When I was in Mexico in 1972 attending lectures by Ivan Illich on Deschooling and deinstitutionalization in general I met with John Holt. He was a school reformer who was instrumental in much growth of the home education movement after 1977 when he started his Growing Without Schooling magazine.

He said: “Today freedom has different enemies. It must be fought for in different ways. It will take very different qualities of mind and heart to save it.”

We see what’s happened in California. Sane people there are counseling “Be cool” and let the Supreme Court overturn this, but, don’t push for legislation. Why? Because the teacher unions are so politically powerful! We do have to beware of the predatory state and its agents.

And why are these authorities, state powers, and various public servant groups so pugnacious? It’s because they are protecting their ill-gotten gain, that which they usurped from their rightful owners – the families.
- Tunya Audain, Vancouver, BC, Canada

John Stossel: No right to educate your own child? This is an important comment from a reader about those early laws:

Tunya, if you know American law, you understand that Massachusetts laws have no relevance to what happens in California. Not only that, Massachusetts in 1642 was under British law, which was immediately cancelled when the United States became an independent nation. A 1642 Massachusetts law is not binding today even in Massachusetts, let alone in any other state.

The only laws relevant in California today are the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and any laws passed since then in the state of California.

And there is reason to question whether a law that presumes to give the state such tremendous power is even constitutional.
- Marcy, Brighton, CO

Here is a recent comment (Jan 29/08) from Heather Maahs on her site: The Schools We Need http://www.theschoolsweneed.com/

BCCPAC recently had it’s conference and were tackling some oh so lofty items such as rewriting how to make and submit a new resolution. Whoa, that’s heavy stuff.

On their web site, they also announced the winner the schools to get playground grants. Yep, that’s right. 20 grand goes to 66 schools that the MINISTRY chose they proudly announce.

If you are still with me and haven’t collapsed from the sheer intensity of these achievements, there’s one more thing.

Ready?

They are circulating a document that discusses the Frequently asked questions about Healthy foods legislation by the MINISTRY.

I’m like, blown away by what they’re doing. This is stuff that legends are made of. Them and the MINISTRY that is.

Please check this link which is a rather succinct demonstration of what BCCPAC are up to with the government. You’d better be sitting down though. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liKhLNY5GYI&feature=related

Where is the resistance, and why? Is it inertia — leave well enough alone, or are employee groups actively obstructing? There are tons of books and Google (and other search engines) that point to teacher union obstructionism.

Or are consumers not well enough informed and equipped to command responsiveness and timely application of good practice? Here in British Columbia we have had mandated parent advisory councils in the schools since 1989 but they have not had the voice required to bring things up to speed.

I see there is a growing movement called “No Excuses” and wonder how far that will go in applying Effective Schools Principles.

Evaluations and achievement scores do help in showing where schools stand as far as standards (provincial, state, federal, international, whatever) go, but do they really equip people to obtain accountability and commitment to improve?

What I do find hopeful is the new move to have value-added assessment of students and schools. Please see the recent news report from Cleveland, Ohio.

http://www.cleveland.com/education/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/isedu/1197624649112340.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

This approach equips parents and teachers with a child’s growth potential at the start of a period, and shows how much benefit is accrued through the school and teaching experience.

I as a parent and grandparent, aware of how very different children are, like this approach, which really brings us back to Ron Edmonds and his famous 1978 quote:

“We can whenever, and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need, in order to do this. Whether we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”

RB

FOR THE RECORD . . .

I have been posting my history of struggles to promote parent involvement in education for the purpose of showing the long and painful experiences in this cause. Hopefully current parents and parent advisory councils can appreciate our feelings about the restrictive and excluding “colonial” attitudes that hindered parents in their efforts to help their children in schools.

Hopefully, these “colonial” days are over . . .

For the record, please see my post of December, 2006, headlined:

Why is There Resistance to Meaningful Parent Involvement published in Education Advisory #9, December 1979.

Tunya Audain

2 hours later:

“Just say NO to Parent Involvement”

Using Technorati to search for more opinions in blogs on topics of interest, eg., Parent Involvement in Schools, I came across this very interesting and important opinion: Just say NO to Parent involvement. I’m sure you will find it interesting, because PI could actually be a trap to: 1) silence parents, 2) divert them, 3) exploit them, 4) get free labor, 5) etc…..

This parent calls it a government SCAM. What do you think?

http://aftertheball.typepad.com/after_the_ball/2007/10/just-say-no-to-.html

Parents have no rights in schools today. There have been two court cases in the last year stating that the school knows best about curriculum for the child.

A school district in Klamath Falls used an attorney to look at their finances and a court ruled the public cannot get access to the findings due to attorney client protections.

The National director of school boards stated that school board members are not to think of themselves as arepresentative for their constituency.

When I spoke out about educational malpractice of my local district, they threatened me, (in writing)with a law suit.

What rights?

Parents have no rights in schools today. There have been two court cases in the last year stating that the school knows best about curriculum for the child.

A school district in Klamath Falls used an attorney to look at their finances and a court ruled the public cannot get access to the findings due to attorney client protections.

The National director of school boards stated that school board members are not to think of themselves as arepresentative for their constituency.

When I spoke out about educational malpractice of my local district, they threatened me, (in writing)with a law suit.

What rights?