Should Regulations For Homeschooling Be Changed?
Introduction
Homeschooling is no longer regarded as a fringe idea as it used to be in the past. Before the 19th century, homeschooling was a common practice in the United States, but by the early 1980s, the practice was declared illegal in majority of the states in America. Ever since, the practice of homeschooling has dramatically gone through a rebirth. Currently, homeschooling has been legalized in all states in America. It has been estimated that the number of children who are homeschooled is currently standing between 1.1 and 2 million. This number represents 2.2% of the population of all children who are at the school going age (Prothero, 2015). However, in the recent past, there have been debates concerning regulations of homeschooling. There are some groups of people who are of the opinion that these regulations should be changed, on the other hand, there are contrary opinion. There have been many horrific cases of child abuse by their parents at home, thus pushing for regulations for home schools to be changed.
This paper explores the problems that are associated with the homeschooling that requires for the regulations in the system to be changed.
Isolation of the Children who are being homeschooled
After the bodies of a nine-year old called Stephen Gage and thirteen-year old Stoni Ann Blair were discovered in a Detroit freezer in an incidence that law enforcers believe to be as a result of an abuse from there parent, the government was prompted to come up with stringent measures to control such incidences. This because their mother called Mitchelle Blair had removed them from the main school and started to educate them at home. Prothero (2015) posits that the incidence took place probably because they were isolated and as a result there was minimum oversight from the government officials as well as the state officials. Although there are multiple groups of home schools, there are still instances of isolation that the children might be feeling when they are being educated within the confines of their parents’ homes. Therefore, it has been proposed that there should be many policies that would protect the children from potential abuse from their parents.
Failure to Meet Education Quality Standards
The other problem with homeschooling that has prompted clamor for changes in home school regulation is due to the fact that some of the homeschoolers are not receiving constitutional education standards. The American constitution has set minimum education standard that states must ensure that home schools adhere to them. The first reason is that it rejects the notion that parents have total control over their children’s education. It emphasizes on the legal requirement of both parents and children, and it further states that the parents’ control over their children while schooling is driven from the state laws. There have been arguments that there are some homeschooled children who are under taught and as a result, they are not as qualified as compared to their counterparts who are attending mainstream schools. It has also been pointed out that some of home school-instructors are not properly trained to handle the children and therefore a regulation should be there to ensure that those who are teaching children are properly trained and have met the minimum required standards for education. Most of the educational experts have proposed that the states should come up with policies that would bring homeschooling families together. These policies are meant to make the children who are in homeschooling program to receive the same quality of education as their counterparts in the mainstream schools. (Kozol, 2012).
Adults at Home May be having Criminal Records
There are some parents that might be having some criminal records and are subjecting their children to homeschooling. Consequently, parents who have opted to keep their children out of traditional schools are required by the new regulations to register with their local school district officials every year, outlining study plans and certifying that the adults or parents in the home school are not having any criminal record. The parents and adults who have committed themselves to teach their children at home must certify that they are in the right mind and are not able to harm these children at home (Reich,2002).
Conclusion
Although homeschooling has been regarded by most educational experts to be the best for building foundation for small children, it has got its shortcomings that should be re-looked into. Some of the problems that are common with homeschooling include isolation of children, failure to meet educational quality standards as required by the constitution and even chances of some parents or adults who are teaching these kids at home to have criminal records. These problems can be solved by changing the current regulations of the homeschooling in different states across the country. States should come up with different policies that would regulate these home schools. For instance, should ensure that the parents of these children who are schooled at home are properly trained and can take good care of the children.
References
Kozol, J. (2012). Savage inequalities: Children in America’s schools. Broadway Books.
Prothero, A. (2015). Efforts to Regulate Home Schooling Rekindle Controversies. PennGSE. Retrieved February 3, 2018, from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/05/13/efforts-to-regulate-home-schooling-rekindle-controversies.html#
Reich, R. (2002). Testing the boundaries of parental authority over education: The case of homeschooling. Nomos, 43, 275-313.
