“HARFORD COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) ― A Harford County child starves to death, leaving a senator to wonder if the state should be checking in on the welfare of children who are schooled at home.”
I see a headline similar to this about 4 times a year. A parent who happens to homeschool their children or who claims to be homeschooling their children does the unthinkable. Instead of the tragedy being addressed for what it is, however, it is used to vilify homeschooling as a whole.
What is interesting is that when abuse happens outside of homeschooling it is addressed as what it is. No one calls for a referendum on public schooling, or on all parents in a certain region if the child in question was not homeschooled.
For a point of comparison, I did a little experiment. I did a Google search for “child abuse homeschool”. The results gave me links that led to three different homeschooling with abuse issues. There were eleven results in all. I then did a Google search for “child abuse” without homeschooling. The results numbered to 299,625. To be fair, I also Googgled “child abuse parent” and got 3,101 results, and “child abuse teacher” and got 1,023 results. Then I Googled “teacher sex scandal” and the results totaled 114. All of these results were for the last month. Even if you considered the fact that only 3% of the US population homeschools, you would still find that the results are still stacked in favor or homeschooling being a safer choice.
I am not trying to dismiss cases of parent abuse of homeschooling children in stating these facts. I am simply attempting to put it into context. There are going to be bad parents who homeschool. That is a fact. Yet I do not feel that placing all homeschoolers under scrutiny is the way to go. If you look at the fact that in the public school system, it is up to the teacher to evaluate children for signs of abuse, and pair that with the fact that teachers are one of the largest abusers of children, you have to know that something is wrong with this system.
Before you allow yourself to get offended by my last statement, you need to realize that this is exactly home homeschoolers are pigeonholed as abusers without looking at the individuals. Just as I do not believe that all teachers need to be under scrutiny in case they abuse the children in their charge, I also think it is unfair to scrutinize all homeschooling parents when one parent has issues.
Read:
Has the California Verdict Affected Your View on Homeschooling?
*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.
* Have you seen the homeschooling curriculum glossary?