The Mallard Fillmore comic strip is consistently in tune philosophically with Biblical and conservative values. It’s not often you can find cartoonists with a message that extols the positive traits of a practice such as homeschooling. In the past week, the artist, Bruce Tinsley, has taken aim at the public education system with backhanded swipes at its failures via comparison with homeschooling.
He has begun a countdown of the Top Ten Reasons Not to Home-School Your Children. He begins with:
Children really don’t need to be chained—figuratively speaking, of course—to a desk for hours each day. It truly is amazing what can be accomplished in a shorter period of time in a homeschooling environment. Next?
Unfortunately, there’s a sad truth exposed here. Remedial programs at the college level are blossoming. On the one hand, it’s good that colleges are trying to make up for the poor education received along the way by far too many students, but isn’t it a rather damning admission of failure at the lower levels? Here’s another one:
How many parents look upon school as a reprieve from taking care of their own children? Don’t worry. Let the government do it.
And finally, for today:
What happened to exceptionalism? What are our expectations for students? Homeschooling expects a lot and inspires excellence, in the majority of instances. The contrast angers many on the public school side, who then do their best to undermine parents who take charge of their children’s education. The National Education Association—terribly misnamed, by the way—seeks to put all homeschoolers under its authority through the state. Homeschoolers have to stay vigilant to maintain their liberty.
I’m looking forward to the six reasons that remain. I’ll pass them on when I see them.