Huckabee shameful record

Huckabee enemy of home schooling

302 Comments


An Open Letter To Homeschoolers

 

 

 

As a
father of three children, who my wife and I homeschool, I am deeply
disappointed with the recent endorsement for President of former Arkansas
Governor Mike Huckabee, by an organization which has helped a lot of us over
the years. The Home School Legal Defense Association has come out in favor of a
candidate who has touted his Christian beliefs and support of homeschoolers,
but whose record belies that support.
Like me, you
probably view any government involvement in your children’s education with a
jaundiced eye. We’ve seen the literacy and graduation rates plummet year after
year in our nation’s public schools while special interest groups constantly
pass blame for this onto parents, taxpayers and a lack of enough centralized
control.
HSDLA has for
over two decades been a great help to homeschoolers and has advocated against
those who have stood in opposition to our goals. Their staff members advised my
family when local Child Protective Services personnel wanted to investigate a
mother who we’d taken in. Their advice was invaluable and saved us from a
potentially perilous situation. But the advice they are providing with regard
to the Presidential election is a poor example of scholarly research and
appears to run counter to the ideals they’ve promoted for so many years.
As a
homeschooling parent, I hold that the state has no authority to dictate what my
children should learn or the methods by which my wife and I teach them. In
short, the state does not own my children. Mike Huckabee, whom the HSLDA has
endorsed, does not feel this way in spite of statements he has uttered
supporting that view. As Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee showed a poor
understanding of this fundamental truth and advocated that parents be forced to
submit their curriculum choices to the state for approval while claiming that
the law in question was an increase in freedoms for homeschooling parents.
HSLDA has typically advocated that families shouldn’t be required to get
permission from the state to homeschool their children.
Huckabee’s record
is at odds with their general principles. He has played politics with the issue
and tried to please both unions and homeschoolers in his state. In order to
keep homeschoolers’ objections at bay, he appointed leading homeschooling
advocates to the state board of education. Like Bill Clinton, Mike Huckabee is
a very slick politician. Maybe we need less slickness and more uncompromising
principle on the matter of schooling.
If Mike Huckabee
is such a strong advocate for homeschoolers as some suggest, how could the
organization which said the following
(pdf) about homeschooling have justified their endorsement
of his candidacy?

The
National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on
parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education
experience. When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state
curricular requirements, including the taking and passing of assessments to
ensure adequate academic progress. Home schooling should be limited to the
children of the immediate family, with all expenses being borne by the parents/guardians.
Instruction should be by persons who are licensed by the appropriate state
education licensure agency, and a curriculum approved by the state department
of education should be used.
The Association
also believes that home-schooled students should not participate in any
extracurricular activities in the public schools. The Association further
believes that local public school systems should have the authority to
determine grade placement and/or credits earned toward graduation for students
entering or re-entering the public school setting from a home school setting.
(1988, 2006) pp. 45 B-75

That
is taken directly from the NEA’s charter. The NEA is one of the largest
anti-homeschooling organizations in the U.S., yet its New Hampshire
organization has endorsed Mike Huckabee. Does something seem wrong with this
picture? Before you imagine that this was somewhat random, Huckabee in fact
actively sought the
endorsement.
Just how is it
that Huckabee can be perceived as a homeschooling advocate? The actual record
isn’t as pretty as the flowery words he uses to describe it.

  • During his term as Governor, Huckabee signed into law
    increases in mandatory vaccination schedules and expanding coverage from public
    schools to private
    daycares    .
  • During the Univision debate, held in Florida, Huckabee
    reiterated his strong support of the federal Department of Education, an
    agency which has no legitimate authority dictating curriculum to the
    states, much less existing.
  • He has advocated that federal funds be distributed
    to pay for arts and music studies in state schools as a “reform”
    to the No Child Left Behind act, a position – a big hit with the teachers
    unions.
  • In 1999, Mike Huckabee signed into law a bill which
    added major restrictions on homeschooling parents and which was opposed
    by the HSLDA.

There
are also other areas where Huckabee shows poor judgment, specifically, US
foreign and monetary policy. Over the past 60 years, the United States
government has not only encroached on our personal lives, but also the lives of
citizens in other countries. Our military has been used to intimidate and bully
other nations.  Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations he has
called for continued U.S. intervention abroad because it is in our “national interests” to do
so.
Unfortunately,
these national interests do not include you and me. Because of this belligerent
meddling, there are fewer countries where we can safely take our families to
visit. When I first imagined the prospect of homeschooling my own children, I
was excited to think that I could travel around the world with my children,
giving them a rich experience which would enhance their knowledge and increase
their imaginations.
This is becoming
less and less likely for my family. Central and South America have been
destabilized by a foreign policy which has installed brutal dictators, only to
see them finally ousted by violent revolutions; resulting in leaders as bad or
worse than the U.S. installed puppet regimes. The Middle East, with its
fantastic sights and holy places, is now an unwelcome region for anyone
carrying a US passport. It was not always this way. Europe is financially out
of reach for a middle class family due to our federal government’s horrendous
monetary policies.
The main reason
I write this letter is because there is a candidate on the Republican ticket
who has been a champion of policies which would enhance the lives of any
homeschooling family as well as those families who chose to send their children
to public schools. That Candidate is Ron
Paul. Ron Paul, unlike Mike Huckabee, will probably never receive an
endorsement from the NEA. That is because Ron Paul has never pandered in his
entire political career.
As a
Congressman, Ron Paul has been a consistent champion of educational choice.

  • Introduced the Family
    Education Freedom Act     which would provide parents a $3000 tax credit
    to spend on private tuition or homeschooling curriculum.
  • Opposed The
    No Child Left Behind Act.
  • Has encouraged
    homeschooling in speeches and statements during his 10 terms in Congress.
  • Sponsored legislation which would abolish
    the federal Department of Education.

In addition, Ron Paul bases his positions upon basic
founding principles of this country. His consistent and dogged defense of those
principles has continued in spite of the ridicule heaped upon him by detractors
who fundamentally disagree with those principles. That consistency has produced
a groundswell of support unsurpassed in history. So powerful are the ideas that
he’s promoted over the course of his career that enthusiasm for their
possibilities has spread beyond our borders to other countries.
I can’t tell you
how to vote, nor would I engage in such presumption. But for all the reasons
I’ve laid out here and more too numerous to include in this letter, I believe
that Ron Paul has a far superior record compared to anyone who might claim they
support homeschooling. Won’t you please investigate for yourself why so many in
this country have shed their apathy and cynicism to support him?
Sincerely,
Rick Fisk
P.S.: If you can
afford it and do chose to travel abroad with your family, I suspect that you
could find yourself in status as a minor celebrity were you to tour your
destination wearing an item of clothing with Ron Paul’s name on it. Ron Paul’s
positions on foreign policy and military interventionism have inspired
thousands upon thousands outside our borders. An excellent homeschool project would
be the production of a YouTube video documenting foreign public reactions to
Ron Paul’s stated positions on U.S. Foreign Policy.

December 15, 2007

Rick Fisk [send him
mail] is a 45-year-old software developer and entrepreneur. He is married,
has three children and resides in Austin, TX.

Copyright © 2007
LewRockwell.com

 

 

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