Last week, the California Court of Appeals ruled that two California parents cannot legally home school their children, and that the children must be enrolled in and attend a public school or “appropriate” private school.
In doing so, the Court decided that parents are not capable of fulfilling a “primary purpose of the educational system,” which is “to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare.” Student learning takes a back seat to government indoctrination.
Even worse, the Court gave no value to “the parents’ contention that the education being provided to their children in their home was as good or better than the children would have obtained in a public or private school…” The Court cited a previous case stating that “[h]ome education, regardless of its worth, is not the legal equivalent of attendance in school in the absence of instruction by qualified private tutors.” In other words, never mind if the traditional government education is inferior-that’s not the point.
Finally, the Court cited a previous ruling stating that “the educational program of the State of California was designed to promote the general welfare of all the people and was not designed to accommodate the personal ideas of any individual…”
A parent’s role should be more than just writing a check to the bureaucrats charged with raising their children. The right of a parent to choose the education that is best for their child-whether in a public, private, or home setting-must be vigilantly defended against elitist politicians and activist judges.
– Jamie Story