ABUSE IS NOT A HOMESCHOOLING ISSUE

A sad article was printed on the front page of the Detroit News, Today. The story is tragic; however, the spin that the reporter, Ron French, took is not only full of holes, it borders on complete stupidity. Were he my employee, I would almost assuredly fire him for obvious bias and lack of support for argument.

I can understand a knee jerk reaction from a lay person who did not do their due diligence on this matter, but I certainly didn’t expect this “spin” from a news reporter; especially in light of Michigan's current economic climate.

The sad case of child abuse, detailed in the "Lax Homeschool Laws put kids at risk," only underlines the fact that even when the child was in school, the abuse reports did NOT help her. Were there a question mark at the end of his title, it may have made more sense, however the way it stands, he's made quite a bold statement!

I suppose Mr French, would like the State to come into our homes to check on our children between the ages of birth – six years and during the summer months? They aren’t being “seen” by government schools during those points in their lives. Maybe he would like the Department of Human Services or the School Board to assign personal family case workers the moment a child is born so they can be "seen" and protected during the years they are not enrolled in traditional schools. If not, I failed to find any semblance of a point to his article.

As if his rant about "Lack of oversight" into families isn't ridiculous enough, Mr French seems to be calling for Millions of dollars to be taken from our State and Public Education system! During this economic time I cannot believe he even mentioned “testing” home educated children! Does he have any idea what that costs the States of the Union who have implemented this type of law? Even if the children are tested and they fail, the "powers that be" cannot force the children to go to school. All the school system could do is offer help to those who do poorly on the tests. That's it. Why would he suggest spending millions of dollars on homeschoolers when our children in the public schools need that money?!

Then there’s the sad truth that the SCHOOLS are failing! Even wonderful public schools have children who FAIL the tests. What is done about these children? What is being done about those in power in the school system? We all know the answer to that. Not Enough!

This case only underlines the following concerns...

1. Our Michigan schools need to be in better shape to educate the children they already have in attendance.

2. Neglect/Abuse reports made by schools are not the saving grace we hope they would be.

3. Protective Services was/is probably quite over-worked and did not follow up on the original complaints.

Those who really want to abuse their children will do it regardless of home education laws….unless he is indeed arguing that the State should be allowed to come into ALL OF OUR HOMES during summer break and early childhood. If not, this abuse case obviously has nothing to do with homeschooling or homeschooling laws.