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Seduction, by definition, is hard to discern in the beginning. Seducers are always attractive in some way, that is how they get their foot in the door. They have the ability to play into the "wants and needs" of their intended victims often displaying a wonderfully sincere and caring presentation. Only the very wary or the very wise will recognize a seducer immediately. Looking backwards however, is much easier to see the seduction in action.
As an interesting example, let's look at the "seducers"
in action in the American public schools. The public schools were created only
about 150 years ago on the premise that the system was the way to "Americanize"
the immigrants, to educate and uplift the poor as well as some other "social"
objectives. In order for this to work the system needed students. Realize that
at this time in history nearly all children attended private schools. This is
where the "seduction" must start, there must be a way to convince
the parents and administrators of the private sector to release the children
to the public sector. How did they do this? Very simple. They catered to the
"greed and need" of the Protestant church at the time. The Protestant
churches were persuaded that they could advance "Protestantism" by
closing the private and promoting the public schools. In fact, the Protestants
were given leadership positions in the beginning allowing the church to "think"
they had control of the schools. They were even allowed to teach the Bible,
the Protestant version of course, thus allowing all those little "Catholic"
children of the new immigrants to be indoctrinated in the Protestant religion.
Since the Protestants thought they were in control of the public school system
nearly all of them were willing to close their own parochial schools leaving
the population with only one choice in education. This was not the only seductive
half truth used to induce the private schools to close, but it does illustrate
the point. The net result was that the majority of private schools closed in
support of the public school system. Even today we find that the majority of
children (88%) are in the public system.
Notice what has transpired in the last 150 years.
How much control do Christians have over our public schools? For all practical
purposes, the answer is none. This is especially true since 1962 with the Supreme
Court's infamous ruling against prayer in school. Was this seduction? We encourage
you to read the history of public schools and decide for yourself. If you do
not like to read that much, we would encourage you to listen to John Gatto who
will be at the LINK Conference next May. [1999]
What does this have to do with homeschooling except
to provide one of the reasons to homeschool? Let's take another historical look
at the education movement. If indeed the public school movement was an example
of seduction, what can we learn from the experience. We saw the promise of local
control gradually erode away until there was very little or none. If you think
that there is still local control we would encourage you to study the federalization
of education through programs like Goals 2000 and National Standards. The real
question becomes, "What will the attitude of the public school system be
towards homeschoolers?" Will the people in control of such a system willingly
allow it to be undermined, embarrassed and eroded by homeschoolers? Not a chance!
At first, in the 1970s and 80s when homeschoolers were few and not well organized,
the education establishment simply tried to squash any renegade parent who tried
it. Some went to jail, at least one mother died in jail, but that only forced
determined parents underground. That was basically how we started out. This
somewhat aggressive action by school districts resulted in the creation of various
homeschool and legal defense organizations which resulted in victories for homeschoolers
in court.
At this point the educational establishment
realized that frontal attacks would not end homeschooling. Next they enlisted
the services of Child Protective Services in an attempt to outflank us. A truly
fearsome opponent, CPS workers consider themselves above the law. Initially
they had several "victories" on their behalf until our legal representation
started taking them to court and scoring victories on behalf of homeschoolers.
Even with all this oppression, the homeschool movement continued to grow at
a 15-20% rate.
We are winning the battle. We have established
our right to oversee the education of our children. Now realize that this does
not set well with the education establishment. There is a tremendous amount
of money being denied to the system each year because of homeschooling. Just
based on the fact that there are 1.5 million homeschool children in the country,
the districts are loosing over $7 billion annually.
Charter schools and public independent study programs
are becoming much more popular. Do they mean that the education establishment
has come over to our side? Or, do they mean that our opponents have decided
to seduce us instead of fighting us. If you only look at the surface, if only
look at the kind teacher offering you $1,000-$2,000 worth of goodies, it's easy
to say that they have come to our side. "They've learned the error of their
ways, They recognition what a good job we are doing and will support us now."
You can believe that if you want, but remember those Christian schools that
closed down 150 years ago. They thought they could get something for nothing
out of the government and still keep control. We can clearly see now how deluded
they were. What a tragedy that they did not think more carefully. We are now
suffering the consequences of the actions of those who made the decision 150
years ago to go for the "short term" advantage.
In the same way, those who support charter schools
and public independent study programs now, do not see any danger or serious
repercussions from their decision. Even though these ISPs and charter schools
will start to change the rules on how you will be able to homeschool, many people
will still find these options to be tempting. However, what will the picture
be like in 20-30 years? Will our grandchildren be able to freely choose how
their children will be educated?
The examples are not exactly parallel. Homeschoolers
are individuals - much harder to shut down than a few schools 150 years ago.
But, the strength of homeschooling is in its independence. Homeschooling will
only remain strong as long as it is independent. If too many become dependent
on the government to raise their children, then first independent homeschooling
will fall and finally, all the children will be forced back to the government
schools.
About the Author:
Carolyn Forte has always homeschooled
her two daughters. Carolyn and her husband Martin own and operate a homeschool
supply store in Monrovia, Excellence in Education,
and also a large independent study program. One of the specialties of their
store is a game-based curriculum, which she and her daughter Tenaya developed
for use with all styles of homeschooling. Carolyn has been politically active
promoting homeschooling, and fighting against School-to-Work, public school
homeschool programs, and daytime curfew. Martin is also one of the founders
of the California Homeschool Network. This article originally appeared in one
of their newsletters for their ISP. If you attend conferences in California,
don't miss meeting Carolyn and Martin!
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