UNLIKE many of the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” that have sought refuge in America, the Romeike family comes from a comfortable place: Bissingen an der Teck, a town in south-western Germany. Yet on January 26th an American immigration judge granted the Romeikes—a piano teacher, his wife and five children—political asylum, accepting their case that difficulties with home schooling their children created a reasonable fear of persecution.
The piece then describes the laws and attitudes regarding homeschooling in several European countries. Why America is more free in its educational opportunities is not delved into, but some of the commentators do discuss the questions that the headline teases us, "Why some countries welcome children who are taught at home and others don't," such as who is responsible for children, the state or parents? What is the point of forcing children to attend the state-run schools, equal education (or equal lack of learning)? Should children be taught the religion of their parents or secular humanism?
As someone who has taught both in the public school system as well as homeschooled for 7 years, I can tell you that most homeschooling parents take their job very seriously (sometimes almost too seriously) and want to give their children a quality education. They see the low expectations, emphasis on politically correct lessons and pop culture, lack of discipline, and mob rule mentality and want more for their own children. They know that the system is rotten and there is no way that they can change that to benefit their own offspring. So they bypass the system and teach at home. They can do that in many different ways and methods from reproducing a traditional curriculum to following the child's interests.
Studies have proven over and over how effective and successful homeschooling is with higher test scores and being more socially involved, to homeschool graduates stating that they want to homeschool their own children. America has always been a land of freedom and opportunity and homeschooling gives families the ability to be independent, to be innovative. It is socialist big government vs the free market on a micro scale. We choose to be free and it is evident in several comments how far we have lurched politically to the left that they can't see this obvious fact.
Our nation has become great because of innovative thinkers and designers such as Ben Franklin, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Thomas Edison, Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, and many others who thought outside the box. All homeschoolers want is to encourage freedom, educate their children in the best way they know how, and to be left alone from the educational lockstep of the government schools.
3 comments:
Excellent post. Thanks for sharing!
Great post. I bookmarked that article and never got around to actually reading it. I wish that more articles would delve into some of the more root issues than we seem to find in most. They're like form letters with a few details changed out, but otherwise the same.
Thank you for writing this!!! Excellent post! Too many people seem to forget that "Our nation has become great because of innovative thinkers" and homeschooling is an excellent way to allow our children to become just that.
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