Is it time for parents to abandon Public Schools?

The the stay at home rules in place, have  parents who have found this time of “social distancing” and separation from school to be just the catalysts they needed to make a full break from the public school system and explore alternatives to conventional schooling?

A key indicator to explore is Harvard Magazine‘s May/June 2020 issue has an article calling for a “presumptive ban” on homeschooling.

The progressive call to ban homeschooling highlights the broader tension between the family and the state. Homeschooling opponents, such as a Harvard Law School professor who is widely quoted in the magazine’s one-sided article, believe that the state has the primary obligation to “properly” care for and educate children, while those of us who support homeschooling, and educational freedom more broadly, believe that this responsibility rests with parents.

Who decides what is “proper” education? In America, that answer should look broad and varied—and certainly not a singular, compulsory, one-size-fits-all state system of schooling.

Pushing back on state control and a single line of thought are the primary motivators for those of us who believe strongly in the doctrine of free will. We should never try to control others or force them to believe what we define as “proper.” As John Locke once wrote: “It is one thing to persuade, another to command.”

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Wayne Creed

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