Monday, September 26, 2005
The Military-HSLDA Complex and Our Freedoms
Over five years ago HSLDA persuaded Congress to implement a five-year pilot program to allow homeschooled teens to enter the military as Tier I recruits.
After the survey was commissioned, Home Education Magazine published information about it:
-- Also, regulations adopted by the military would set a precedent. They might then be adopted by other parts of the federal government (such as offices that handle financial aid for higher education) and be used as models by state governments.
-- One set of risks comes from the fact that amendments that increase regulation of homeschooling can be added during the legislative process. But even if a bill gets through the legislature without harmful amendments, regulation can easily be increased as the law is being implemented, as is the case with this law.
-- The researcher answered questions from the floor. The researcher also explained that Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute was a consultant for the survey and that HSLDA provided names and addresses of "home school associations" to whom the survey was mailed. The cover letter from Klicka on HSLDA stationery was included with the survey, the researcher said, to ensure a higher response rate.
[snipped]
The first part of the survey asks heads of "home school associations" how the military can reach homeschoolers.
-- The second part of the survey asks for help in defining homeschooling and identifying "genuine home school graduates."
-- Attempts to identify "genuine home schoolers" will inevitably cost us homeschooling freedoms. Requirements introduced to identify "genuine" homeschoolers will increase the regulation of homeschooling. In addition, we would be surrendering power and control to whoever judges homeschoolers, whether it is our local school board, the state board of education, educational experts, or even other homeschoolers or homeschooling organizations.
The program has concluded, but the results aren't as rosy as some people wanted:
-- page 52, "Although there are good reasons to explore recruiting avenues beyond traditional public high schools, given the attrition rates of homeschoolers compared with other high school diploma graduates, homeschooled recruits seem to be a less desirable recruiting market than was originally thought."
Despite this conclusion, HSLDA pressed for a continuation of Tier I status (September 9, 2003).
And, to top that, now a special section in public law, pertaining only to homeschoolers, is under consideration in Congress. Is it an attempt to get around the conclusions of the study? If so, why?
Instead of causing repeated public embarrassment because the homeschooled recruits' completion rate of their enlistments isn't as good as the publicly schooled kids' rate (see: "less desirable market" remark above), why not just face the music and tell the families what needs to be done if their children want to enlist in the military: get 15 credit hours of college (1 full time attendance semester). What agenda is served by trying to duck the issue, thereby causing it to be trotted out more often? Are those of us opposed to more federal legislation containing the word "homeschool," especially concerning the military, supposed to just dummy up and go along with the game and pretend the survey doesn't exist? What's the profit in that?
On the other hand, if the homeschooled teens qualify for Tier I status, just like the rest of their fellow-citizens do, the kids get a little more education, they're more likely to fulfill their term of enlistment, there will be fewer homeschooled washouts wondering perhaps for the rest of their lives what happened, and there's one less mention of 'homeschooling' in federal legislation. What's not to like?
Homeschoolers aren't 'special cases' needing their hands federally-held in order to enlist. They're just people who need to find out what to do in order to have the best shot at success. Don't sell them short.
Homeschoolers are American citizens, just like the public- and private-schoolers: one nation under the same law.
After the survey was commissioned, Home Education Magazine published information about it:
-- Also, regulations adopted by the military would set a precedent. They might then be adopted by other parts of the federal government (such as offices that handle financial aid for higher education) and be used as models by state governments.
-- One set of risks comes from the fact that amendments that increase regulation of homeschooling can be added during the legislative process. But even if a bill gets through the legislature without harmful amendments, regulation can easily be increased as the law is being implemented, as is the case with this law.
-- The researcher answered questions from the floor. The researcher also explained that Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute was a consultant for the survey and that HSLDA provided names and addresses of "home school associations" to whom the survey was mailed. The cover letter from Klicka on HSLDA stationery was included with the survey, the researcher said, to ensure a higher response rate.
[snipped]
The first part of the survey asks heads of "home school associations" how the military can reach homeschoolers.
-- The second part of the survey asks for help in defining homeschooling and identifying "genuine home school graduates."
-- Attempts to identify "genuine home schoolers" will inevitably cost us homeschooling freedoms. Requirements introduced to identify "genuine" homeschoolers will increase the regulation of homeschooling. In addition, we would be surrendering power and control to whoever judges homeschoolers, whether it is our local school board, the state board of education, educational experts, or even other homeschoolers or homeschooling organizations.
The program has concluded, but the results aren't as rosy as some people wanted:
-- page 52, "Although there are good reasons to explore recruiting avenues beyond traditional public high schools, given the attrition rates of homeschoolers compared with other high school diploma graduates, homeschooled recruits seem to be a less desirable recruiting market than was originally thought."
Despite this conclusion, HSLDA pressed for a continuation of Tier I status (September 9, 2003).
And, to top that, now a special section in public law, pertaining only to homeschoolers, is under consideration in Congress. Is it an attempt to get around the conclusions of the study? If so, why?
Instead of causing repeated public embarrassment because the homeschooled recruits' completion rate of their enlistments isn't as good as the publicly schooled kids' rate (see: "less desirable market" remark above), why not just face the music and tell the families what needs to be done if their children want to enlist in the military: get 15 credit hours of college (1 full time attendance semester). What agenda is served by trying to duck the issue, thereby causing it to be trotted out more often? Are those of us opposed to more federal legislation containing the word "homeschool," especially concerning the military, supposed to just dummy up and go along with the game and pretend the survey doesn't exist? What's the profit in that?
On the other hand, if the homeschooled teens qualify for Tier I status, just like the rest of their fellow-citizens do, the kids get a little more education, they're more likely to fulfill their term of enlistment, there will be fewer homeschooled washouts wondering perhaps for the rest of their lives what happened, and there's one less mention of 'homeschooling' in federal legislation. What's not to like?
Homeschoolers aren't 'special cases' needing their hands federally-held in order to enlist. They're just people who need to find out what to do in order to have the best shot at success. Don't sell them short.
Homeschoolers are American citizens, just like the public- and private-schoolers: one nation under the same law.
posted by Publius, 12:39 PM
1 Comments:
commented by
Publius, 3:40 PM
Publius, 3:40 PM
The H.R.3753/S.1691 blog is an online source of information for people working to kill the bills -- again --, and keep homeschooling from being further defined by federal legislation.
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The exact wording is in Section 10 “(c) Home School Graduates – In identifying a graduate of home schooling …the Secretary [of Defense] concerned shall ensure that the graduate meets EACH (emphasis added) of the following requirements:
(5) The home school graduate has provided the Secretary [of Defense] concerned with a third party verification letter of the graduate's home school status by the Home School Legal Defense Association or State or county home school association or organization."
First the military, then what? If HSLDA can write themselves into being the grantor of homeschool privilege for the purposes of military recruiting, what’s to say that college or employment or just the privilege TO homeschool aren’t next? And by what criteria will they judge? They already judge the applicants to Patrick Henry College by a Statement of Faith. Is this proposal another exercise in theocratic power?