A recent ruling by an arrogant California Appeals Court Judge criminalized home-schooling. This abhorrent ruling makes criminals of caring parents who simply want the best educational choices for their children. And it makes outlaws of their children. What a travesty of justice. Justice H. Walter Croskey ruled about two weeks ago that parents do not have a constitutional right to home-school their own children. He said that the proper education of our children is reserved only for teachers certified by the state. Yet national test scores for home-schooled children have proven again and again to be 30+ points higher than public school children (taught by “state certified teachers�).
So exactly whose best interests is Justice Croskey looking out for? It sure isn’t the best interests of the children of California. They’d obviously (based on test scores) be better off being taught at home, rather than forced by the threat of imprisonment to learn in government-run children’s propaganda camps.
My educated guess is that it is public school teachers unions that Justice Croskey is looking out for. The children don’t even enter into the picture. Unless of course it’s brainwashing and propaganda we’re discussing. Croskey’s quote as to why students need to be taught in government-run public schools by government certified teachers is a frightening mixture of Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro and George Orwell.
Here is the quote direct from the mouth of Justice Croskey (or is it Trotsky?):
“A primary purpose of the educational system is to train (doesn’t he mean brainwash) school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and nation as a means of protecting the public welfare.â€� So government actually now admits publicly that its goal is to brainwash our children with their version of the truth; their version of fairness; their version of right and wrong; their version of citizenship; their version of patriotism; and their version of loyalty. Loyalty to what? To anything government blindly teaches them to be loyal to? Are any thoughts by our children considered to be “out of the mainstreamâ€� to be punished, banished, banned, intimidated, or deleted out of their brains? Is this the definition of freedom or choice? Is this the kind of education envisioned by our Founding Fathers? Obviously not- because they were (gasp) home- schooled. Doesn’t this sound more like the Soviet educational system being resurrected in 21st century America? Shocking. Frightening. Orwellian.
Ironically, Justice Croskey’s offensive ruling comes at a time when parents are demanding more parental choice, freedom and competition for public schools. A recent poll in my home state of Nevada proves that parents are crying out for education reform. Nevada parents were asked if they could afford it, would they send their children to public schools? 90% said if they could afford it, they’d choose alternative forms of education such as private school, parochial school, charter schools or home schooling. Yes, I said ninety percent. Liberal government bureaucrats and teachers union leaders must have been worried sick about those poll results. Perhaps enough to send Justice Croskey out to damage the competition?
No wonder public school advocates are worried sick: home schooling works. To illustrate the remarkable talent, creativity and intelligence of home-school children, I offer exhibit A: my 15-year-old daughter Dakota Root. She is beautiful; well mannered; treats adults with respect; a straight A+ student; scores in the 99th percentile of every national test she takes; devours as many as a dozen books a week (because she wants to- not because she has to); and is a national fencing champion (scoring a Bronze medal in her class in the Fencing Nationals in Miami last July). Below I have decided to reprint for your enjoyment an email about her opinions of the Iraq war, which she sent to my wife Debra earlier today.
Read it and realize these are the opinions of a 15 year old. She is amazing, extraordinary, and quite simply breathtaking in her scope of knowledge, facts, figures, historical dates and places, and the ability to put it all together to argue (and win) any debate about any topic. She can out-talk and out-debate her dad any day of the year. Home schooling is at the base of all this talent, ability, intelligence and creativity.
First let’s examine a recent New York Times article that reported on the education level of typical American teenagers- which rates somewhere between poorly educated, sub-standard and brain dead. The NY Times reported that fewer than 50% of American teenagers know when the Civil War was fought; 25% are unaware that Adolph Hitler was Germany’s leader in World War II; and that same brilliant 25% believe that Columbus sailed the ocean blue around 1750. These are the students taught by “state certifiedâ€� teachers. All I can say is: God save America from public schools, public school teacher unions and Justice Croskey.
Now ladies and gentleman, I give you the polar opposite of bored, unhappy, unmotivated public school students- my 15-year-old home-schooled daughter Dakota Root. This is her response- unedited or changed in any way- to an email supporting the Iraq War (as forwarded to her by one of our pro-Bush relatives in the Midwest):
Mom,
That e-mail may have had some valid points, but they were obscured by the many facts it failed to report. Just because the magnitude of the Iraqi quagmire is on a different scale than Vietnam does not make it “a success.â€� The imploding economy, plummeting stock market, rampant joblessness, skyrocketing oil prices, future decades of billion dollar occupation in Iraq, and horrifying national deficit contradict the statement that “our commander-in-chief is doing a great job.â€�
Also, I think that the soldiers who have been fighting in Iraq since 2003 (meaning that our soldiers have been fighting for over 5 years, which is longer than the U.S. was in Europe fighting the Nazis!!!) know more about their supposed “high morale” than your family all cozy and comfortable in the Midwest.
The next time someone wants to compare WWII to the war in Iraq, maybe they should buy a history book and think about this comparison:
Germany had a population of over 70 million united people, the largest mobilized army in Europe, the most advanced military weapons, including tanks, submarines, and machine guns. They also were led by an aggressive and brutal dictator who murdered 6 million Jews; and caused the bloodiest conflict the world has ever known. Adolph Hitler repeatedly ignored warnings and sanctions from Britain, France, and the US by invading and occupying Czech, Poland, Danzig, France, Greece, and other countries before the U.S. did anything.
On the other hand, Iraq was a country of 26 million divided and continuously rebellious people, with a weak army (that already had a history of losses) and virtually no modernized weapons.
Finally, its ridiculous to imply that the military disasters (Vietnam and Korea) we were involved in, in the past, excuse smaller disasters in the present. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes, not repeat them on a smaller scale later on!!
Dakota
Spoken like a true Libertarian! Yes folks, that’s my 15-year-old daughter. She wrote that email in 10 minutes off the top of her head. I will admit that when my wife first suggested home schooling for our daughter Dakota, I too was skeptical. After all these years, I can now report that it has been the smartest choice we’ve ever made. Dakota can out-talk, out- think and out-debate most every college student and adult that I know.
The reason is two fold. First, because she has been educated amongst adults her entire life. Secondly, because she has tasted freedom- she has been free to learn subjects of her choosing, at her own chosen pace. The result is a young lady mature far beyond her years. Her life is not about the silly things typical teenagers devote their lives to- dating, shopping, gossiping, sleeping, drinking, smoking, drugs, watching American Idol, etc. She is a mature young woman whose life is dedicated to achievement, success and the acquisition of knowledge (not the kind defined by “state certified� teachers, but rather defined by her free-thinking mind).
In addition to being a fencing champion (who practices hours per day, 5 days a week) aiming for a college scholarship and a future Olympic appearance, Dakota is also a black belt in karate. Her college choices are narrowed to Harvard, Stanford, Columbia (my alma mater), Duke, Yale, Princeton, Penn and Brown. She is quite an exceptional and hopeful example of the future of our great country. She makes her old man very proud. And I’ll bet she can run rings around close-minded bigots like Justice Croskey (who criminalized home schooling without ever meeting a diverse cross section of home-schooled students). I suggest unleashing Dakota Root on the United States Supreme Court (that’s where this case will undoubtedly end up). I guarantee soon thereafter that home-schooling will be the law of the land!
