Driving up the Shenandoah Valley to southern Virginia, there is
a sign that says, “Leaving the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.” The road and
scenery don’t seem to change at all.
If not for the sign, this spot would make little difference to me.
But if you were a raindrop, this sign would determine your ultimate
destination in dramatic fashion.
On one side, a raindrop would flow into the Chesapeake Bay and the
Atlantic Ocean. A few inches over, it would flow into the New River,
then the Kanawha River, the Ohio River, and eventually the Mississippi
River. What appears to be a tiny difference at the beginning can lead to
a very different place. For raindrops and worldviews.
Efforts to regulate homeschooling more strictly often begin with a
worldview quite different from that of HSLDA, which forms the
bedrock of the freedoms we have long fought to protect. Proponents
of new restrictions or regulations often argue that what they propose
today in one state is reasonable and not that different from existing
regulations in other states. Don’t be deceived.
Homeschool advocates have worked to improve homeschooling laws
little by little, year by year, state by state. The ideological opponents
of homeschool freedom are similarly determined, and in it for the
long haul. They’ve taken a page from our playbook. The reasonable
sounding regulations they propose today are likely just the camel’s nose
under the tent.
They too will begin small in one legislative session, then make another move in the next. Just like the two raindrops that fall close together, today’s “reasonable” regulation is likely to end up in the whirlpool of Harvard Professor Elizabeth Bartholet’s “presumptive ban” of homeschooling, rather than in the river of homeschool freedom.
In this issue, we cover two recent legislative proposals that exemplify the struggle we face today to maintain the freedoms we have already won. In Virginia, an attempt to repeal a religious exemption statute was quickly defeated. In Illinois, a proposal to add “reasonable” regulations drew national attention, in no small part because Black families in Chicagoland are discovering homeschooling as an oasis from Chicago public schools, and they rallied to oppose the bill in great numbers.
As I write today, the Illinois house bill is mostly dead. But make no mistake. Even if it fails this legislative session, it will likely be back next year.
HSLDA will continue to operate from the worldview that it is better for children when parents are empowered to raise, nurture, and educate them without needless barriers and restrictions.
Years ago, I wrote a cover story for this publication called “Our Silent Footnote.” Sometimes, I proposed, we advocates can focus too much on the battles we fight when we speak and write and not enough on why we fight them—as I have perhaps demonstrated once again. But I described in that article our unwavering belief, and I reaffirm it today:
We do what we do for the sake of the children. We don’t work to make homeschooling free for the benefit of the parents. To be sure, homeschool freedom helps to smooth parents’ path by making educational variety more accessible and removing the pressure and anxiety of complying with restrictive regulations. And homeschooling can be immensely rewarding for parents themselves. But we do what we do because we believe, on balance, that it is better for children when their parents have more liberty.
This bears repeating. And expanding.
Our belief—our worldview, if you will—leads us to conclude that a system where parents have wide latitude in raising their children, while not perfect, is far better for many more children than a system where the raising of children is highly regulated, restricted, and in some cases dictated by the state.
Our ideological opponents disagree. They are suspicious of parents and would add layers of needless regulations to all parents because some parents violate the sacred trust they have been given.
When you see a proposal to add “reasonable” restrictions to homeschooling, ask yourself: On which side of the worldview watershed does this proposal fall? And where does it logically lead?
At HSLDA we are advocates for homeschooling because we are advocates for children. It’s who we are, what we do, and why we do it.
