Word: homeschoolers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...show with the most explicit cultural politics is 18 Kids, whose Duggars espouse a pro-life, Evangelical Christianity. (The dad, Jim-Bob, was an Arkansas legislator and ran for Senate in 2002.) They homeschool, reject evolution and eschew pop culture--except Today show visits and their series--and when the kids watch a DVD, an elder daughter puts a hand on the screen to hide a character's immodest dress. Watching Jim-Bob criticize Hollywood moviemaking--"It might make money for companies, but it's not good for individuals"--you're staring at the strange no-man's-land where...
...however, the same judges made an equally surprising reversal of this decision. Judge H. Walter Croskey, presiding over the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles, wrote that as long as parents declare their home to be a private school, they may continue to homeschool their children, even if the parents do not have credentials...
...pretty excited about this," says Loren Mavromati, a homeschooling mother and president of the Hayward-based California Homeschool Network, which implored the judges on the court to reconsider their ruling. "They did pay attention; they listened, learned, read and re-evaluated their opinion," she says. "It does make you have faith in the justice system...
...this may not be the last California hears of homeschooling. In reviewing the case, Judge Croskey said that this cloudy territory is in desperate need of guidelines. "California impliedly allows parents to homeschool as a private school but has provided no enforcement mechanism. ... Given the state's compelling interest in educating all of its children ... and the absence of an express statutory and regulatory framework for homeschooling in California, additional clarity in this area of the law would be helpful," he said...
...series of rulings does indeed provoke some uneasy questions. Right now, all parents have to do is file paperwork stating they are a private school. No one checks in on the students to make sure they are logging in a certain number of hours or passing certain benchmarks. While homeschooling is a "wonderful alternative," Moran says, there is a need for checks and balances. "We want parents to have the freedom to homeschool, but we don't want children to become captives in a homeschool that doesn't prepare them for work or civic engagement as a functioning adult...