The news that the Alabama Senate committee blocks Tim Tebow Bill is certainly not surprising. You can go to the site to read more about it, but one sentence caught my eye, Erwin said the bill would not impose a burden on schools, but state education officials said the bill is unworkable because there are no academic standards for home-schooled children.
I don’t know if all state education departments are connected to public school sports, but they are in my state. If you want to play with a public school sport team here, you must enroll at least part time. I don’t know when sports got intertwined with public school academics, but it is a shame that they have, but there is no free lunch. If you want to play public school sports in my state, it has to be by their rules. I’m reminded of an excellent article written by my good friend Peggy Daly Masternak, One Problem… And One Possible Solution.
–Mary
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I’m thirteen years old going into the 8th grade and I went to a Private school and made A’s and B’s. I played for my high school soccer team and I consider myself a scholarship player. I’m not doing homeschool because I can’t behave well enough or learn right it’s because it’s what I want to do. I still want to play soccer at my school and I believe I should be able to play with my school even though I’m going to be in homeschool.
The “Tim Tebow” bill is not good for Alabama. Currently, to participate in public school athletics, students are required to maintain good grades and actually attend school on a daily basis to have the priviledge to participate. Home schooled children do not have to meet any academic standards in Alabama nor are they required to attend school on a daily basis. It is sad, but many home schooled children are just names on a home school organizational roll and receive a poor quality education. From a fairness issue, would it be fair for public school students to be required to meet rigorous academic standards while their home schooled teammates do not? There are outlets that already exist for home schooled children to participate in athletics and other areas through local recreation centers, summer leagues, travel ball teams, private gymnastic centers, private cheerleading groups, and the list could go on and on. So, if a parent chooses the home schooling route for their students, they should also realize that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. If a parent does not want their children to interact with public school students on a daily basis, why would these same parents want their children to participate with them in extracurricular events at a public school?
I agree with Chuck, my son is 14 and plays football at Trussville Middle School. If any student athlete falls below or even has a bad test score they will not play. I also know a couple of families that home school and one of them does it the right way and the kids benefit from it, matter of fact she was a teacher at one time. The others talk a good game but they let their kids sit in front of a computer while they stay busy with other things and basically ignore that they are not getting the correct skills. My son in a public school was at least 2 years ahead of his peer the same age that was home schooled. OK back on track, because of the team aspect, grades, I believe this should never happen in the state but I also believe that home schoolers should get some what of a break on their taxes. If we give this tax break then they have no leg to stand on.
Someone like Tebow only comes along once in a life time and 99% of home school parents use him to say “see home school makes my kid better than yours in every way” well this is simply not true.
Chuck and Tiger,
You folks are making a lot of claims with no evidence to back them up. Period. It is also curious to me that Alabama public school zealots get so worked up about this issue. What are you so afraid of? Seriously? The average home schooled student is bright, well-educated and mature. And as one of you says, their parents also pay taxes that support your students in school. And Tiger’s final sentence is just wrong. He is only used as an example to illustrate that Alabama ought to get with the program and allow students access to public tax-payer funded athletics. If you guys are so wise from your public school educations you should do your homework before making the kinds of claims you do. And if you are so secure with your decisions to let the public teachers of Alabama form the characters of your children, you ought not be so defensive about home schoolers just wanting to play competitive sports with your children.
Chuck and Tiger are afraid talented home school kids will play and their kids will sit on the bench. My child is home schooled and plays for a private school by taking one class there. He starts on both offense and defense. Sometimes parents aren’t happy because their kids sit the bench, but the best players are the ones who should start.
I would let him play at the local public high school, but they do not let you play unless you attend full time. I worked at a school and found that alot of teachers, after a few years, don’t care about the students and are only there for a paycheck. I also believe I am the one who should be teaching my child values and not a liberal teacher teaching from a liberal book that does not reflect my values.
Ultimately, I pay taxes which support the schools and I only want to use a small portion of what they offer. I should be afforded this since I pay for it. If the schools are concerned about what my child is learning they can give him a test once a month to determine if he is learning what a traditional student is and base his eligibility off that.