The Georgia Association of Educators publishes a bimonthly newsletter/newspaper called THE UPDATE. In the December95/January96 issue, THE UPDATE contained a section titled "Continuing Resolution." You might be interested in Continuing Resolution C-9.
Upon reading this "resolution" adopted by an "association" that represents "educators," I was overcome simultaneously by indignation, anger, and fear. It is, in some ways, a cleverly crafted statement. It begins by saying that GAE "respects" the rights of parents, as if that is something noble. Frankly, I don't care if they respect us or not, as long as they don't try to infringe on our rights. I suspect that most homeschoolers would agree that the state has an interest in the general education level of its citizens; that is precisely why many of us choose to school at home!
The second and third paragraphs are where the GAE takes off the gloves. Homeschoolers aren't being monitored enough so that the GAE can be satisfied that our children are "really in school" and not being used as slave labor, or just truant. And since we might be abusing our children, CHANGES MUST BE MADE! Well, so far as I know, there is not any evidence to suggest that truancy in the homeschooled population even begins to approach the proportions of truancy in the public school population. And I can hardly think of anything more abusive than to rigidly regiment young children, physically, emotionally, and intellectually, as is done in most educational institutions.
Having slandered us, the GAE then jumps on their high horse to dictate how they will help us to correct our deficiencies. When you boil it all down, what GAE wants is to be in our homes, monitoring what we do, and insisting that what we do is a close approximation of what they do in the classroom.
This makes me angry. Homeschooling has been validated, time and time again, in studies showing that it results in high levels of academic achievement in literacy, mathematics, history, social studies, and basic science. And every study ever done has concluded that homeschooled children are no less "socialized" than their institutionally schooled peers. So where does GAE get the right to tell US what to do? On the contrary, their resolution should call for THEM to emulate US, not the other way round!
What, then, could make me fearful? The fact that the education establishment has, for many years, worked very hard to become politically connected means that they have a platform for pushing forward this agenda at the General Assembly, the State Board of Education, and the Board of Regents. When you compare this continuing resolution to HB 586, introduced in the 1997 Session of the General Assembly, you see the same issues addressed. I fear that homeschoolers will stop at being indignant, and not recognize this threat from GAE for what it is, until it is too late.
For us to counter GAE, homeschoolers must do two things. First, they must become much better informed; that is the need that drove the creation of HEIR. Second, they must become much more active, in their communities and in politics. They must become willing to interact on a regular basis with their elected representatives, with their local school boards, with their local news media, with the State Board of Education, and with the Board of Regents. When those outside the homeschooling community know us, and know what we are accomplishing, they will recognize the agenda of the GAE for what it is--an attempt to suppress the most successful competition they've ever faced.
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