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Home Education Endorsed as Reducing Socio-economic Disadvantages

Published by Tunya Audain November 15th, 2007 in Blog and Home Education. 0 Comments

 

“Canadian and American Policy makers should recognize the ability of parents to meet the educational needs of their children at home, without government involvement,” says Claudia Hepburn in the 2nd edition of Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream (Fraser Institute, Oct. 2007).

The 24 page research document is worth downloading free from:

I was a pioneer in the movement in the 70’s and 80’s and devoted considerable energy and effort to jumpstart parent confidence in home educating their own children in Canada.  The above report refers to my article:  Home Education: The Third Option .

“It has been argued that home schoolers serve “as models of economy and effectiveness” (Audain, 1987). Such realities suggest that both Canadian and American policy makers should consider whether or not home schooling parents, whose property taxes subsidize public schools, merit reduction in those taxes or some other recognition of their contribution."

BUT, the important finding in this latest report is the value of home education to improving academic performance of students from families with low levels of education.

“Poorly educated parents who choose to teach their children at home produce better academic results for their children than public schools do….evidence clearly demonstrates that home education may help reduce the negative effects of some background factors that many educators believe affects a child’s ability to learn, such as low family income, low parental educational attainment, parents not having formal training as teachers, race or ethnicity of the students, gender of the student, not having a computer in the home, and infrequent usage of public libraries."

All this supports my long-held belief that parent involvement in the substance of education (not the current vogue of using parents as volunteer labor in schools) is what matters. Both parents and students thrive in co-educational settings. Family efficacy is increased. Parents are not made to feel inadequate as is so often the case in interfaces with public schools.

See the news release: Home schooling improves academic performance and reduces impact of socio-economic factors: http://www.fraserinstitute.org/commerce.web/newsrelease.aspx?nid=4933

 

 

“Indoctrination” Laws and Guidelines for Schools

Published by Tunya Audain October 13th, 2007 in Blog and Education Reform. 2 Comments

The Gore Global Warming controversies re: truth or otherwise of his film, books, speeches, etc. has at least exposed a lot more food for thought.  To me, the most important outcome so far has been the revealing of the existence of anti-indoctrination legislation in the English School Act, 1996.  How many of our School Acts in the states, provinces, countries have similar sections, and if not, why not — given present politics in schools?

Section 406 of the Education Act says that local education authorities, school governing bodies and head teachers "shall forbid…the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the school".

And if political issues are brought to the attention of pupils, the authority, the governors and the head are required by Section 407 to take "such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that…they are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views".

The High Court Judge, Mr. Justice Burton, stated that "there would have been a breach of sections 406 and 407 ….but for the bringing of these proceedings… ". He awarded two-thirds costs against the Government.  At least one can be grateful that in England there was an Act and courts to provide some remedy to the parent who brought this case forward (Mr Stewart Dimmock) however costly it was to him.  Society benefits when captive audiences of students in schools are presented balanced pictures of controversial issues.

The Judge did NOT forbid the showing of the film ( as was hoped ) but did required amended guidelines to apply:
1.  The Film is a political work and promotes only one side of the argument.
2.  If teachers present the Film without making this plain they may be in breach of section 406 of the Education Act 1996 and guilty of political indoctrination.
3.  Nine inaccuracies have to be specifically drawn to the attention of school children.

I will try and determine how many of our 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada have "indoctrination" laws and guidelines.
Can we try and get a world picture?

Teacher Bashing a Myth

Published by Tunya Audain July 23rd, 2007 in Blog and CARTOONS.... 0 Comments
Diane Ravitch, long time commentator on education, after attending another conference on the state of school performance in the United States, says, June 14, in the New York Sun :

We have heard all of this before, for at least the past 25 years.
When the time comes to talk about solutions, the conversation and the remedies always seem to focus on teachers. The line goes like this: Our students are not learning because our teachers are not smart enough, are lazy, don’t care, get paid regardless of their effectiveness, and so on.

Mind your own BusinessI think to accuse people of always blaming teachers for school failures is a grand over statement. What people do blame are the systems that allow incompetence, neglect, etc. to occur and to continue. Many teachers I know do not want to work alongside a “bad apple” and equally see the system as the obstacle to accountability and reform.
After giving many reasons why it is wrong to blame teachers, she however swings around and seems to blame parents:

I have not met all three million of our nation’s teachers, but every one that I have met is hardworking, earnest, and deeply committed to their students. All of them talk about parental lack of support for children…

I find this statement hard to swallow, coming from from a person loaded with credentials such as Ravitch. But the comments section responding to this article, while having many teachers grateful for the support, has a number of excellent comments from parents bemoaning their “powerlessness”.

Parents feel powerless
Submitted by Debbie Smith,
It’s not that most parents don’t support their children in school and that they don’t push their children to work hard and succeed - it’s that parents feel powerless in schools. For those parents who have remained involved in their children’s education they have found ‘tin-ear’ schools that lack incentive to improve and school board members who are ineffective in their positions. As long as the monopoly on education exists our public school system will continue with the status quo, fighting every effort of reform along the way.

It is unfortunate, that to this day, many parents still feel excluded or rebuffed from meaningful experiences with their children’s schools. The above cartoon really makes me wince,“hearing” the slamming door!

Once parental authority and sovereignty has been displaced (usurped) by the system it is hard for individual parents or groups of parents to make a dent at reform or inclusion. Statutory help from government may be needed to restore some balance–either by making provisions for parent involvement in school or widening choice (vouchers, tuition tax credits, scholarships).

In British Columbia Parent Advisory Councils have been legislated since 1989 to provide some parent voice in public schools. See my articles on Parent Advisory Councils.

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