Home schooling: who has rights, again?

For the first time in my experience, Ireland recently seems to have gotten involved in a bit of a discussion about, of all things, homeschooling. In short- Monica O’Connor, an Irish woman with six kids, ended up in prison after failing to pay a fine for not applying to register to homeschool her kids.

You’ll note that she wasn’t imprisoned for homeschooling her kids- that’s perfectly legal here, if extremely unusual. However, parents who want to homeschool have to apply to register to do so, and the application involves an inspection to ensure that the kids are receiving a decent education.

Ms O’Connor had no problem going through the application process for her foster kids, but when it came to her own kids it was a different story. Here’s what she has to say:

“We’ve allowed assessment for education provision for a foster child but we do feel that with our own children, when the Constitution of Ireland says the State acknowledges parents as the prime educators, that parents are free to provide this at home, but yet there is a law that says we have to allow this assessment.

“We believes that dilutes the right to such a point where it says ‘yes Joe Duffy, you’re a good enough parent to home educate but no, Monica O’Connor, you’re not.’

Basically, according to Ms O’Connor, any limit whatsoever on her right to educate her kids in whatever way she chooses- including the state simply ensuring that she’s doing so with a modicum of competence- is an unacceptable dilution of her constitutional rights.

And she isn’t kidding around:

“There has been law in every country at every time in history that has been unjust. When my two grannies were born at the turn of the century, they weren’t allowed to vote. There was a time when only men could vote, there was a time when only men with property could vote. There was a time when if you were black you could only sit on a certain part of a bus,” she said.

Yep. Being expected to show that you’re actually teaching your kids things if your homeschooling them is, to O’Connor, morally equivalent to disenfranchisement and racial segregation.

We could open a whole can of worms here on the whole matter of whether kids are better off homeschooled, sent to public schools, or something else entirely. For the record, my own views on that would be a massively uncommittal sense that it really depends on the child. And the school. And the family. And a ton of other factors.

While questions of what kind of education most benefits kids are valuable, though, I don’t actually think that they’re the most relevant thing to talk about here. For one thing, that’s a hell of a complicated question, and for another, I doubt there’ll ever be one simple answer to it. I want to talk about something far more insidious than that, and that is this: throughout these discussions, one sentiment keeps on coming up. That is this: that parents have a right to bring up their kids as they see fit.

I hear this all the time, from all kinds of parents. It’s something I associate with a growing sense of horror whenever I hear US discussions on corporal punishment (seriously, I find it ghastly that it’s considered acceptable for adults to hit children over there) or conversations from anywhere on vaccinations (the withholding of which without medical reason is yet another bizarrely acceptable abusive action that people do to their kids all the time).

Parents should not have the right to bring up their children as they see fit. Children do not belong to parents- they are not objects to be moulded into a parent’s image. They are human beings who have rights of their own.

This is not the case when it comes to children- particularly young children. In the relationship between parents and kids, the burden of responsibility should- must– fall heavily on the shoulders of guardians. And the protection of rights must be given overwhelmingly to children.

Children are in the particular state of being both legally, physically and emotionally dependant on specific adults for almost all of their needs, and of having significantly less experience and knowledge of the world at large to give them context if something goes wrong. They depend on their caregivers not just for their day to day needs, but to guide them towards a happy, well-adjusted adulthood where they can create their own lives as they see fit.

The idea that parents should have the unfettered right to raise their kids any way they choose is repugnant. It allows parents the right to throw their kids into the adult world utterly unprepared if they so choose.

Parents should not simply have rights toward their kids. Kids should have rights towards their parents. And parents, in return? Have responsibilities. End of.

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Home schooling: who has rights, again?
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19 thoughts on “Home schooling: who has rights, again?

  1. 1

    It seems ridiculous to me that people who question a public school district’s ability to educate their children should get defensive when the state asks if the parents will provide a satisfactory education, and wants to verify that they do so. If a parent really feels the district’s education is inadequate, they must have some idea of the better education they’ll provide, and be able to document it. The only thing I can figure is that parents who won’t follow verification rules think education literally exists to make the kid just like the parent, and no entity is allowed to get a hold of their kids for any other purpose.

  2. 2

    The whole homeschooling movement has always bothered me because it’s an abuser’s dream come true. While it appears that most parents here in the US join homeschooling networks to give their children opportunities for socializing with their peers, it’s certainly not required, and a homeschooled child can be quite isolated. There has to be a way to check on homeschooled children to see that not only are they getting an education; but that they’re also healthy and not mistreated.

    I like your approach. I like asserting the rights of the child rather than the responsibility of the parent or guardian. I think it makes a child advocates position stronger in disputes over the welfare of a child.

  3. 3

    Well…
    Short version: the question is more complicated than the phrasing “as they see fit.”

    Here in the US, we have a rather ugly history of deciding that some parents aren’t fit to raise their kids. And those people were usually from marginalized populations. See: Native Americans and residential schools.

    I understand where you’re coming from in the O’Connor case, and I certainly agree with the state in this instance in that if you’re going to say you can educate your kids at home, fine and dandy, just make sure they are competent enough in various subject areas.

    That said. The question you bring up gives off a lot of bad vibes for some people. Imagine someone saying you don’t have the right to raise your kids speaking your language. Or experiencing your culture. Puts a bit different spin on it I think.

    This does not mean children are property. But I think it behooves us all to really, really think about the implications when we want to mandate how parents raise their kids, or put various restrictions on it, and make damned sure that we don’t get the worst of all worlds. As they say, “be careful what you wish for.”

    Hitting children? Hey, I was spanked a few times and turned out OK, but smacking someone hard enough to leave bruises is rightly illegal. So no, I don’t think stuff like that is a good idea. But I do feel that it’s important to be careful and specific in other areas, you know? Because sometimes when we think there is a best way to raise kids it gets ossified when such decisions are left to the state. This isn’t a knock on government generally, if a state agency is to run at all there are going to be rules and such and those aren’t going to be one-size-fits-all. But it’s precisely for that reason that I get nervous about this stuff.

    (For the record I am not a fan of home schooling because there’s no way to expose the kids to stuff you don’t know in a way that sticks — your kids will never come home with something you never thought of or couldn’t teach because, well, you didn’t know it. [That’s part of the reason people home school to begin with]. I could never presume to teach a kid Chinese. Or Chemistry. Or Biology).

    1. Pen
      3.1

      I have a comment further down about my homeschooling experiences, but actually, Chinese was the third language I taught my daughter. OK, my role consisted of selecting suitable learning materials and working through them with her, but with an adult’s superior learning experience and a class of one, primary-aged child, this is perfectly viable.

      My kid learned many things i’d never learned until she became interested in them and several things I still don’t know. I think you underestimate how much effort the Christian Evangelical type of homeschooler has to put in to stop this happening.

      1. I am curious how you would teach a kid a language you didn’t know (assuming that is the case) just working through materials by yourself?

        I mean, I can teach myself to speak a language, at least at an elementary level, through tapes and such. I’ve done it, and been ok. But teaching competently any of those would be fraught, because I am not a native speaker nor an expert non-native. Heck, I consider myself a reasonably good second-language speaker of French and Spanish, but even the latter which I’d say I am pretty fluent in I would get a lot wrong, I bet. Throw me at something I tried self-teaching — Russian or something — and all bets would be off. And that’s a language I can actually speak, in a rudimentary way. Show me Dutch and ask me to teach my kid? Fuggedaboutit. Language is one of those things that you really need to practice a lot and correctly with people who know what they are about or are native speakers. (Like expat kids who live in China or France or whatever do all the time).

        1. Pen

          I did essentially what you would have done, but I guided a child through the process. I paid for a homeschool curriculum of elementary Chinese instruction (produced by the French state actually), which included little videos, audio tapes, software, books and workbooks. In theory there was someone at the other end somewhere who graded her work but we could never get the audio submissions over Internet to work properly, I basically helped my daughter use these materials to achieve the same result as you would as an adult. It was actually the materials, especially the audio ones, which did the teaching, not me, but my daughter couldn’t have used them on her own. Orienting and organizing yourself in all those materials would be too much of a challenge for a 7-9 year old. Having the discipline to practice, and understanding how much to do is too much.

          It’s true that this process will only get you a basic level, though it actually stood us in quite good stead on our trip to China. The goal here wasn’t fluency but the equivalent of what kids actually get in elementary school language lessons. If I had homeschooled her through her secondary years I would probably have hired a Chinese tutor, for both of us!

          The thing is, people think homeschooling is like collective education only smaller, but it isn’t. Collective education depends on an adult getting the same information to a large group of kids by standing up and errr… talking at them, otherwise known as teaching. Homeschooling (at least the way I did it) is like being/having a personal education manager. The actual information imparted often comes from books, videos, talks, and activities which the adult has collected and helps the child work through. Although I hope I am actually competent in the usual academic subjects to at least a 10th grade level!

  4. 4

    [blockquote]…vaccinations (yet another bizarrely acceptable abusive action that people do to their kids all the time).[/blockquote]

    Wait, what? How is vaccination abusive? Did you perhaps mean “circumcision”?

      1. That’s all right, I typo’d myself into looking like someone who doesn’t know HTML. The vaccination line was so out of place that I was pretty sure it was some kind of mistake.

        More on topic – I would agree that parents should have a lot of freedom of choice in how they raise their kids, for a lot of the same reasons that people should have freedom of religion. But society should ensure that the kids’ rights are met – and in the long term, education is very nearly as important as food and shelter and medicine.

        And in my experience, the parents who do home-schooling well find whatever controls are in place to be too lax or poorly executed, like Pen @5. Complaining that there’s any control at all strikes me as a very bad sign.

        Also I think it’s really really creepy that this person has different standards for her foster kids and her biological kids. The most charitable interpretation of that is that she’s thinking of her rights rather than what’s good for the kids.

  5. Pen
    5

    I’m an ex-homeschooling parent who totally agrees with you Aoife, I’m in favour of inspections, although I’m honestly not sure how usefulntheyvare, it seems to me that a strong objection from a parent is a worrying factor.

    I homeschooled in France where the yearly inspection was supposed to be the equivalent of the inspections in schools, eg focused on my competence as a teacher.
    The first one consisted of a two hour paper exam, set to my six year old in a strange environment, during which I was present, but not allowed to speak. As I’d withdrawn her from school due to psychological distress including fear of strange adults, this was quite traumatic for her, and also not in conformance with the intentions of the law.

    The second inspection consisted of a friendly chat with her, during which the inspector looked at her work. I approached the third thinking it was my morning off, and lo and behold if the inspector didn’t sit my child in a corner and begin questioning me about my approach to science education. I couldn’t hold it against him because that’s what he was supposed to do all along.

    Three different ways to put a human face on the letter of the law! I also had two inspections in Britain which were more low key and seemed to be performed by social workers rather than educational professionals. I never had a bad experience except the first one, although only 1-2 which met the intended goal.

    As for whether the inspection process affected my teaching, the answer is a little, but not much. My curriculum was quite unconventional, being fully bilingual + 3rd language and very international in the history and culture departments. But I respected those odd little things the French education system has a ‘thing’ about. I always had my child memorise a poem before the inspection, and I made sure to teach her cursive handwriting from the start! A failure to do either of those things would definitely create a poor impression, it might result in a decision that I was doing it all wrong.

  6. 6

    I currently homeschool my younger kids. (In fact, I’m watching them play with the other homeschooled kids on our block right now.) I homeschooled my eldest for several years. I’m very protective of my rights and have reason to be. Our local school board is pretty shady to homeschoolers.

    That said, I don’t think registration could be called a limitation. It isn’t required in all states in the US, but it’s a reasonable enough measure. Because the right to homeschool is written into our state constitution, we are only required to send a letter of intent to the school board that basically absolves them of responsibility for educating our kids. Still, that allows the state to keep a sort of registry. We agree in the letter to teach certain broad subjects for a certain number of hours per year and that’s pretty much that.

    Failure to send the letter of intent is considered reason to suspect you are not in compliance and you can be investigated. The state cannot under any circumstance control your curriculum, but they will demand proof of a curriculum if you fail to send your letter by the deadline.

    I used to deliver the letter by hand, but I learned that those letters will be “lost” every time. Now, I only send them by certified mail. They haven’t been “lost” since.

    In my opinion, the funniest thing my state requires is that I keep attendance. No one is ever going to look at it other than me and my kids live here. Where else are they going to be?

  7. 7

    While I certainly agree that my children have a right to an education, I also think a parent has the right to say, “I know what is best for my child” when it comes to education. Schooling is not medicine. There is no rigorous scientific testing that shows that learning at desks in little rows , 20 to a room is the best or only good method for educating all kids and teens.

    It isn’t rocket science either. Yet, I’m often shocked to hear people make the claim that a nonprofessional could ever possibly hope to facilitate, instruct, guide or in any way adequately teach a few kids. I’ve been told repeatedly online, usually by atheists, that I’m wrecking my children’s lives and denying them all hope of a future. I’m told that I’ve robbed them of the opportunity to form their own identities or independence. Meanwhile, my eldest is dyslexic, has ADHD and attends county school in the Bible Belt where Jesus and football are king. She’s a progressive queer feminist in tech related classes. She’s a talented artist and an honor role student. She’s got herself together. She knows her own mind. I could not be more proud of her or have more faith in her capabilities. If she is what ruination looks like, I could have used a little of it back in my high school days. So despite all the doomsayers, I’m not worried.

  8. 8

    When my two grannies were born at the turn of the century, they weren’t allowed to vote.

    When I was born in the middle of the century, I wasn’t allowed to vote either. It took well into the final third of the century before they let me do that.

    Hint to M. O’Connor: if you want to convince the world you have what it takes to provide an adequate education, show us you can check your wording so it makes sense.

  9. 9

    I’m glad there was unregulated homeschooling where I lived. I homeschooled for 2 years. My brother homeschooled for 7 years. It would have been an imposition on us if we had to send in packets or whatever, like I’ve heard they have to do in NY or somewhere around there. We got to do what WE wanted. Legally our parents could decide, but they didn’t. My mom helped my brother because he wanted help, for me she paid for some cc classes.

    The places where homeschooling is regulated, they aren’t granting those children their rights, they are doing something TO them, just like with school. It isn’t freedom for the children. It’s more like the adults fighting over who gets to dress up and pose the doll, forgetting that the doll is actually a real person and they should ask them what THEY want to do.

    1. 9.1

      I’m glad that you had such a good experience with homeschooling. And that it worked out so well for your family.

      I do think, however, that the idea of trusting parents to do the best thing to educate their children with no oversight or control feels incredibly irresponsible. And I also don’t think that giving children absolute freedom to decide what they want to learn is necessarily a good thing either. One of the things that we owe not kids is a way of understanding and navigating the world around them in their adult lives. We’ve also created a society where, for better or worse, certain kinds of knowledge (the kind that get you qualifications) will help you to have a more secure life with more options than simply knowing things. As parents, adults have a responsibility to the adults their children will become. And the state has a responsibility to ensure that parents are fulfilling theirs.

      This doesn’t necessarily mean I think that homeschooling parents should have to send in monthly packets or anything like that. However, a certain amount of oversight IS necessary. Anything else is, to follow your own comparison, like adults pretending their own children are dolls they get to dress up any way the like, forgetting that those dolls are real people whose futures will be horrendously impacted if they don’t take responsibility for them.

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