[Reprinted from the CHEC Homeschool Update, Volume 2, Issue #116, 2023. 720-842-4852. CHEC.org]
âIt does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.â â Samuel Adams
Early in our nationâs history, brushfires of freedom sustained our independence from a tyrannical empire. Other brushfires throughout our history brought forward a civil war, womenâs suffrage, civil rights, abortion rights, marriage rights, and, more recently, gender rights. Not all these brushfires fulfilled the desired rallying cry of freedom because they were not grounded in Godâs righteousness.
Today, a brushfire is sweeping across the nation calling itself âschool choice.â A majority of state legislatures introduced bills this year to establish programs to fund private schools and home education.
Not a True Choice
In the early years of the homeschool movement, a spark grew into a brushfire of freedom in large part because families were willing to sacrifice for the cause. For the Christians in the movement, Godâs command to disciple their children was the central driving force. They saw clearly the trajectory of the government schools and its goal of stealing the souls of their children. Despite the real threat of being imprisoned, following God was not an option; it was the only choice.
Purveyors of the school choice movement are trying to convince homeschoolers that government money provides a way for families to choose the best education for their children. But what theyâre selling is a false choice. All the choices they are presenting will be ruled by government bureaucrats. We all inherently know: what the government funds, the government runs.
Most of the âschool choiceâ bills introduced this year include bigger government and increased regulations for private and home educators who choose to accept taxpayer funds. Big, new government bureaucracies in partnership with private entities are built to manage the oversight of the funding. Requirements for homeschoolers using the funding often include frequent meetings with certified teachers, usage of curriculum tied to state standards, and yearly testing. Basically, itâs public school at home. A choice weâve already rejected.
True Brushfires of Freedom
It is time to rekindle the sparks that began the homeschool movement some fifty years ago and revive the brushfire of educational freedom. Government-funded programs will never bring Godâs truth to bear on the realities of this world. Brushfires begin within each heart and mind that is set on the truth of Godâs Word. Jesus set us free and gave us liberty; it is this truth that God commands us to set ablaze in our children.
School choice advocates are relying on the greed of man to propel their cause. Politicians, nonprofits, and governments benefit from the enlargement of the government-funded and run education system and the number of people growing dependent on it. Yet, our cause rests in the humility of utter reliance on God for our very breath and a growing awe of who He is. The time has come to set afresh the brushfire that first brought us freedom and to lead others â especially our children â to the liberty found only in Jesus.
Carolyn Martin, CHECâs Director of Government Relations, and her husband, Todd, began homeschooling their three children in upstate New York before moving to Colorado in 2004. Her passion is to see homeschooling remain free from government intrusion for future generations.
To learn more about Christian Home Educators of Colorado, please visit CHEC.org.
I recently wrapped up a year leading Challenge A with Classical Conversations (CC) students. On our last day, the students took turns reading their assigned persuasive essays. While each student chooses his/her own topic, two of the students had chosen the same topic.
But⌠**dramatic pause⌠they chose different sides!
When the second student finished reading his essay that argued opposite to the first, do you know what happened? Absolutely nothing! In fact, the entire class sat unfazed and the next student began to read his essay. They didnât rush to take sides, they didnât vote against or âcancelâ the minority opinions⌠no name calling, and no identity crises. These students havenât been taught to be offended.
They have been taught to look at the merits of an idea as a distinct thing, regardless of the person, their character, their tribe, their emotions, its perceived urgency, and the many other distractions that keep us from discerning the ideaâs own merit. We call these logical fallacies and our students learn how to set them aside and simply ask, âIs this a good idea, or not?â
The studentsâ ânon-reactionâ is so profound because, as adults in the classroom of the world, we know participants are almost always âtriggeredâ and public discourse seems to revolve around every angle EXCEPT actual merit. If we want to be virtuous participants in this sphere, the question we must first ask ourselves is, âIn what way do I need to remove similar logs from my own eyes?â With log-less vision we will see issues more clearly.
Another hinderance to our clear vision is social cliques. Our objectivity can be blurred when everyone in our perceived tribe seems to be unified in their position. A prominent topic that is plagued with these types of emotional baggage is âSchool Choiceâ.
âSchool Choiceâ is Misleading
Some advocates of âschool choiceâ begin their appeal through statistical argument. A recent publication opened with the 2022 Real Clear Politics Poll that argued that â72% of Americans support school choiceâ the ability of parents to choose the school that best fits their childrenâs needs.â
Why is this significant? First, this communicates the sentiment that âvirtually everybody agreesâ. If this premise was asserted in my Challenge A classroom, students would instinctively reply, âSo what?â This says nothing about whether the viewers should agree with this issue or not.â We call this a bandwagon fallacy.
Additionally, the term âSchool Choiceâ itself suffers from equivocation. Presently, educational options are legal and available in all 50 states, meaning that proponents equivocate âSchool Choiceâ with âtaxpayer funding for free-market productsâ.
The label âSchool Choiceâ forces critics to take an âanti-choiceâ position.
Can you think of another political movement that has lead this way? This idea has nothing to do with providing more choices. Its singular operative action is to require taxpayers to fund alternatives to the state-provided option. The question that needs an honest answer is, âshould they?â
Should taxpayers be forced to fund the free-market? Moreover, how do legislatures ensure that this money is being spent on the type of quality education that is in the publicâs best interest (âŚor for the governmentâs interest)? What accountability will follow this money to ensure it is spent the way these well-intended policies intend? Historically, how well has state government preformed this task with their current educational jurisdiction? To what degree could this idea potentially affect the cost and quality of educational options? Does the free-market stay âfreeâ once it is tax-payer funded?
Fundamentally, do we really want to expand state sponsored/regulated education, or expand actual free-market educational choice? As the emotions rise among voices on both sides of this issue, remember that the collective conversation does obligate participants to regard âsidesâ or emotional manipulation. This issue, like all issues, ought to be about ideas and not the people who hold them. This IS about a choice: the choice to lay aside these culturally acquired discernment liabilities and use those beautiful, classical tools from Challenge A.
Lauren Gideon is the Manager of Grassroots Advocacy for Classical Conversations. She co-leads and teaches through an organization committed to raising citizenship IQ on U.S. founding documents. She and her husband homeschool their 7 children on their small acreage where they are enjoying their new adventures in homesteading.
What is one thing public education and home education have in common?
The obvious answer would be . . . education. However, as we see in Vladimir Leninâs ominous promiseââGive me just one generation of youth, and I’ll transform the whole worldââperhaps transformation is the true common denominator, as transformation is always the goal of education. Therefore, at the heart of the question of whom we trust to educate our children lies the bigger question of whom we trust to transform our world.
Education in America Is Eroding
Four decades ago, Former President Ronald Reagan illuminated the outcome of trusting the declining public school systems in his 1983 report titled A Nation at Risk:
“Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world. This report is concerned with only one of the many causes and dimensions of the problem, but it is the one that undergirds American prosperity, security, and civility. We report to the American people that while we can take justifiable pride in what our schools and colleges have historically accomplished and contributed to the United States and the well-being of its people, the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people . . .
If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves . . . .
Our concern, however, goes well beyond matters such as industry and commerce [i.e. STEM & College and Career Ready]. It also includes the intellectual, moral, and spiritual strengths of our people which knit together the very fabric of our society.”
Are We Embracing Socialism?
Marion Smith, Executive Director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation states, âWhen one-in-four Americans want to eliminate capitalism and embrace socialism, we know that we have failed to educate about the historical and moral failings of these ideologies.â This startling statistic is widely evident in the government-controlled school systemsâ promotion of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Social Emotional Learning (SEL), Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and LGBTQ++ coercion, where children are deceitfully maneuvered from parental teaching to state indoctrination.
Undeniably, a parent is charged to âtrain up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from itâ(Proverbs 22:6); however, in an act of calculated division, totalitarians such as Hitler, Lenin, and Mao have used this proverb in their attempts to eradicate the family and shape the minds of the upcoming generation with the intent to, in those infamous words of Lenin, â. . . transform the whole world.â This exceedingly conspicuous tactic is front and center throughout America today, and has been clearly spelled out in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #4of the United Nations Agenda 2030, with which the United States has cooperated:
“Our vision is to transform lives through education, recognizing the important role of education as a main driver of development and in achieving the other proposed SDGs. We commit with a sense of urgency to a single, renewed education agenda that is holistic, ambitious and aspirational, leaving no one behind. This new vision is fully captured by the proposed SDG 4 âEnsure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for allâ and its corresponding targets. It is transformative and universal, attends to the âunfinished businessâ of the EFA [Education For All] agenda and the education-related MDGs [Millennium Development Goals], and addresses global and national education challenges. It is inspired by a humanistic vision of education and development based on human rights and dignity; social justice; inclusion; protection; cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity; and shared responsibility and accountability.”
Is the intent of this agenda not clearly statedââto transform livesâ through global state control of education and the Marxist indoctrination of children?
The Family is the Solution
This agenda is in stark contrast to American parentsâ unique success in cultivating a firm foundation of freedom in our nation, even before the development of our Constitution. Historically, American families have worked, worshiped, and educated while being undergirded with the self-evident truth that sacrifice over self-service, and self-governance over government restraint cultivates freedom, yet our modern families continue to succumb to the subtle and consistent conditioning toward the UNâs divisive preference to bring all schools under government control.
Now, more than any time in our nationâs history, is the time for parents to boldly and courageously assert our inherent responsibility to direct the upbringing and education of our children and vehemently reject the UN reportâs claim that âthe State remains the duty bearer of education as a public good.â
Now is the time for families to awaken from their self-imposed financial slumber, revive atrophied personal civic responsibilities, recalibrate family priorities, and recapture their God-given right to educate by exiting the institutions of indoctrinationâthe government-controlled Kâ12 schooling systems.
Now is the time for families to cultivate and practice ownership and discipline with the honorable motive of self-governance and freedom.
Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, states, âIf a nation takes on the character of its people then our classrooms are ultimately about formation of citizens and souls.â Family is the best classroomânot government, entitlements, or vouchers.
Family necessitates devotion to one another, to our work, and to our inheritance.
Family promotes time-honored values, protects the dignity of life and marriage, and is the most trustworthy institution in civilization.
Family teaches that work is worship, and you must pay your own wayâfreedomâs prerequisites.
Ronald Reagan once said, âThe family has always been the cornerstone of American society. Our families nurture, preserve, and pass on to each succeeding generation the values we share and cherish, values that are the foundation of our freedoms.â3
Through devotion, sacrifice, and commitment, the family establishes, inculcates, and maintains freedom. Families, therefore, are incomparable educators and the trustworthy remnant to guarantee that enduring transformation occurs in the world.
Regina Piazza is a thirteen-year home educator with Classical Conversations and has held multiple roles including Tutor, Director, and Support Representative. She is a former Air Force veteran and two-time business owner who ran for Florida State Senate for the first time in 2022. She is currently working to preserve education and religious freedom as Classical Conversationâs Florida State Advocate.
OCEANetwork is tracking five bills pertaining to homeschool freedoms in Oregon.
Four bills relate to school choice (government funding for private education) with a possibility of added regulations laterâsome with the goal of tracking every student in the state and obtaining their personal data.
The fifth bill deals with truancy fines for homeschoolers.
âPeople say that public schools are broken. They are not broken. They are doing exactly what they were created to do. You hear people say, âOh, theyâre failing.â No, theyâre not failing. They are succeeding beyond the wildest hopes and dreams of their founders.â â Israel Wayne
In this episode of Refining Rhetoric, Robert Bortins is joined by Israel Wayne, a homeschool dad of eleven children, the director of Family Renewal Ministries, and the author of multiple books. Robert and Israel discuss the origins of the public school system in America, the foundational principles on which this system is built, and ultimately, why we should be concerned about the government funding of private and home schools. If you are a parent, this episode is a must-listen!
To learn more about government-funded private education, click here.
Constitutional Home Educators Alliance has been helping parents navigate the nuances of EdChoice, ESAs, parent/school choice, vouchers, and special scholarships. Visit their site for information and research on the topic, and read why they support Education Liberty over EdChoice and similar policies.
Education policy jargon is enough to make anyoneâs head spin! What in the world is the difference between school vouchers and ESAs? How does taxpayer-funded education threaten your educational freedom? And how does so-called parent choice (or school choice) actually eliminate your educational options?
âDonât wait until you are ready to take action. Instead, take action to be ready.â âJensen Siaw
Perhaps youâd love to start communicating with your elected officials on a regular basis but are at a loss for what to discuss. Consider these possible topics:
Research School/Parent Choice or ESAs
Parental rights regarding medical decisions or general parental rights
Open communication and relationship-building takes time. Leave them with a good impression and let them know you appreciate their time and will contact them again.
If they ask you a question that you donât have the answer to, be honest. If you are able, find the answer and provide it in your follow-up. You can say something like, âThatâs a very good question. I would like to investigate that and get back to you. Thank you for asking.â
Capitol Days, Legislative Days, Homeschool Day at the Capitol, Pie Day, and other similar events foster communication between parents and their elected representatives. This is a great opportunity for you to teach your children the importance of the legislative process and help them mature into civic leaders who will help protect American freedoms. While the chart below lists January and February Capitol Days, you can check your stateâs dates here if not listed below.
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