Just Enough and Nothing More

The UK, in particular England, is facing significant changes in the homeschooling community, and not for the better.

Homeschoolers’ freedoms in the UK are being threatened, and it’s a serious problem. The problem is an over-zealous government that does not take its citizens or their opinions in account when making laws or policies. It is a threat against democratic process, and could strip UK homeschoolers of many of the rights that every other parent would continue to keep.

Sounds scary? It is, because homeschoolers have basically become helpless victims in a series of events where they were given a false impression of being listened to and fairly treated, when in reality, they were instead being misled, ignored, and “managed”.

A very brief summary of what happened up to this point.

Late last year, there was a general inquiry into the state of homeschooling in the UK. Concerns over children being abused as well as homeschoolers being “off the radar” lead to an OK by parliament to do research on whether or not the current status of homeschooling was sufficient enough to guarantee that children were getting a good education and not being abused.

Thousands of homeschoolers were interviewed, there were town hall type meetings, and much discussion over the matter.

Then in June, the “Badman Report” was released, and it basically called for very high regulation of homeschoolers including pre-monitoring, being “OK’d” by the government to homeschool, giving government officials authority to enter a homeschooler’s home without a warrant or cause simply because they were homeschooling, giving government officials the authority to question children alone without a guardian, and requiring all homeschoolers to register so that they could be kept track of.

Of course, the UK homeschoolers’ reaction was to be mad and scared. But the worst part? In the entire 30 page report, there was never mention of all of the questionaires or meetings that the homeschoolers were involved with. Instead, the people quoted were people who do not work with homeschoolers, who deal only with the homeschoolers with problems, and who do not have knowledge of what homeschooling is about.

UK homeschoolers jumped right into action and started calling and writing their government officials.

Some time later, there was another inquiry about homeschoolers’ reponse to the Badman report. It has yet to be summarized and published.

Parliament continued to debate the issue, with one particular goverment official, Lord Lucas, as the lone voice supportin the view that these recommendations were far too extreme. (Update 7/2/09: Looks like Lord Lucas may not be such a supporter after all.)

Then today, to their great surprise, UK homeschoolers learn that there is already a bill which will be released this afternoon, that implements changes to educational law as a result of the the Badman recommendations.

All of this happened without regard to homeschooling parents’ or children’s personal rights or their opinions.

That’s the biggest problem—government officials who use their power to regulate and control people who have done nothing wrong, and who are simply being singled out because of prejudice. And then, they make it look like what they are doing is for the “good” of the children, when it fact they are stripping rights away from everyone, even the children they are claiming to protect.

Will we ever learn from our mistakes? Humans have done this before in many forms and for many reasons, and we always come out of it red in the face. Singling out a group based on race, religion, or choices and limiting their rights never results in something good. And in order to limit the rights of a group, the group has to be “managed” to think that they are being treated fairly, and the rest of population has to be tricked into thinking that this group is a threat, even when it’s completely clear that they are being treated unfairly and they are not a threat at all.

This is what we have to keep from happening in the US. We have to make sure our goverment continues to hear us, and see that we will not be tricked or bought. We will not back down or compromise our rights simply because the government is trying to play politics. We cannot let ourselves be part of their game.

Now, all that said, I don’t think we have any immediate danger of a sudden change in homeschooling status in the US. There is a lot more going on in the UK than simple homeschooler harassment. There is a political change happening, and the current dominating party is trying to rush through legislation before they lose their power. There is also a huge push for nationalizing education in general. UK is changing, and homeschoolers are getting caught up in it, unfortunately. We might see something like this here in the U.S down the line, however.

If your local authorities want to do a survey of homeschoolers or we start hearing stirrings of politicians wanting to know if our children are safe at home, we need to immediately start acting.

So, we’re feeling all riled up, angry, and scared. What do we do? If you aren’t already, make sure you are a member of your state-wide homeschooling group. And make sure that you understand what that group does and what they have done in the past to get a good idea of how they work with officials. If a state-wide group doesn’t exist in your state or there are no state-wide groups that you think do a very good job watching and acting on legislation, consider joining a nation-wide group like NHELD.

Also, if you happen to be a democrat like myself, and you happen to have connections with democratic politicians, make friends with them, and let them see what homeschoolers are like. The more personal contact they have with us, the less likely they will allow a sweeping prejudicial attitude to last very long. Keep writing and be open about homeschooling. I think we’re doing a great job of that so far. Let’s keep it up. Oh, and write smart, not crazy-like. We need as many non-homeschoolers as we can find to side with us.

What’s happening in the UK is a combination of bad govermental politics and a long time of feeling comfortable with the status-quo. We can’t say what is happening in the UK will happen here, because we don’t have the same variables. But it sure is a clear wake up call, that a long time of quiet, and friendly government officials, are not indications that we can expect many more years of tranquility.

Homeschooling rights are important for everyone, not just homeschoolers. There are millions of families who are in school right now, and fighting with the schools. Without the option to homeschool, those families all lose their rights to have a choice. Homeschooling freedoms help every family in America. We should all be fighting for them, not just homeschoolers, and not just republicans.

Good luck to all the homeschoolers in the UK. We’re rooting for you. All the parents in the UK will benefit from your fight for your right to homeschool without unlawful search and seizure, unlawful child questioning, and unlawful restrictions in educational choices.

To read a much more detailed history of what’s happening in the UK, go to Dare to Know. (There is also an extensive list in the right-side menu bar of other blogs, webpages, and documents related to this issue.) Also, if there is anything in this post that is incorrect, unnecessarily inflammatory, or unjust, please feel free to let me know in the comments. The more we know, the better we all are.

Related posts:

1. I Homeschool Because I Believe My Children Have Human Rights
2. Perspectives on German Homeschooling Situation
3. The Definition of Homeschooling
4. Homeschool Regulations and the Importance of Local Cohesion
5. CA Homeschooling Court Case Update - Amicus Briefs Accepted