NEAHomeschool Response

HOME SCHOOLING POLICY STATEMENT FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLING AND THE NEA

approved by a Homeschooler
May 20,1992

The National Education Association believes that all teachers have a right to keep their jobs and to be paid well, regardless of competence. They are a labor union that wants a corner on the education of our children because this is in the interest of the group they serve. However, without choice it is impossible to have a democracy. It is the obligation of a democratic society to guarantee educational choice. It is therefore in the interest of both the education establishment and parents to uphold the principle of *educational choice*. Not only is this concept the only one that is truly pluralistic, but it is the only solution to the dysfunctional public school system. Only the pressure of free market competition can rescue the public schools from the mediocrity that now engulfs them.

Indeed, the role of the public schools *should* be to educate, *should* be to guarantee students the freedom to learn in a safe environment, and *should* be to represent various viewpoints. Among these viewpoints are truths that we see as self-evident- that there is a God, that He has endowed people with certain inalienable rights, and that among these is the right to pursue educational objectives the way WE see them. Our children belong to God, not to us–and not to the NEA.

We believe that there are certain guidelines that should be followed for all educational alternatives, most importantly by the government schools, since most children go that route. The NEA says “Although the NEA believes that a child’s educational and social development is best taught in a school setting. . .” We say that the home school IS a school setting- and many public schools are schools in name only. We ask the NEA to DOCUMENT its assertion that public school education is better by comparing the test scores of students taught by the tutorial method, and those taught in a traditional classroom. We ask to prove that homeschooling is not of “questionable educational quality”, and we ask the NEA to prove to us that the public schools are not failing America’s children. We urge the adoption of the following guidelines:

1. We ask that NEA’s first guideline be amended from: “Teachers of home instruction programs should meet either the state certification requirements or special requirements approved by the state”.

to the following:

1. Teachers of *any* instruction program should be required to take a test proving at least 12th grade competency in the subjects that they intend to teach on an annual basis. We reject the requirement of “state certification” as being anti-homeschooling and anti-private schooling.
2. We ask that both public schooling and home schooling be accountable to parents, and, in addition, that public schools be accountable to the taxpayers who finance them.

c.”Public school study should be monitored by local school administrative personnel knowledgeable about excellence in the teaching-learning environment.” What better local school administrative personnel could there be than the parents of the child herself? Last week, in my local school district, a child was left at the zoo on a public school field trip. Such things would not happen if the child’s parent had been along.

d. Public school students should receive regular and thorough instruction in a program of study comparable to that taught to students of the same age in *home* school.

e. “Home study programs should comply with compulsory attendance laws on length of school day and school year, and age requirements”. And public school should require individual tutorial teaching for all students 180 days a year, 6 hours a day.

f. “Students should participate in state or locally mandated testing programs in suitable settings and in other assessments conducted by the school district”. And if they fail, their parents should consider home schooling.

NEA>h. Students should have the option of attending public school NEA>for part-time instruction. They should be counted in the NEA>average daily membership (ADM) without proration.

AH, NEA’s true motivation is shining through! ($$$$$)

Mark Cole
MarkC88 – America Online