Home Education: Legal And Beneficial

ARGUMENT PAPER

Home Education: Legal and Beneficial

Name of Student

English Composition II

April 2004

Formal Outline

Thesis: As parents, we not only have the right to educate our own children, but it is also our responsibility.

I. Introduction

II. Legality of homeschooling

1. Amendments

a. 1st

b. 14th

c. 9th

2. Cases heard in court

3. State regulations

a. teacher certification

b. public school equivalency

c. compelling state interest

d. least restrictive means

III. Benefits

1. Emotional

2. Spiritual

3. Educational

IV. SOCIALIZATION - the main opposing argument

1. Opportunities for in homeschooling

2. Negative in public (or private) schools

3. Results of testing conducted

V. Not a new fad, back to the way we were

1. Notables who were homeschooled

2. History of current homeschool movement

VI. Conclusion

Home Education: Legal and Beneficial

While the idea of schooling children at home is not new to our country, it is new to our generation. Most parents today, including myself, are a product of the school system and rarely explore all of the options for schooling our children. Due to a lack of knowledge, we place our children in a preschool, then a kindergarten, eight years of elementary, and four years of secondary school. Fourteen or fifteen years (preschool is now beginning at age three) of our children's lives are being spent away from us, and we're wondering why we've lost touch with them. Psychologists now say that it's not just quality time that we need with our kids, but quality and quantity time. How are we to give them a large amount of our time when they are away from us the majority of their waking hours? Homeschooling is the solution to this dilemma.

Because of the lack of knowledge about schooling options, parents have many questions about homeschooling. Some of the major questions include the following: Is it legal?; Can it provide the same breadth of education?; and, most frequently, What about socialization? The responses to these questions make it clear that we have not only the right, but also the responsibility to school our children at home.

Forty years ago, homeschooling was illegal in some places, so it is reasonable to question the legality of the homeschool. "Early homeschooling parents were legally threatened, arrested, and often brought to trial as abettors of truancy, sometimes even as child abusers"(Koetzsch 134). In previous decades, courts have established that parents have the right to school their own children. Wisconsin v Yoder in 1972, which took place in the Supreme Court, interpreted the 1st Amendment in support of religious reasons to homeschool. The court decided that "the Yoders' First Amendment right to the free exercise of their religion overcame the state's interest in mandating that every child attend school" (Guterson 86). Because 80% of homeschoolers are Christians, the 1st Amendment has been an essential support of the movement. The first amendment gives every American the right to worship, which includes training children in any religion deemed worthy by the parents. In 1981, the courts extended the interpretation to include philosophical reasoning as well as religious reasoning. The court decision from In re Falk determined that a parent's philosophy gives that parent the right to withhold his or her children from public schooling (90).

Another amendment in support of homeschooling is the 14th Amendment. Section 1 states that no state can make a law to "abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law" (US Constitution). The first important court case dealing with homeschooling took place in 1925 in Oregon . The court decision from Pierce v Society of Sisters interpreted the 14th Amendment in favor of homeschooling:

The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public school teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the State, those who nurture and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations. (Guterson 84-85)

A third essential amendment in support of homeschooling is the 9th Amendment. This amendment basically states that, just because a right is not clearly spelled out, does not mean it can be denied to the people. In this case, just because the Constitution does not make a statement in favor of home education does not mean that parents, as citizens, can be denied that right. This amendment also includes the right to privacy, which has become a factor in homeschooling, determining how much information a homeschool parent must give to the state.

Even though the courts have clearly stated that homeschooling is legal, homeschoolers in each state continue to fight for additional freedom with less state regulation. Four factors have been at stake in the courts: teacher certification of homeschooling parents, equivalency to public schools, compelling state interest overriding the individual rights of parents, and