Wild Wisconsin asked Todd Stelzel, candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, for his thoughts on home schooling (in the post here on Badger Blog Alliance).
Here’s Mr. Stelzel's answer:
I am in favor of school choice. Home schooling is one of those choices. It is another option for parents and students. However, guidelines for home schooling need to be improved. For example, accurate records of student progress must be maintained and evidence of curriculum development demonstrated by the home school instructor, since this is what is required of the public school teacher.As a homeschooling parent for the past 10 years, I respectfully disagree that “guidelines for home schooling need to be improved”. The system as we have it today has been in place since 1984, and has been used successfully by thousands of families. There is no need to change a system that has worked so well for so many homeschoolers.
Again and again, home schoolers have demonstrated that they succeed in academics, work, and college.
A system that works well for homeschoolers to educate their children also, in turn, works well for the state, by preparing young people to assume their roles in society. According to this article, homeschooled children are perhaps even better prepared to assume their roles as civic-minded adults.
Under current state law, home schoolers are required to keep a record of attendance, and must sign a statement attesting that they will provide 875 hours of instruction in the six curriculum areas required, in addition to any other subjects they want to teach.
By law, homeschools in Wisconsin are private schools. It would be blatantly unfair as well as counterproductive to treat homeschools as public schools, since we receive absolutely no public money. We provide our own classrooms, books, materials, extracurricular activities, sports equipment, transportation to field trips and other events, and most of all, teachers (mom and dad, usually, and sometimes other teachers for, say, piano or foreign language lessons).
I would suggest Mr. Stelzel focus his energy on fixing the broken public school system, rather than trying to make successful home schools more like public schools.
Cross posted at Badger Blog Alliance.
4 comments:
The worst mistake a home schooling family can make is to allow the obstreperous camel's nose of big gov't into the home. It's NONE of their business, simple as that! To allow the bureaucratic educrats into our homes is tantamount to putting the French in charge of the Allied Forces in WWII. What would be the point? How about if the citizens en masse demand that gov't schools do at least as well as home schools? The pots are calling the kettles black. Gov't educrats are the ones who need the watchful eye, not homeschools! When they are able to remove the giant sequoia timbers from their own eye, then they have my permission to pick the speck of dust out of the home schooler's eye. The inept hypocritical bastards!
Amen - excellent posts.
pmm
I agree, the Superintendent of Public Instruction should focus solely on the Public Instruction truly under his jurisdiction, that is the state's public schools. Home school parents, like those who pay to send their children to private institutions are double paying as it is, supporting the public school system and privately funding their children's education. This sacrifice should also buy some autonomy from the failed or weak programs and ideas of the system. Case in point, further on in the interview by Wild Wisconsin on Badger Blog Alliance:
" WW:Would you seek to restrict the teaching of all scientific theories that contradict evolution? If so, why?
TS: I would not seek to restrict the teaching of all scientific theories that contradict evolution."
COMMENT: The correct answer is: Evolution is NOT a scientific theory either! It is religious, it puts faith in connecting the 20 million dots between an ape jaw bone fragment fossil and God's discreet creation called mankind.
Next, the candidate, says "I frown upon sexual activity that could lead up to intercourse, not only at home,"
COMMENT: How long has he been married?! OK, that's just a joke, I took that out of context!
But...
"if the case involves an 18 year old female student, who is talking to a guidance counselor about the sexual intercourse she is having with another 18 year old student, and no protection is being used, then yes, I would hope that the guidance counselor recommend protection, since abstinence education failed. "
COMMENT: So his policy is, you say: "It's wrong, don't do it" repeatedly until you find out they are doing it, then you shrug and say, "Oh, OK, here's a condom." And do you think the kids who were abstaining get wind of this?! -- His message is you'd better keep abstaining because if you don't we're going to give you birth control!
PS. Gold star to Rich Glasgow for use of the word "obstreperous " I made a big clamourous deal out of getting the dictionary out to look that one up!
TJS
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