safer environment.  Some, as I did, choose to homeschool to give a better academic environment as well and because we love teaching and want to instill a love of learning. 

 

Homeschooling is not the cause of the problems you mentioned.  If you look at the cases of abused children, the majority were probably public school students.  Yet you do not portray this in your documentary.  You are giving a very unfair and biased view of homeschooling without complete statistics.

 

Children should be protected, I am sure all would agree with that.  I just don't think you should create the illusion homeschooled children are at a higher risk than the public schooled children.

 

Sincerely,

Karen Long

 

 ~~~

--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "The Youngs" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 13:32:16 -0400
Subject: Re: Alert re: CBS story
Thought you'd want to see this.  Feel free to pass it on!
 
Love,
Melanie
Happy wife to Hal, Mama to six great sons
 
North Carolinians for Home Education
4326 Bland Road
Raleigh, NC 27609-6125
(919) 790-1100
 
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- October 14, 2003HOMESCHOOLERS:   SEND CBS NEWS BACK
TO THE BOOKS
 
(RALEIGH) -- An "Eye on America" segment in the October 13 edition of The CBS Evening News suggested that a tragic murder-suicide in a rural county two years ago was somehow evidence of the "dark side" of home-schooling. Correspondent Vince Gonzales portrayed home education as a haven for potential abusers and worse. In fact, the Warren family -- whose 14-year-old son killed two teen-aged siblings and then himself in July 2001 -- had chosen to duck North Carolina's homeschool law. CBS News could show no evidence that the Warrens were typical of homeschoolers, or that this senseless tragedy would have been averted by more educational regulations.
 
WHAT CBS OVERLOOKED
 
In North Carolina, homeschooling has grown from a few dozen families in 1984 to nearly 29,000 this year. Considering there are well over 100,000 N.C. parents and children in home education today, a two-year-old tragedy involving a single family -- already in trouble -- is so rare and remarkable that it defies logical connection.
 
There are other facts which CBS failed to mention; for example, there were already numerous child protection laws and regulations on the books that state agencies could have used to safeguard the Warren children. Social Services had not only contacted the family on numerous occasions -- they had already removed the children from the home for a time. In spite of all the laws and agencies in place and involved, the system was still not able to prevent the deaths of these children. And besides that, long before the tragedy occurred, the family had consciously dropped out of compliance with the homeschool statute, and from that point on they were simply truant from the public school system.
 
Given then a truant family, with a criminal record in another state, already reported to Social Services by their neighbors and receiving regular contact from them -- how many rules, how many systems, how much intervention does it take to prevent an unpredictable and senseless tragedy?
 
If a family chooses to disregard the law entirely, how could more rules help?
 
And how can such a singular case guide policy toward 100,000 other citizens who comply with the existing law?
 
THE REAL STORY
 
The real story is that homeschooling is a proven path to educational achievement and preparation for adulthood and citizenship -- without
government funding, assistance, or direction. Our organization, North Carolinians for Home Education, has a twenty-year history of service to the
homeschool community. Tens of thousands of parents and students have attended our conferences, seminars, and other events, and we are privileged to know large numbers of these families personally. And we know that first-hand observation confirms the reports of numerous scholars and researchers -- these are strong, active, and law-abiding families, producing a generation of bright and sociable graduates -- well-equipped for college, career, or families of their own.
 
The case highlighted by CBS News was not a matter of educational choice, but of murder and suicide -- motive unknown -- and something far more serious than whether students learn phonics, or which algebra book they use, or even whether taught by their parents or by government-certified educators.
 
When one family has chosen to disregard the law, there is no logic to tightening a regulatory vice on 29,000 North Carolina families that do play
by the rules.
 
And using old news to suggest that parents who desire the freedom to choose their children's schooling arrangements are part of a sinister pattern of abuse, neglect, and worse -- to coin a phrase, it simply doesn't add up. Maybe CBS News should review their notes.
 
#####
 
FOLLOW UP CONTACTS:
 
CBS Evening News:  [email protected]
Viewer comment lines: (212) 975-3247 or (212) 975-4321
"Eye On America" Story Date:  October 13, 2003
Correspondent:  Vince Gonzales [email protected]
Producer:  Barbara Pierce [email protected]
Their office phone in LA: (323) 575-2202
 
ADDRESS:
CBS Evening News with Dan Rather
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019
 
CBS News web feedback form:
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/feedback/fb_news_form.shtml
 
 
North Carolinians for Home Education
(919) 790-1100 or http://nche.com
President Hal Young [email protected]
 
CBS Evening News program sponsors
See the page of links at http://nche.com
##########
 
North Carolinians for Home Education was founded in 1984 to promote homeschooling as an excellent educational alternative, to protect the right to homeschool in North Carolina, and to provide support and encouragement for families interested in home education. For twenty years, thousands of North Carolina homeschoolers have joined member-supported NCHE for information, assistance, networking, and more. To find out more, contact our Raleigh office at (919) 790-1100, e-mail us at [email protected], or visit our website, http://nche.com
 
Contact: Hal Young, President -- [email protected] or (919) 790-1100
 
~~~

 

 

October 14, 2003

Dear HSLDA Members and friends:

CBS National News ran a negative homeschooling report last night titled "The Dark Side of Homeschooling" and will run a further report
this evening.  The reports focus on a handful of child abuse cases during the past 5 to 10 years involving families claiming to be homeschoolers.

Last night's segment discussed the murder of Kyle, 13, and Marnie Warren, 19, by their brother Brandon, 14, and his subsequent suicide.
The Warren family is from Johnston County North Carolina.

To view the CBS story go to: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1139

Missing from the CBS story was that: Social Services had contacted the family eleven times, were well aware of the condition of the home
and had been working with the family.

However, to any fair-minded reader the story leaves the impression that homeschooling equals child abuse.

We are outraged that CBS would ignore the obvious facts and draw the erroneous conclusion that homeschoolers need to be strictly
regulated.  The story is a shameless attempt to smear an entire community of committed, dedicated parents.

The real story is CBS's bias against homeschooling and it is using this distorted story to encourage the regulation of homeschoolers.

Please call Viacom (parent company of CBS) and CBS to express your opposition to the biased reporting and smear campaign against
homeschooling.  Highlight the fact that homeschooling was not the cause of the childrens' deaths and that you expect CBS to have higher
journalistic standards.

  Viacom President and CEO - Mel Karmazin    P - 212-258-6000

  CBS Evening News - LA Bureau    P - (323) 575-2202

Sincerely,

J. Michael Smith
HSLDA President

 

Here is contact information for the sponsors:

 

Serenity http://www.serenity.com/
> Call us: Serenity Information Center
> 1-877-822-0904
> Write to us: Consumer Information Center
> 199 Grandview Road
> Skillman, NJ 08558
>
>
> Post Cereal http://web.kraftfoods.com/postcereals/
> Kraft Foods
> 1-800-323-0768 Monday through Friday between the hours of 9am - 9pm EST.
> Or you can write to us at: Kraft Foods Inc.
> Consumer Resource and Information Center
> 1 Kraft Court
> Glenview, IL 60025
>
> Claritin - Schering-Plough http://www.sch-plough.com/contact.html
> Schering-Plough Corporation
> World Headquarters
> 2000 Galloping Hill Road
> Kenilworth, NJ 07033-0530
> Telephone: (908) 298-4000

> Capital One http://capitalone.com/indexn.php
> Capital One
> Attn: Customer Relations
> PO Box 85015
> Richmond, VA 23285-5015
> Phone: 1-800-955-7070
> 1-804-747-7200
>
> GM Mr Goodwrench http://www.gm.com/gmcomjsp/contactus/email.html
> Could find no phone numbers, only the web form, click link above
> Support for k-12 education
> http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/edu_k-12/index.html
>
> Osteo Bi-Flex - Rexall  http://www.rexall.com/
> Mailing Address:
> Unicity International
> 748 North 1340 West
> Orem, Utah 84057
> Main Phone (U.S. Headquarters):
> (801) 226-2600
>
> Vicks VapoRub - http://www.vicks.com/
> Web form: http://www.vicks.com/cgi-bin/contactus.cgi
> No other contact information found
>
> Poligrip GlaxoSmithKline http://us.gsk.com/
> 5 Moore Drive
> P.O. Box 13398
> Research Triangle Park
> NC 27709
> Phone: 1-888-825-5249
>
> Hyundai Sonata
> Via E-mail (use both): [email protected]; [email protected]
> 1-800-826-CARS
>
> Detrol LA - Pfizer http://www.pfizer.com/mn_contact.html
> www.detrolla.com
> 1-800-733-9393 Weekdays 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST
> Headquarters - Pfizer Inc
> 235 East 42nd Street
> New York, NY 10017
> Phone
> 1-212-733-2323
> 
> Procrit - Ortho Biotech www.procrit.com
> Web Form https://www.orthobiotech.com/obi_mir/consumer_feedback.jsp
> 1-800-325-7504
> Ortho Biotech
> P.O. Box 6914
> 430 Rt. 22 East
> Bridgewater, NJ
> 08807-0914
>
>
> If you are directed to a different phone number or other contact
> information than what I have listed here, please let me know so that I can keep
> everyone
> updated.
>
> ~Annette M. Hall
> www.reliableanswers.com
> (248) 465-1598
>
> Permission is granted to forward the e-mail to other interested parties.