Thursday, April 3, 2008

EDUKATHUN WARS

On March 25, the California Court of Appeal granted a motion for rehearing in the ‘In re Rachel L.’ case–the controversial decision which purported to ban all homeschooling in that state unless the parents held a teaching license qualifying them to teach in public schools. The automatic effect of granting this motion is that the prior opinion is vacated and is no longer binding on any one, including the parties in the case.” - Home School Legal Defense Association, 3/26/08

California law requires children between six and 18 to attend a full-time day school. Failure to comply means falling afoul of the state’s truancy laws, which say kids can’t play hooky without an excuse. But kids who are taught at home are less likely to be truants. Their parents choose to spend their time teaching English, math and science precisely because they don’t think the public schools do a good enough job.”…That so many families turn to home schooling is a market solution to a market failure — namely the dismal performance of the local education monopoly. . . . For some parents, the motive for home schooling is religious; others want to protect their kids from gangs and drugs. But the most-cited reason is to ensure a good education.”Home-schooled students are routinely high performers on standardized academic tests, beating their public school peers on average by as much as 30 percentile points, regardless of subject. They perform well on tests like the SAT — and colleges actively recruit them both for their high scores and the diversity they bring to campus.” - Wall Street Journal editorial, 3/22/08

Hypocrisy.com

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