DISCONNECT
Here’s the reason I asked the survey question below:
NASHVILLE, TN, Aug 11, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — Until last Friday, more than 8 in 10 Americans were at odds with a California appeals court that ruled in February that “parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children,” according to just-released data from LifeWay Research.
In fact, 86 percent of those polled by LifeWay Research in an April telephone survey agreed with the statement: “Parents have a constitutional right to homeschool their children.”
For HERP&ES victims, only 13% agreed.
12 Responses to “DISCONNECT”
![]() Comment by Lisa Giebitz August 21st, 2008 at 10:23 am |
I wonder what the results would be if you changed the question to: Should homeschooling be a constitutionally protected right? |
![]() Comment by Daryl Cobranchi August 21st, 2008 at 11:21 am |
I imagine the results would be significantly different. I’m more interested, though, in where the 86% of folks who agreed think the right lies? 9th? 10th? 33 1/3? |
![]() Comment by Lisa Giebitz August 21st, 2008 at 12:59 pm |
Most would say the first, I bet. |
![]() Comment by COD August 21st, 2008 at 1:03 pm |
A lot of them will probably say the right lies in The Bible. |
![]() Comment by Rob August 21st, 2008 at 1:11 pm |
I figure the closest we got to homeschooling in the Constitution is the 10th amendment: “Anything not in the constitution is none of the fed’s dang business and is up to the states, until such time that the feds make a power play and claim everything under the sun impacts interstate commerce.” |
![]() Comment by Daryl Cobranchi August 21st, 2008 at 2:39 pm |
I could, perhaps, buy the 9th Amendment. But not the 10th which really says and does nothing. |
![]() Comment by JJ Ross August 21st, 2008 at 11:31 pm |
John Holt wrote a piece that suggested the first, fourth, ninth and fourteenth amendments were all helpful. . . but Paul Danaher sniffs at that and says Holt overstated the case. I see home education as sort of like privacy and tobacco control laws — not exactly in the constitution but arguably consistent? |
![]() Comment by JJ Ross August 21st, 2008 at 11:32 pm |
Daryl, I love your version of the tenth! So true, so true. . . |
![]() Comment by Daryl August 22nd, 2008 at 4:40 am |
Rob’s? |
![]() Comment by speedwell August 22nd, 2008 at 7:19 am |
The right to homeschool is not in the Constitution for a very good reason: it would never have occurred to the authors that someone would need, someday, to seek explicit protection in the highest law of the land for the right to educate their own children. They would as soon have thought of including, in so many words, the right to feed them. Homeschooling is not a right but a duty. |
![]() Comment by Lisa Giebitz August 22nd, 2008 at 9:36 am |
I (mostly) agree with Speedwell. It just wouldn’t have occurred to the framers that such a clause would become necessary, since they (obviously) didn’t foresee government schools. |
![]() Comment by JJ Ross August 22nd, 2008 at 6:23 pm |
Shoot, yes, I see it was Rob’s — good one, Rob. |