British Government declares war on Home Educators

The coming war against Home Educators

I know there has been a lot of stuff going on in the states regarding the legalities of Home Education, but here in the UK the British Government has take what I can only describe as being an extraordinary step, by using one of societies ultimate taboo's in a piece of propaganda worthy of Goebbels.

Launching an "inquiry" into Home Education provisions, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families had this to say...

'Parents are able, quite rightly, to choose whether they want to educate children at home, and a very small number do. I’m sure the vast majority do a good job. However, there are concerns that some children are not receiving the education they need.
And in some extreme cases, home education could be used as a cover for abuse. We cannot allow this to happen and are committed to doing all we can to help ensure children are safe, wherever they are educated.

(emphasis mine)

As is pointed out in the Mail on Sunday article I linked above, this is an extraordinary step, and a massive attempt at smearing people.

No national inquries are launched into the school system when there have been proven cases of teachers have sexual relations with children in their care. No national inquiries are launched when, from time to time, evidence arises that members of the clergy have abused kids.

Heres the kicker. The people undertaking the "inquiry" (The government and the NSPCC) have no evidence whatsoever of any abuse carried out by Home Educators, and an NSPCC spokesperon recently admitted such on a BBC Radio 2 interview regarding the matter as can be heard here BBC iplayer - Jeremy Vine Show (you'd need to jump to an hour and five mins in) - when asked about the evidence to back up the basis for the review, the answer was this (transcribed from the show)

VIJAY PATEL: We.. the inf.. We don’t have the evidence there statistically, no.

And in a week where this;

Ofsted Intervenes at New Acadamy

Shows that the state school system is in some considerable disarray, which is providing the very reason why home education is increasing in the UK, the move smacks as being very deliberate and very very cynical.

In the UK, the law states that it is the parents, not the governments, responsibility to ensure that their child recieves a proper education.

The Education Act says this;

The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable—
(a)
to his age, ability and aptitude, and
(b)
to any special educational needs he may have,
either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

If you apply that law as it stands, those parents who sent their children to school at the state owned and run Academy mentioned in the BBC article above have actually failed to that, and you only have to look at the quotes from the article to see that's the case

"The children are being taught in temporary classrooms with no heating and no toilets.

Outside the academy earlier on Wednesday, 11-year-old Nicole was dropped off by her mother, but seemed in no hurry to get to lessons. She told us there was "not much learning going on". "It's difficult to get much work done when there's supply", she said. "People just mess around."

Indeed, if you research the story of the Academy, the intervention was bought about after a 14 year old kid decided his future was important, and set up a Bebo group to make a stand against the conditions at the school. His actions were - allegedly - greeted with being locked in a classroom and threatened with expulsion from the school (I have no link to prove this, but the local community is apparently abuzz with it)

Most parents in the UK home educate because the system is failing their kids. The state run schools run to a national curriculum designed to produce results so that the schools can score points and rank themselves on Ofsted league tables to retain their "status".

The system is exam and result orientated, leaving very little room for individuality. Emphasis is on qualifications only, not personal development, in classrooms of 30 kids or more per teacher. In essence its battery schooling.

That - apparently - to the UK government is acceptable. No cause for concern. Kids in overcrowded classes, in falling down schools with anarchistic teaching and control methods is acceptable.

No national enquiry into potential abuse there.

And yet a parent who decides that their child is an individual, and that their needs are important, or a parent of a special needs child who believes that the school system can't cater for their child, or the parent of a child who has been bullied to the point of severe depression and can't face school at all..... well.....they get labelled as potential abusers with no evidence to support the claim.

Theres a lot of talk on ATS about governmental supression of ideas and freedoms, and to be frank some of that talk is misguided, but this is a direct and open attempt at smear and suppression by a government obsessed with control over parental issues in a nanny state desgined to churn out "success" and conformity at any cost.

Its just plain wrong.

The Governement is probably scared of having the home tutored children becoming 'free thinkers' and it goes against the Governments attempts to program the children, which is something they don't like and can't have.

So why not whip up a #storm and say that all home tutors are actually Paedo's and abuser's of children.
That way all people will look most unkindly towards the home schooling and send their kids to state run programming centres, Errm , I mean schools.

Most Home tutors school their children at home for the following reasons..

The curriculum is something useful to the child's future.
The schools in the area are normally dire with out of date books and a biased study form.
Its cheaper to home study than to pay exhorbitant school fees.

The only downside I can think of which can also be a upside depending on how you look at it, is that the child has no real social contact with other children, upside is won't join any gangs or get bullied and won't learn any criminal behaviour.

Originally posted by DataWraith
The only downside I can think of which can also be a upside depending on how you look at it, is that the child has no real social contact with other children,

Thats actually a misnomer - most areas have coordinated hom-ed activities that provide interaction between the kids, and its not as if the kids are prevented from networking in the local community at other times such as evenings and weekends

(I have friends who home educate! by the way)

[edit on 29 Jan 2009 by neformore]

Very interesting thread indeed. Thanks for the link to the article.

I always been a strong advocate that modern-secondary schooling (purely as an example here) is almost entirely a flawed system. That is, however, not to suggest that the children with higher apptitudes find ways - themselves to diversify their learning ability, but in general the ''system'' that is the National Curriculum is vastly criticised, often by PTA's, for it's INability to cater for essential tools children need to prepare them for a working environment.

I personally cannot agree or disgree on that issue as I'm not a parent. I do have two friends (wives of friends) who teach at both infant/primary and secondary level - both of which find it astonishing how the government sets targets and results, not just by examination results, but also key-stage level monitoring. Anyway, it's a field I do not know enough about to comment more in that department.

Back to topic....(sorry). Home education, in my opinion, COULD have the potential to be exceptionally rewarding, particularly in those families where the childs education is one of a number of priorities, among social skills, sporting and other activities. If you have a moderatly educated parent for example or can afford to finance the private tutoring then there are always benefits, I see little wrong in it. Although, of course there are the more obvious issues such as the social implications but one must question the very ettiquette of schooling at ALL ages these days only to realise that it's far from encourgaing.

I understand that it can be a bit of a misnomer to say that kids schooled at home have less social interaction , and I apologise, I meant to say that the old thinking was that way, but these days with 'facebook' , emails , mobiles and 'social internet' it makes it easier to have social interaction even if its via wires and computer cables.
That way even if the hids ae scolled at home , they can have a very social agenda given to them by their parents and meet new friends that way.
.
God I'm so old

I disagree with home education if children can’t read, write or count. This is the case with many of the children from travelling communities. Travelling communities are full of criminals for a number of reasons (the lifestyle has many obvious advantages). But it’s genuinely true many can’t even read. I work part time at a supermarket and there's been a number of times when travelling accents have asked me to read product names for them (usually cos the packaging has changed).

That’s not to say I'm instantly optimistic the government agenda here is well meaning. I never am. But parents should be required to prove that they have been successfully teaching their children (with an obvious exception made for those who send them to rubbish local schools).

[edit on 090705 by Liberal1984]

Originally posted by Liberal1984
But parents should be required to prove that they have been successfully teaching their children

How do you define success? Is it in terms of number of passes and statistics on a forced agenda, or in terms of happiness and stability following routes that the child actually finds interesting?

Aside from that though - don't you have a view on home educators being labelled as potential child abusers? What are your thoughts on that?

I would think that home schooled would probably learn better because of less distractions but I'm far from an expert and was never one who took school to seriously.

But surely to get the same grades they have to take the same tests and then it should be easy to spot if there is a problem.

Next step = outlawing private schools under the notion that it is unfair for some students to get a better education (indeed this was attempted covertly by trying to refuse charity status to private schools).

How else would the government ensure an entire indoctrinated generation?

reply to post by 44soulslayer


It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. However, I don't think certain figures of the government themselves having schooled their children predominantly through the 'private' system would endorse any such motion.

Money talks and I think private education forms a solid base for certain social circles (in my experience) so if there's guaranteed funding from parenting, above and beyond what is deemed adequate, then there's every liklihood those select few individuals have far better opportunities but that's another issue altogether.

I just think systematically, it's another way of crushing non-comformist 'liberal' idealism of education. I'm neither for or against (slightly on the fence you might say), but either way the current education system is flawed.

i flag this one good find and good story i always said home education is better than school education any day of the week.

I graduated from public high school in 1965. If schools were like they were then we would not need home schooling. But schools are more like holding pens now. Not much being taught these days.

I took my daughter out of public school at age 14 and home schooled her. She is a business owner today and doing well. I home schooled my son beginning when he was 13. He is celebrating his 10th year in a very successful business of his own this year.

It seems schools are even worse now. I home school one of my grandsons and he works a part time job. I pay $600.00 each month for my youngest granddaughter to go to private school.

The argument that there could be abuse in a home schooling situation is ridiculous to use as an excuse to stop home schooling. We may as well close all churches and public schools if that is the criteria for a closing.

As far as I'm concerned public schools are failing to educate our children properly. It is a parents duty to make sure their child's education is as good as it can be. If public schools aren't doing it then it's up to parents to get the job done.

Nef,
You may want to consider embedding background music for this thread, Pink Floyd perhaps.

I'm really surprised this is happening in the UK.
..but then again this almost explains the attempt by the Brit educational system to rewrite History.
I remember an article from a few years back that reported 50% of Brits had never heard of Aushwitz.

"Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone!"

Originally posted by neformore

How do you define success? Is it in terms of number of passes and statistics on a forced agenda, or in terms of happiness and stability following routes that the child actually finds interesting?

I completely agree that success in education is ultimately the discovery of new routes the child finds stimulating-useful.
But I’d disagree completely if you don’t also believe it’s initially the grasping of common basic skills such as being able to read, write, and count.

As for the gov’s apparent concern that home educators could be potential child abusers; they are of course write providing you take into account that every stranger, is to every child, a statistical threat to this child.
The gov may indeed have a point if it turns out child abuse is more common in the home educated; but I’d be hard stretched to believe it’s simply because they’re home educated. (If true) it’s probably got more to do with the socially depravity that's proven to correspond with economic poverty-desperation.
This economic poverty may be caused by a lack of basic education since people who can’t read, write, or count ect don’t exactly have diverse job-income opportunities.

They have pretty much tried to do this all over the globe.
Almost made it like people need a license to school there own children.
Its about political education, they want children at school to be politically educated to support the globalists.
Also to show people that there children are NOT there children, but belong to the corporation.

And in some extreme cases, home education could be used as a cover for abuse.

And in some extreme cases, schools could be used as a cover for abuse. They don't tell you that, do they?

Former head of the FBI Los Angeles Ted Gunderson explains this in detail.
Maybe the organised pedophilia industry doesn't want their access to children taken away?

I think that excuse to try to control home schooling is sick, given who some of these people are. We should declare war on them instead.

Originally posted by Liberal1984
As for the gov’s apparent concern that home educators could be potential child abusers; they are of course write providing you take into account that every stranger, is to every child, a statistical threat to this child.

I beg your pardon? You're suggesting that a home envionment with the childs parents is more dangerous than putting the child in the trust of people you don't know, in a school? Seriously?

The gov may indeed have a point if it turns out child abuse is more common in the home educated; but I’d be hard stretched to believe it’s simply because they’re home educated.

You've not been reading my posts have you? The government has NO evidence, at all, to back up this idea.

Originally posted by neformore

Originally posted by Liberal1984
But parents should be required to prove that they have been successfully teaching their children

How do you define success? Is it in terms of number of passes and statistics on a forced agenda, or in terms of happiness and stability following routes that the child actually finds interesting?

Aside from that though - don't you have a view on home educators being labelled as potential child abusers? What are your thoughts on that?

As someone suggested last week; performance related pay for teachers. Hold back on salaries for 15-20 years until it can be seen whether teaching had produced good producers/consumers.

Joking aside, success should not be defined by statistics. This is the largest area of "scripture" rife with demonic abuse.

Home educators labeled as potential child abusers? This is blatant demonisation, pure and simple. Frankly I'm not surprised either. Government seems increasingly intent on controlling all aspects of citizens' lives.