California judge against homeschooling
edit: California, has the stupidest state judge in the Nation
They have now passed a law that you can’t homeschool your child unless you have a teaching degree. What morons.
http://cbs13.com/local/home.school.ruling.2.670708.html
edited to add: After a friend pointed out my title, I changed it to reflect a more accurate view.
Also, want to take a moment to comment on this myself.
First, I really resent the fact that the judge used homeschooling as an excuse to remove these kids, when it CLEARLY wasn’t the true issue, nor was it the first issue with this family. It was because the prosecutors were either too incompetent to force the changes for real reasons, or they were harassing this family without justification. The family has been in court multiple times, and this was such a reach it is unreal. To make such a sweeping statement that goes contrary to previous law (and common sense) is just stupid.
Second, I am particularly upset about the implication that you can’t teach well unless you have the piece of paper. At the university level, you don’t require any sort of official “teaching certification” to teach, you just need a degree and show competence in the subject matter you are teaching. My dh is a great teacher and holds no degree in teaching. In fact, I doubt most people who teach at the university have a degree in teaching, (unless, maybe, you are in the education department.)
I am an adult, a parent, and an advocate and perfectly capable of teaching my child. I care about his education and am well read in educational theory, appropriate lesson plans, curricula, and speech and language issues and therapies, and occupational therapies, and am constantly striving to increase and improve my knowledge on how to help my son (and, eventually, daughter) be as successful as possible. I might not have gotten grades on everything, but I am every bit as competent as many of the professionals I deal with, and very willing to admit when I am stumped by something and willing to seek out better answers from the experienced. (something professionals often don’t have the luxury of) And, as much as they care (and they do care a great deal), they are never going to have the level of passion I do about my own children.
If they don’t think that public school educated adults are capable of teaching, then what the heck are they wasting their time doing?
This is scary. I’m really assuming this will not get enforced and/or will be challenged… but it’s never safe to assume.
Stupid is a great way to put it.
It’s not a law. It’s one judge’s interpretation of the existing law, which contradicts every other interpretation by a judge over the past ten years or more. It is stupid, yes, and worrisome, but I don’t think it’s a crisis yet. There’s nothing in the exisiting law that presents private schools from being located in private homes, which is what the judge has stated. I think he way overstepped his bounds, and the backlash from the many legal experts in the California homeschool community will be effective.
As someone who lives in California, can we not condemn the whole state for what one idiot judge decided? Even the governator, who I did not vote for and who I do not agree with about much on, thinks it’s a bad ruling.
The idea of allowing only “credentialed” teachers to teach is even crazier when you think about all of the college professors who were never required to take a course on teaching (and being a graduate TA for a semester doesn’t count, because most TAs are just thrown in there without any instruction on learning styles, etc.). There are professors that are terrific teachers who don’t need to be taught to teach and professors that are terrible teachers who could use a class or two on the subject (which, will probably help them improve, but they may never be as good as someone who has innate ability to teach).
I am currently debating this on another board I’m on. I really resent the assumption of incompetence on my part as a parent. Really, do want to send your child to schools that can’t even churn out adults who can adequately school their own children? I am a public school graduate. Are we that stupid?