Last month Dr. Raymond Moore passed away. Dr. Moore and his wife, Dorothy, wrote many homeschooling books and they established the Moore Foundation to support parents in educating their children at home.
One of the lesser-known items authored by Dr. Moore was a white paper he wrote in October of 1994, The Ravage of Home Education Through Exclusion By Religion. Part of the white paper is about the nationwide alarm HSLDA set off in early 1994. The alarm was to stop the danger that only HSLDA saw from an amendment to the House portion of the then-Congressional bill H. R. 6, a $12 billion reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
Before the vote on the bill, Congressman George Miller (D-California) added an amendment, which read:
- ASSURANCE.Each State applying for funds under this title shall provide the Secretary with the assurance that after July 1, 1998, it will require each local educational agency within the State to certify that each full time teacher in schools under the jurisdiction of the agency is certified to teach in the subject area to which he or she is assigned. [my emphasis]
HSLDA worried about the application to homeschooling of the term “nonprofit schools” which were mentioned elsewhere in the reauthorization bill. No variant of the word ‘homeschooling’ appeared in the bill, but still, “nonprofit” in conjunction with Rep. Miller’s amendment requiring state certification of teachers was a reason for HSLDA to kick into high gear.
February 15, 1994 “Urgent Alert! H. R. 6, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act will require home school parents (and all private school teachers) to be certified teachers.”
Michael Farris of HSLDA appeared on television programs, and Rush Limbaugh talked about H. R. 6 on his radio program. The resulting number of phone calls to Congress from panicked parents jammed telephone lines, and shut down telephone communication for the House of Representatives.
As a result of HSLDA members calling Congress, the Miller amendment was removed from the bill. After that, Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas) added an amendment written by Michael Farris, the “Home School/Private School Freedom Amendment,” apparently later known as the “Armey amendment.” Somewhere in the mix was the Ford/Kildee amendment. The many versions of the events are hard to fit together, so what the amendment was called may be a matter of interpretation. Despite HSLDA’s concern, many nationally recognized homeschool leaders were not frantic about H. R. 6.
- there is no federal jurisdiction over schools, other than funding strings for organizations who accept federal money
- the language didn’t appear to be aimed at homeschooling parents
- homeschooling families are not “local educational agencies within the State”
- homeschooling parents are not “full time teachers in schools under the jurisdiction of the educational agency”
- passage of H. R. 6 in the House did not guarantee passage in the Senate
- Senate committee conferences could have removed the muddy wording
It is unclear to me, from existing accounts, whether homeschoolers-in-general in the United States knew about the language in H. R. 6 before the letters and faxes were sent, or if ‘everyone found out’ only after HSLDA’s letters and faxes arrived. My pre-Internet view from Germany was two months after-the-fact, and I knew no other homeschoolers.
After the ‘alert’, the opinion among the majority of decentralized homeschool leaders was that H. R. 6 was not a danger to homeschooling. Among the HSLDA membership, H. R. 6 was a crisis.
What impression did this make?
Among ‘civilians:’
The Right Runs Amok, April 1994, NEA Today
Rep. Bill Ford of Michigan, who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee, tried to straighten things out. He told reporters the Miller provision had always been meant to cover public schools, not home schools. “Somebody put two and two together,” says Ford, “and got 10.”
HSLDA Court Report, May/June 1994
“I do not know of any issue in recent time that has generated so much constituent awareness, concern and phone traffic as this one. The American people, by the tens of thousands, have flooded both our district and Washington offices with phone calls and faxes.”
Representative Gerald Solomon (R NY-22)
Ravage of Homeschooling, October 1994
A Washington, D.C. federal civil rights attorney, known for her reserve and femininity, called and gave me a precise summation of the HR-6 alarm with uncharacteristic boldness:
“I was outraged! This presuming on Dr. Dobson, Gary Bauer, Marlin Maddoux, and others who are normally well informed, but simply don’t have full information and are led like lambs to the slaughter! If they only knew! There is a place for alarms. But when we overreact, we lose credibility, and there is a snow-balling effect I’m afraid we’re reaching the place where people will no longer honor homeschooling. I’m not a friend of Senator Mitchell’s, but he was right: “An unnecessary solution to a non-existent problem.”
– Raymond Moore
Among homeschoolers:
Home Education Magazine, July-August 1994, Letters From Our Readers
“I recently called a friend of mine who manages the office of one of our national congressional representatives. HR6 was far from my mind but she brought it upto say that they had been deluged with phone calls from homeschoolers and Catholic school parents. After some discussion, she volunteered that they had the bill analyzed legally and the lawyer had given them a few questions to ask the callers in order to determine what they really wanted and what they knew about the bill. Unfortunately the callers left the impression of an uneducated but alarmed group who had been told to kill the bill.”
– J.B.
Home Education Magazine, September-October 1994, Letters
I subscribe to two home education magazines: yours and The Teaching Home. Our family has lived in Germany for twelve years, but America is still home to us, and Florida is our resident state. I was in Florida for two months this winter and became embroiled in the HR6 furor. …
… Of course I panicked, thinking that our right to home learning was threatened. I implicitly trusted the information I was getting. …
… I even had a letter this gentleman had written so I would know what to say. I called many offices and spoke out against HR6, until a woman on the other end of the line asked me what part of HR6 I opposed! She explained that it was a huge bill with hundreds of pages. She was polite in spite of my suddenly exposed ignorance. I asked that all private and homeschools not be included in this bill, and said that I supported the Armey amendment. She said that government was not allowed to tell states what to do with their education anyway. …
I sat there at the desk for a few minutes, just thinking. I wondered what else I did not know, and was this telephone campaign making us look foolish and/or panicky again. …”
– C.C.
To get back to daily business (search the Congressional Record of the 103rd Congress for the words “home schools”), the House of Representatives agreed (on page H833) to add a “Home School/Private School Freedom Amendment” written by Michael Farris:
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit, allow, encourage, or authorize any federal control over any aspect of any private, religious, or home school, whether or not a home school is treated as a private school or home school under state law. This section shall not be construed to bar private, religious, or home schools from participation in programs or services under the Act.
The New Hampshire Politics site archived email discussions about HSLDA actions before H. R. 6 became an issue for homeschooling parents. In addition to the letters to Home Education Magazine, the aftermath of H. R. 6 included:
- HR 6 and the Federalization of Homeschooling
- A Homeschooler’s History of Homeschooling, Part IV, H.R. 6
- The Ravage of Home Education Through Exclusion By Religion
In the white paper, Dr. Moore made many points, to include:
- But a “Christian” fired from a homeschool job for fraud began using a statement of faith to split states and obtain a following, His Protestant exclusivist [PE] move was joined by lawyer-preacher Mike Farris and Editor Sue Welch of TEACHING HOME magazine, making money from the move, yet it did not come from the Christ whose flag they wave.
- No one was again to organize in a state that had an established organization without the counsel and approval of that organization. Then Sue Welch took over, with not only Gregg’s cooperation, but also yours, as leaders can easily prove.
- After you twice stumbled with HSLDA, you and Mike Smith asked my endorsement, which was then valuable. I also gave you names of 100-worth homeschool attorneys we had used over the previous 15 years. But first I asked what you would do once we had good laws in the last few states. “We’ll work ourselves out of a job,” you said. But you haven’t kept your promise even though laymen can solve most cases on the phone without legal help, as we know from long experience.
- Leaders have snowed us with calls, faxes, letters, etc. since your HR-6 alarm, asking us to do something to show that homeschools are not inferiority-complexed and defensive.
- Mike, you say I am senile, of a false faith. You lividly said that I am a habitual liar, until you found Sharon had fibbed. Yet after apologizing, you resurrected the charge.
- Attorney Michael Farris’ homeschooling alarms in states from Coast to Coast, and federally over the last four years, and particularly his national alarm on the HR-6 amendment, constitute a serious tactical error if homeschooling is to be known for its serious contribution to American education instead of simply another passing educational fancy, and if it is to be truly respected by legislators instead of pressuring them.
That is enough, even though the white paper continues for 21 more pages in a 10-point font face.
All this leads me to the reason for this blog post — the recent praise of Raymond Moore by Michael Smith of HSLDA.
Because I subscribed to Home Education Magazine in 1994, I knew about the discord caused by H. R. 6 and I remember the unease and confusion it caused me, even though I lived in Germany. After I ‘got online’ years later, I read the white paper written by Dr. Moore, so that I learned the later part of the controversy. Because of all this background, the column by Mr. Smith praising Dr. Moore surprised me.
Honoring Moore’s achievements, 20 August 2007, The Washington Times, Washington, D.C.
The home-school community owes a great debt of gratitude to Raymond S. Moore, who died July 13 at age 91.
Mr. Moore was instrumental in developing the modern home-school movement. Without his early involvement, it’s likely that home-schooling would not be as popular as it is today.
…
The Home-School Legal Defense Association is thankful for the life work of Mr. Moore and greatly appreciates his pioneering efforts to rejuvenate home-schooling, which has grown exponentially since the early 1980s as more and more parents discover the truths Mr. Moore expressed more than 50 years ago.
After the H. R. 6 … event …, not much passed between the two ‘sides.’ Just to double-check myself, I did a Google search for “Moore HSLDA.” The search provided nothing new.
I don’t know that I like having an opportunity to air out the dirty homeschooling linen again, but to allow the seemingly gracious column about Dr. Moore’s death to stand without comment in light of all that occurred would be to sweep under the rug:
- the monumental effect of H. R. 6 on the homeschooling community of the time
- the estrangement between former colleagues
- ruined relationships among homeschoolers
- broken homeschooling groups
- Dr. Moore’s own reaction to H. R. 6 plus HSLDA’s activities, and the effects of these actions on homeschooling
It is nice that Mr. Smith included a personal note about Dr. Moore’s influence on the Smith family’s homeschooling, although he fails throughout the column to use Dr. Moore’s honorific of “doctor.” Despite this, for me to read the column and not comment would be to condone the impression of friendly partnership that did not exist. It was as if Ken Starr died and Bill Clinton published a eulogy.
posted by Valerie
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[...] in-depth post by our news editor, Valerie Moon, explains why many knowledgeable long-time activists in the [...]
While the history between Dr. Moore and HSLDA may be long and complicated, isn’t Mr. Farris allowed to say something nice about someone who died? Can’t we just forgive and forget sometimes? Yes, HSLDA is hyper-defensive and can be exclusionist Christian – but does that mean they’re not allowed to eulogize Dr. Moore?
Thanks for the comment, Karen. It is a question that deserves an answer.
I thought about that, too, which is why I said I’m not pleased at the opportunity to rehash ‘old business.’ The problem is, it isn’t ‘old business.’ The repercussions from the division of the national homeschooling community are still with us, and they are now almost ‘institutionalized’ in places, such as with SOF groups.
If there was any sign of contrition, attempts at reconcilliation, or even an acknowledgement of other people’s points of view on the part of HSLDA, I would think that the eulogy was a gracious tribute to Raymond Moore. But there has been no outward evidence of any of that, and thirteen years is enough time to … do something, anything.
I just looked at HSLDA’s website and searched for “Raymond Moore.” The results are: Results 1 – 9 of 9 for Raymond Moore, with the progam’s caveat, “we have omitted some entries very similar to the 9 already displayed.” With the similar items included, there are 22 entries.
To get a feel for the comparative value of these listings, I did other searches.
Results 1 – 10 of about 9,000 for Abeka
Results 1 – 10 of about 4,410 for Bob Jones
Results 1 – 10 of about 1,040 for door
Results 1 – 10 of about 949 for military
Results 1 – 10 of about 786 for Rod and Staff
Results 1 – 10 of about 255 for Navy
Results 1 – 10 of about 218 for Army
Results 1 – 10 of about 161 for cat (note: includes the CAT test)
Results 1 – 10 of about 137 for Air Force
Results 1 – 10 of about 130 for Guam
Results 1 – 10 of about 115 for Dobson
Results 1 – 10 of about 57 for Marines
Results 1 – 10 of about 45 for Jerusalem
Results 1 – 10 of about 32 for beans
Results 1 – 10 of about 27 for Buchanan
Results 1 – 10 of about 25 for Teresa Moon
Results 1 – 10 of about 24 for Rushdoony
Results 1 – 10 of about 20 for sink
Results 1 – 9 of 9 for plaid
Results 1 – 6 of 6 for curtains
Results 1 – 6 of 6 for puppy
Results 1 – 5 of 5 for dishwasher
I think sometimes people agree to disagree. It’s kind of like homeschoolers who disagree with me on my philosophies of child-directed home education. That does not mean that they hold anything against me as a person or as a homeschooling parent; but they disagree with my ideas.
When is a eulogy not a eulogy? When it is a PR blurb. Thanks for taking the time to lay out this sorry bit of HS history, Valerie. The memory of Dr. Raymond Moore, as a pioneer and visionary, and as a man of honesty and ethics, is best served by telling the truth.
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I would have thought that in the use of an outlet like the Washington Times, Dr. Moore would have been referred to as …Dr. Moore. There is a persistent influx towards government oversight of our children from pre-natal up. One of the biggies is universal preschool and Smith/HSLDA are aware of this as I read their e-lerts here and there.
Why not use that non-homeschool forum to wake folks up and point them straight to Dr. Moore’s articles and research about early (and natural) learning without walls or institutions? (Links abound for the Moores’ work.) They’re insightful and dead on. Now that would have been useful. And it would have continued on Dr. Moore’s legacy. I think his work is timeless and am very grateful for his vision.
Instead, for the general public, Dr. Moore’s credentials were taken away by reference to Mr. Moore again and again throughout that article. It was SO disrespectful and from the homeschool/family advocacy point of view; stupid.
Thanks for taking the time and writing up the information, Valerie.
I do not know where to begin. Dr. Moore was a homeschool icon. A leader, a mentor and truly “homeschooling’s Grandpaâ€. His research and writings helped – not just me – but probably thousands to be better parents and people. I waited to write something until the anger about J. Michael Smith’s “editorial†passed because I know Dr. Moore would not have wanted his passing to be remembered with anger. He just wasn’t like that.
I write from the heart, not for profit. I write because Dr. Moore was a tremendous influence on my family, not because I want to associate myself with him. I write because Dr. Moore will be truly missed, not because it’s an opportunity to promote myself. These are my words, I have no “media department†to write them for me.
Dr. Moore spent his life making the lives of others better. He was Dr. Moore and used his education and knowledge to encourage, reassure and reaffirm that parents are the best people to instruct their children. To lessen his many achievements by demeaning his educational stature is reprehensible and will not stand. Dr. Moore was so much more than his detractors could ever hope to be.
It would be an awful thing if Dr. Moore was remembered, not for his achievements, but because those who had treated him shabbily in life used his passing to try and redeem their own bad behavior and belittle Dr. Moore. An apology would have been more appropriate; it was missing in that sadly misplaced and inappropriate “editorialâ€. But I also know Dr. Moore was much too humble and Godly to ask for it himself.
Dr. Moore’s words will echo through homeschooling for generations to come because he will always be “homeschooling’s Grandpaâ€. I cannot think of anyone else that even comes close; his life truly meant something because of the person he was and no one can take that away from him. No one.
M-M
Thanks for giving us the information. I didn’t start homeschooling till 2001, but knew there were problems back then. This fiasco was mentioned in the book Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement, by sociologist Mitchell Stevens, but I don’t recall his discussing Dr Moore’s paper.
Hi, I am interested in Valerie’s account of this situation, of which I was unaware. I am interested especially in the way she said this over-reaction to H.R. 6, fueled by HSLDA, served to divide homeschoolers among themselves, create discord in the homeschooling community. I was not aware of this situation, but I wonder: Could this have been an accident, or was it a deliberate strategy on the part of HSLDA? Whether or not it was, how did it serve to divide the homeschool community? Thank you for any information you can provide.
Michael Farris announced the formation of the National Center for Home Education in January 1990 to serve the nation’s home education leaders and their families. Proposals included “[A]n active presence in Washington D.C. representing home-schooling interests…[M]onitoring new legislation in all 50 states and at the federal level by means of a computer network…hosting national and regional Leadership Symposiums…[M]aintenance of a resource center for the types of referrals and home-schooling information…[A]ggressive media relations and placement of public service announcements as required for national issues..†and “mailings directed towards state leadership.†(Michael Farris: “Announcing the National Center for Home Educationâ€, The Teaching Home, April/May 1990, page 19.)
According to Michael Farris, HSLDA created the Congressional Action Program as a response to the election of President Bill Clinton in 1992: “We wanted to be prepared for any attack coming form the education establishment and their friends in government.†(Michael Farris: “Freedom Works: Ask the Home Schoolers†from Not With My Child you Don’t by Robert Holland. Virginia: Chesapeake Capital Publishing, 1995. Page10-17.)
In February of 1994 the National Center became involved in lobbying against an amendment introduced by George Miller (D-CA), to the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (H.R. 6).
On February 14, “Rep Dick Armey (R-TX) offers an amendment in committee to exempt home-schoolers and private schools from the teacher-certification requirement. George Miller leads the entire Democratic side of the committee in voting down the Armey language. Miller’s vote makes clear in retrospect that the intent of the school bill has from the beginning been to regulate home-schoolers.†Michael Farris and HSLDA began a blitz involving phone and fax alerts, in addition to radio and TV appearances against the amendment. On February 21, Miller sent out a letter blaming the ‘far right’ for the telephone blitz. The letter contained personal attacks that led to Armey protesting Miller’s conduct. The one-week blitz continued until February 24, when the House voted to pass the Ford compromise amendment. Only Miller voted against it. The final Armey amendment was passed later that same day, 374 to 53.†(Grover T. Norquist, “Home Ruleâ€, American Spectator Magazine, June 1994, Vol. 27, Issue 6, page 52.)
Some homeschoolers felt the effort was a positive demonstration of their political power while others felt it was over reaction.
Valerie included links to Dr. Moore’s White Paper and a couple other articles about HR 6. Much of the information about the HR 6 incident have disappeared over time, but those are still available and give a good account of what happened.
Personally, I think HSLDA over-reacted. I do not believe HSLDA used HR 6 to further divide homeschooling along religious lines; I believe that happened much earlier as Michael Farris sought to create a constituency for his political ambitions. I believe his manipulation of the Virginia nominating convention using HEAV members as delegates in 1993 was indicative of that, not this later event. HR 6 was simply an effort to demonstrate the political power of a lobbying organization. Was it deliberate? Yes, because it was part of the political activities of HSLDA under the umbrella of the National Center for Home Education and it’s Congressional Action Program. And I think it was a positive event in that it demonstrated HSLDA’s lobbying efforts on behalf of all homeschoolers. In that sense, it backfired on them and they became known for being lobbyists, rather than the benign homeschool ‘insurance’ plan they were previously promoting themselves as. In that sense, HR 6 was a turning point in homeschooling history because I believe it split HSLDA from the rest of the community and showed homeschoolers HSLDA’s true agenda.
M-M
Thank you, Mary, for these useful details! I agree with you.