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Home Education Magazine
September-October 1998 - Articles
Labeling Publicly Funded Programs for Homeschoolers
Homeschooling or Public Schooling? It's More Than A Matter of Semantics
Christine Webb
There has been an interesting, and often intense, debate taking place in the homeschooling community for the past couple of years. It is an active and passionate discussion over publicly-funded school programs for homeschooled students and has resulted in often-heated discussions about not only the existence of such programs, but of the labeling of these programs as "homeschooling" and of the students who participate in them as "homeschoolers." Although my home state of Oregon has only a few of these programs, many homeschoolers here are already experiencing the stress of attempting to define and identify these programs and of trying to make informed decisions about using them.
"So what?" you might ask. After all, if homeschoolers want to participate in these programs, shouldn't they be able to? Aren't they adults, capable of weighing the costs and benefits? Who are any of the rest of us to suggest that they aren't "real" homeschoolers, or that such programs shouldn't exist, or that the very existence of such programs might be putting other homeschoolers at risk?
Many homeschoolers argue that the actions of thousands of individual homeschooling families can have an impact on the status of other homeschooling families, and shouldn't they take that into consideration when acting? What if their collective actions cause a change in the homeschooling laws for their state, simply by existing? Or provide support for a legislator attempting to "rein in" homeschoolers who don't utilize such programs?
I, for one, have many issues related to these programs, but the one that causes me the most concern is the effect these public school programs may have on the way legislators, bureaucrats and the public define, and act upon, the rights of all homeschoolers in my state. By identifying these programs as "real homeschooling," these powerful people could easily decide these models reflect what homeschooling should be all about. And once decided, it isn't a very big step for them to act. That action could easily mean attempts to both increase the oversight, and decrease the rights, of homeschoolers.
Discussion about these programs here in Oregon has been pretty low-keyed because we do not have many of them and they are a fairly recent phenomena. I have talked, though, to both parents and children who have participated in them. Some parents are wildly enthusiastic, some kind of shrug and say their program is "so-so" and others have come away frustrated because of the rigidity, lack of options or low quality. Many complain of teachers who simply "don't understand homeschooling." This is certain, though Ue they are all labeled as homeschooling programs and none come with "no strings attached."
My concerns about state-funded homeschooling programs in my own state began after I attended a State Board of Education meeting. A couple of the Board members had visited the largest and most schoolish of these program and gave a report on their observations. Upon hearing the report on this program, which attempts to "outschool the schools," the Board members seemed to heave a collective sigh of relief. Finally, a form of homeschooling they could understand. "This," they seemed to intimate in the ensuing discussion, "is what homeschooling should be like." Here were the first positive words I've heard mentioned about homeschooling by anyone from this body in several years. In a subsequent meeting, Board members were quite interested in learning more about these and other publicly-funded programs which might "show homeschoolers that schools aren't such bad places after all," and one member expressed the desire to use them to entice homeschoolers back into the school system.
State-funded, alternative, public school programs can offer some much-desired support for homeschooling families. But they are not, regardless of who participates in them, "homeschooling" programs. They are funded with taxpayer money and provided through publicly-funded schools. And they are already having a negative impact, here in Oregon, on how more traditional homeschooling is perceived by state education and political bureaucrats.
This is not good news in a state where a minor change in the homeschooling law last session, proposed by homeschoolers, was narrowly passed and then vetoed by a governor who distrusts parents and truly believes the state knows best about the education of all children. These people desperately want our children in school where the government can keep an eye on them. As these hybrid programs become more available, and policy-makers view them more as the norm, I am tremendously concerned that they will attempt to force tighter restrictions, more in line with what is happening in these programs, on all homeschoolers. It is the "homeschool" label attached to these programs which encourages educrats to cast their eye on homeschoolers not enrolled in These programs and consider them as aberrant.
So if the "homeschool" labeling is an issue, should we simply say the children attending these programs are not homeschoolers? Well, I, for one, would certainly not like to have that conversation with any ardent homeschooling family enrolled in These programs. No, I believe the problem with the labeling lies in the programs themselves, not in the people who use them. They are public school alternative programs and should be defined as such. Homeschooling students, or students from small private schools, can take advantage of them regardless of how they are classified. But they should definitely NOT be defined as homeschooling programs because, technically, they are not - not any more than distance learning programs through the television or Internet, community college classes, or Park and Recreation classes are homeschooling programs. There is a distinction that needs to be made between homeschooling programs (those created by, or in conjunction with, homeschoolers, for homeschoolers, and paid for by homeschoolers) and programs that are created in the public milieu, with public funds, which homeschoolers may attend.
We could argue about the inadvisability of the very existence of these programs, noting concerns about the strings which are invariably attached to government money, the ultimate invasion of privacy that might result for those involved, even the health issues of gathering groups of children together in what are often unhealthy buildings. But the thousands of families opting for these programs are equally incented to make sure they are here to stay. Consequently, we should do our best to minimize the damage they can rain down on the homeschooling community.
It seems such a small thing, but I believe that properly labeling these programs as "alternative public school programs" is an important place to start. It clarifies for the homeschoolers involved in them and for the policy-makers, legislators, educrats and public as well, the important distinction between "homeschooling" and "publicly funded alternative programs." We can honor families' desires consider themselves homeschoolers while enrolled in the programs at the same time as attempting to protect the larger homeschooling population. But as long as this "homeschooling" label remains attached to public school programs, we will continue to have bureaucrats and participants acting to use the programs to seduce both homeschoolers and legislators into believing these programs are what homeschooling "should" be about. And regardless of how good the programs are, the bottom line is this: as long as they are labeled "homeschooling," they place families who homeschool in any other way at risk.
(c)1998, Christine Webb
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