Detroit News on HomeSchool "Witch-hunt"

**(UPDATE)**
The current survey on the Detroit News website shows exactly where Michiganders are on this issue:

Michigan's laws on home schooling include no instruction-time requirements, no curriculum standards, no minimum education level for the teachers and no testing. Should the state toughen its laws on home schooling?
Yes 26.01%
No 73.99%

Remember the scene from Monty Python about the witches? [If you don't you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp_l5ntikaU]

Well, it seems like the Detroit News is doing the same thing. They are attacking Home-schooling for some unknown reason and seems to be spurred by one incident that happened back in 2008 where a girl died in a fire due to the abuse of her parents. She was kept from school under the guise of being home-schooled. This makes the writer equate that Home-schooling is a danger to our children. On top of that, the writer is slick enough to camouflage the article in an investigatory tone. [This makes me even MORE suspicious.] If you think that writers don't have a motive to write the next big "Breaking Investigative Story" - you are sadly mistaken.

Here are a few excerpts [my comments in black and blue (The burgundy is the DetNews Article by Mr. French)]:

Michigan has one of the most lenient home school laws in the nation, giving tens of thousands of families the freedom to teach their children in the manner they want without government interference.[Sets it up in a way to make readers think he is a freedom loving individual] But timid and sporadic enforcement of the law's minimal requirements has been exploited by some unscrupulous parents hiding abuse or educational neglect. [I haven't seen that many qualifiers in one sentence since Al Gore tried to explain that whole Global Warming Scam.]

Because the state is barred from collecting any data on home school students, [Is that a pressuposition that such date should be collected?] it's impossible to know how many parents may be abusing the law or how well those students are doing academically.[As opposed to Detroit where only 25% of students graduate high-school - in a district where more money is spent per student than almost anwhere in the mid-west and possibly country.] But at least two deaths can be traced to parents pulling their children from public schools to squelch abuse complaints, authorities say.[Since when? This year... ever...?] In both cases, parents claimed they were home schooling their children despite having no books or educational materials in their homes. [Hmm... I wonder if students ever die in the care of the AMAZINGLY SAFE public schools?]

This is just the beginning folks. This writer goes on for paragraphs pre-supposing that public schools are the set-point for education in our culture, that they are safe, that the education is good, and that home-schools are just unorganized cesspools of abuse and haphazard learning environments. Think I am over exaggerating? Read on:

No one knows the exact count, because state law bars officials from collecting records. [Wording this sentence in this manner implies that there is some natural positive duty or obligation of the state to have such information or be in ownership of such facts.]  The effect is that a Spartan Stadium-full of Michigan kids has dropped off the radar. Some studies suggest home-schooled students fare as well or better academically than their public school peers, although many home-schooled students don't take standardized tests. [This sentence is emblamatic of how faulty this entire article is: first he discounts the studies, then he discounts the entire proposal, and then he presupposes that standardized tests are the best way to measure student knowledge. Sounds like he works for the education system.]

Clearly this writer is blaming Home-schooling for the death and abuse of children. He seems to insinuate that if stricter limitations were put on the home-school families in Michigan, children would be safer, and the state could make sure they were learning what they were supposed to. He also implies that Calista Springer, a girl who died in a fire due to the abuse of her parents would be alive today if it weren't for the lack of home-school regulations. One problem:

Several complaints were lodged against the Springers to Children's Protective Services. It's not known publicly whether Centreville school officials were the source of those complaints, because complainants are kept confidential. What is known is school personnel, such as teachers, principals, counselors and nurses, are mandated by state law to report suspicions of abuse and neglect to the state agency. School officials turned in 13,287 complaints of suspected abuse and neglect statewide in 2007, the most recent year data is available. Those complaints accounted for more than 30 percent of all complaints made to Children's Protective Services, more than from any other group. [Where does the other 70% come from? I mean complaints are good, but he alluded to a MUCH higher number in his arguments above. He made it seem as if every child went to a public school then all abuse would be monitored. But only 3 out of every 10 reports come from schools?]

After the Springers pulled Calista from public school in 2005, telling officials they were going to home school their daughter, the abuse complaints stopped. [So the fault is on Home-schooling??!? What happened to all those complaints (plural)?? They stop so the state figures, "All is well!"?? Where is the outrage at the poor CPS system??? Talk about blame shifting.]

So what is this writer getting at? Why is he trying to "reform" the system? Well here is a glimpse at why:

But most states have other restrictions on home schools that likely would have prevented or halted Calista's home schooling. [AHHH... of course REGULATIONS!] Eleven states require home schools to be taught by certified teachers [I can hear his battle-cry: "Home-school reform will create jobs! And spur the economy!"]; 40 states require a certain number of instruction hours per day; 22 require testing.[Because - "More=better."]

Pennsylvania requires in-home visits by home school inspectors, who talk to the children about their education. ["So kids, what did you learn about today? WHAT? G-d?? NO!!!!" Don't think it would come to that... read a few posts back about Taunton.]

So you see, this WHOLE article is built and designed precisely for more regulations, oversight, and intervention. These people, these "elitists" in the media, government, and academia think they know better than you. In fact they think they know better for you! That is an important distinction. Again if you don't believe me here is the support:

A 2009 analysis of state home school policies conducted by Catherine Lugg, associate professor of education at Rutgers, and Andrea Rorrer, assistant professor of education at the University of Utah, found Michigan to have among the most permissive home school laws in the nation. [See, the cultural ELITE; they went to STATE regulated schools and therefore are SMART!] Those laws, while offering well-intentioned parents educational options for their children, "may unintentionally [unintentionally is a nice way of calling you "STUPID"] place (some) children at risk for poor educational outcomes, as well as endanger their well-being, in some instances," Lugg and Rorrer wrote.

Smith, of the ombudsman's office, recalls one case [one? really... well in that case BRING ON THE REGULATIONS! The whole system is corrupt!] in which the state was unable to stop a family with multiple abuse and neglect complaints from pulling [STOP! Before reading on... realize something... MULTIPLE COMPLAINTS. The parents were KNOWN TO BE PULLING their children from public school. (The argument in the article is that lax regulations prevent the state from knowing that parents pull their children from public school.)] their children from public school to home school, even though both parents were developmentally disabled. [So the state had ALL these facts... but let the children stay with their parents. So it implies that these were incapable parents and were only allowed to keep their children BECAUSE they decided to home school them?????? Does he think we are that daft as to not see him playing fast and loose with these facts???]

"If the children are not in (public) school, there's a whole segment of people who are responsible for filing complaints who are no longer in the children's lives," Smith said. "It's an opportunity for people who don't want outside attention." [This might be the most menacing part of the WHOLE article. This quote symbolizes what this author and what other controlling-statist-elitists believe: that they are smarter, more skilled, and better equipped to raise your children and oversee them. Parents are simply feeders and bathers.]

So he is building his case that Home-schooling killed Calista. Want the smoking gun? Here it is:

"Home school played a role in Calista's death," said prosecutor McDonough. "They basically eliminated any person who could have reported abuse, and the justification was the home school law." [Boom!]

The rest of the story is a bunch of blather about why the laws don't change and all the insurmountable obstacles state officers have in enforcing the proper care of children. This article is a menace. It is on the FRONT PAGE of the DETROIT NEWS. During a time where unemployment is over 25% in the state (50% in some cities); the nation is on the verge of the largest tax increase and social program ever implemented in the history of our country,  and the president's approval ratings are sinking faster than Tiger Woods' the titanic. ABOVE THE FOLD? REALLY?

Now let me put out a disclaimer: I was NOT home-schooled. I am passionate about it though, and feel that our educational system is a joke. I have a TON of respect for teachers, but that does not  mean I have to respect the regulations over the system. Michigan requires an educational certification to teach. So if you have a PhD you can't teach in a Michigan school because you didn't take classes on lesson plans and child psychology. I know that seems like a low-blow, but the author of this article represents a section of people that think that regulation and "education" fix everything. What needs fixing is now HOW we teach our children but WHAT we teach them.

You can find the original article here: Lax Home-School Laws Put Kids at Risk

I also suggest you write the author and tell him how WRONG he is:

rfrench@detnews.com (313) 222-2175

Also a survey here: Home-School Survey