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Freedom Action of the Week
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Free-Market.Net's F r e e d o m A c t i o n o f t h e W e e k
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Edited by Mary Lou Seymour. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this
and other lists, click to: http://www.free-market.net/features/lists/
October 1, 2002
Free the children
If you still doubt that the education received by children in
America's "public" schools is under attack by statist educators and
politicians who are convinced they know "what's best" for children,
take a look at The Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000
(CIPA).
This attack on educational freedom requires all public schools and
libraries receiving certain federal funds or discounts to install
Internet blocking or "filtering" software to prevent children from
viewing material considered by the politicians to be "harmful to
minors." The Electronic Freedom Foundation has recently
completed research that shows that no filter can identify these
illegal materials or distinguish them from valuable web content of all
kinds. The result, of course, is that "publicly" schooled children are
deprived of yet another opportunity to learn anything the politicians
deem "unsuitable." EFF is urging repeal of CIPA.
Liberty-minded proponents of "school vouchers" should take
special note: no matter that vouchers will allow parents to "choose"
a school, government schools themselves will never be able to
provide an environment suitable for a learning experience
"unapproved" by the government. Whether or not EFF is successful
in this repeal effort, there will always be another and yet another
similar attempt by the statists to control "public" educational
opportunities.
A growing number of parents have, sensibly, liberated their children
from government schools and are sending their kids to private
schools or even homeschooling. The increase in the number of
homeschoolers and the resources available to them is encouraging
to freedom lovers (and must be especially galling to the statists).
Every child removed from a government school is one less "future
citizen" that government can mold to its will.
This week, let's take a closer look at the growing movement to
"liberate children from government schools," and do our part to join
in and assist this movement toward "government-free" education!
Those with school age children, and the time and resources to do
so, should definitely look into homeschooling. Even if you believe
that you don't have the time or resources for it, there's help for "part-
time" schooling. Certainly no parent should feel "less capable" of
educating his or her children than the "experts" in the government
schools. A tutor in "weak" areas (I know I would have to find
someone else to teach algebra) might make the difference. One of
the saddest results of our dependence on government to educate
our children is the pervasive theory that children should only be
taught by specialists in special places, ignoring the wealth of
knowledge and experience individuals have that can and should be
passed on to our children.
As a starting point, check out the laws in your state controlling
homeschooling: The Home School Legal Defense Association
offers a Guide to State Laws. The Separation of School and State
Alliance provides resources for parents investigating their options,
including homeschooling, private schools, community schools,
online resources for curricula, and scholarships.
EducationalFreedom.Com also provides an excellent Family
Education Resources page, as do the Alliance for Intellectual
Freedom in Education and Lost Horizons. Each of these pages
will lead you to other resources. Indeed, the number of resources
currently available is staggering.
Those who do not have school age children can (and should) still
participate in this movement to "free the children" from government
schools. If you have not already done so, please sign the Alliance's
Proclamation, which states "I proclaim publicly that I favor ending
government involvement in education."
More importantly, you can volunteer to help and support
homeschoolers in your own community. While researching this
article, I talked to several freedom lovers who are also
homeschoolers, and all were excited about the idea of having
volunteers available for individual or group tutoring and mentoring,
as well as administrative work, PR, legislative lobbying and every
other task you can imagine.
Third, while a good proportion of homeschoolers are freedom lovers,
many, of course, may not be familiar with "liberty-oriented"
materials available for children -- for example, the "Jonathan
Gullible" series or Karl Hess's "Capitalism for Kids." One valuable
service we can perform is to help introduce these and other liberty-
oriented resources to homeschoolers, individually or through their
associations and support groups.
While it's easy to volunteer at your local "public" school, finding a
homeschooler to help may be a bit more of a challenge.
Fortunately, there is help available. The Home School Legal
Defense Association has a worldwide Guide to Home School
Organizations; Jon's Homeschool Resource Page has links to
state organizations, support groups, email lists and web pages of
homeschoolers. If there isn't already a homeschool support group
in your community, helping to organize one would be a wonderful
use of your time that would pay off big dividends for the future.
Let's join forces with the movement to "separate school and state"
and do our part to free the children, for a better chance at a free
future.
Til next week
For Freedom
Mary Lou
Links
o Electronic Freedom Foundation Alert on CIPA
http://www.free-market.net/rd/250087846.html
o Internet Filtering Software Wrongly Blocks Many Sites
http://www.free-market.net/rd/248677696.html
o Home School Legal Defense Assn. Guide to State Laws
http://www.free-market.net/rd/243084295.html
o Separation of School & State Alliance: Liberating your children from government schools
http://www.free-market.net/rd/420470697.html
o Family Education Resources
http://www.free-market.net/rd/246826700.html
o Alliance for Intellectual Freedom in Education
http://www.free-market.net/rd/221008989.html
o Lost Horizons Home School Resources
http://www.free-market.net/rd/529721032.html
o Separation of School & State Alliance Proclamation
http://www.free-market.net/rd/384807746.html
o HSLDA Guide to Home School Organizations
http://www.free-market.net/rd/240479342.html
o Jon's Homeschool Resource Page
http://www.free-market.net/rd/239359227.html
o Jonathan Gullible
http://www.free-market.net/rd/853072848.html
o Karl Hess's Capitalism for Kids
http://www.free-market.net/rd/230158477.html
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