Education R Us

I'm looking at the HSLDA website again and see my state is in the blue now. That just means that the proposals to make education mandatory for kids FIVE and up (rather than SEVEN) is dead for another few months. I have a feeling it will come back though. It seems that *all* governments want control over how you raise your child, in more areas, and for longer periods of time. There are just lots of people out there who feel that because there are a few wacky and bad parents, that we need to make a bunch of stringent laws to "protect the children."

Lately I've been wondering what we're protecting the children from. I looked into the state of Massachusetts on the website. Now I've always known things are weird out there, and not just because my friend Erin and my uncle's family live out there. (Hi guys!!) People like Ted Kennedy not only get elected, but they get RE-elected year after year. That would *not* happen here short of a massive population shift or a drug haze cloud over the area on voting day. We love John Ashcroft!

Ok, so anyway... I was looking at the HSLDA website about the state of Massachusetts. Did you know you have to get the school's APPROVAL to educate your own child? So, let's see. School loses money if you don't send the kid. Can I keep my kid? Anybody else see a major conflict of interest here?? I'm glad that the school districts there are always acting in the best interests of the child when I read tales about little kindergarteners being read love stories between two BOYS. It sounds very, very perverted out there. What should a Christian parent do?

I'm also reading where DSS gets these Christian parents for "educational neglect" for teaching their child for even ONE DAY without the approval of the Gestapo... I mean, the local school board. And cases that drag on for years. Maybe Germany isn't the only place that creates a hostile environment for Christians.

Let's keep in mind that, whether you're a Christian or not, these are THEIR kids and short of smacking them on the head with a crowbar, they're THEIRS to educate and train up as they please. Can you imagine the reaction of Massachusetts residents John Adams to this situation, or his son John Quincy Adams? I *know* Abigail would throw a hissy. She had a little something to do with the education of John Quincy, you know! I think despite her not being a college graduate or certified teacher, she was able to homeschool her son well.

It's very difficult to even imagine what those parents in Massachusetts must be going through. But I think the idea that the state knows best is creeping in toward the middle of the country as well. I'm concerned at the idea of having a single national standard for education (see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19099906/ for a current news story on the subject) and making all of education "uniform".

Can you imagine the power of the people that would make that test? What if they wanted to quiz the students on the importance of Kwanzaa rather than the battle at Yorktown? We all know that the entire curriculum of the public schools is designed AROUND whatever test they find important. Our local school district makes no secret of this. If fractions are going to be on the MAP test, you'd better believe those kids will be studying fractions all year long! Now, I don't have a *moral* objection to fractions, but let's just pretend here...

A national education standard. More requirements. Teaching to the test. Where is this leading? Some very well-meaning folks are playing right into this... But it will make our children belong to the STATE rather than the parents. The state will determine what their little minds will dwell on. Maybe it's fractions, or maybe it's the "love" between two men. Do you object to your child hearing about that in kindergarten? Your kids are ours. You can't pull them out of school. We can do whatever we like with them. You want your kids to be Christians? Well, you can teach them about your God after 4 p.m. when they arrive home from school. Just make sure they get all that homework done and that you show up for all the conferences we've scheduled in the after-school hours. Otherwise I'm afraid we'll be turning you in for educational neglect...

God save us.

Now, what I find interesting is that the most "liberal" minds in blogland, writing against the conspiracies and evils of the Bush administration and praising the wonders of embryonic stem cells, are not picking up on this. You would think state control of ANYTHING would get them good and mad. Is the apparent lack of concern because education is getting more liberal, or is it because they have fewer children by and large and this is not on the radar? I don't think that the Christian right "owns" this issue. I fully support the most liberal parents being able to teach their children at home as well.