Help me, Obi-Mom Kenobi! You're my only hope.

Michigan and Mississippi both have new legislation up that would effect homeschoolers. Neither is worth considering, let alone wasting valuable debating time.

For Mississippi, I offer you my emailed reaction:
Dear Senators Jackson, Tollison and Carmichael:

Please reconsider any support you may have had for Senate Bill 2271, the mandate for educational testing of homeschoolers.

Educators, parents and employers across the nation know the truth about testing. Specifically, mass educational testing is the least effective form of determining a child’s educational knowledge or level. It is used in traditional school settings for one very specific reason: when public money is spent on the public’s behalf they have a right to see that public money is being spent wisely and well. Across-the-board testing is the cheapest and most time efficient method of producing such "proof" in the educational setting. This is not, however, to say that it is the most or even at all educationally effective. Rather, it merely requires the least amount of time and energy on the school’s part to "peg" large numbers of children. How well it "pegs" those children is severely under question across the nation. Truly remarkable educational facilities evaluate their students based on a combination of relevant conversation and participation, demonstrable projects and observed progress over the course of a year. A few school room examples of quality evaluation methods are: discussion groups, topical student papers, a few relevant quizzes, annual portfolios, mandatory parental involvement in the classroom (especially for young students) and regular public open houses.

Homeschooling families receive no federal or state funding and will, therefore, quite determinedly spend their own money wisely and well. Homeschooling families have the luxury of time and interest in evaluating their children’s educational progress across the year and, indeed, across the years. Homeschooling families are the very best evaluators of their children’s educational strengths and weaknesses and have absolutely no interest in sending their children out into the world poorly educated. And we, very kindly, ask you to remember that fact.

For Michigan, I have only one comment (we did this last year, too):

Raising the minimum age at which someone can leave compulsory education from 16 to 18 will not in any way improve educational attainment, graduation rates, or work-readiness, as it only forces unwilling, disruptive and often violent students into the classroom, thereby forcing teachers to act as police officers.

What? You still don’t agree?
Try this on for size. The two states with the highest graduation rates in the U.S. (Maryland & North Dakota – both with 94%) compel attendance only to 16, while the state with the lowest grad rate (Oregon – 75%) compels attendance to 18.

How does this proposed legislation affect homeschoolers? Homeschooling is an educational undertaking which must meet state K-12 compulsory attendance rules. Is your homeschooled kid ready to go off to college or work full-time as an apprentice somewhere? Too bad, that’s not an acceptable K-12 educational facility and would be disallowed by the new guideline – without special approval from the local school district. Yeah right, that’s going to happen.

Still not convinced? OK, how excited are you about paying even more taxes to keep unwilling, disruptive and potentially violent 16-18 year olds in a public classroom? Hear that police siren? The school is probably on lock-down again. Son came home beat up today? Good thing you’re keeping that brute in school a few more years. Daughter come home afraid of being attacked in the hallway? Well, at least that delinquent isn’t out on the streets from 8-3. What, you’ve heard that the neighbor kid is selling dealing drugs in the bathroom? Oh well, kids will be kids. When California raised their minimal age limit, classroom disruptions increased so much that Californians had to build (and pay for) new school buildings just to corral them away from kids that really wanted to learn. Funny, that sounds an awful lot like a part-time jail to me!

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