In a world where non-traditional schooling such as charter schools and home schooling continue to appeal to parents, the leaders of our democratic republic who fear innovation cannot simply wipe out this option. To do so would cause quite an uproar amongst the electorate and be anathema to our constitutional principles. This being said, non-traditional schooling will always be at risk.

Bureaucrats love control, whether this be because of some emotional scaring caused by too few friends while growing up or because of some genetic desire to “do good” by imposing their ideas on everyone else. Whatever the impetus, many in government want to destroy these educational options by regulating them to death.

Home schooling parents in California were recently broadsided by a court ruling that said they needed to attain teaching licenses regulated by the state to educate their own children. Although the decision rested on whether the wellbeing of a particular child was at risk in a specific homeschooling atmosphere, the judge had no problem restricting all homeschooling households in the state. That decision is being challenged. The philosophy behind the ruling goes something like this: Only the state can create and guarantee good teachers. Can they?

Research shows that teacher licensing does not improve student performance. Further, our public schools aren’t the safest of places. So neither quality nor safety are guaranteed through state licensing. All licensing does is slowly turn innovative schools into public schools, forcing out innovation and restricting the number of potential teachers.

In North Carolina, our charter schools are at risk.

. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.