In an obvious attempt to discredit homeschooling as a legitimate education choice, left-leaning “news” outlet ProPublica (in cooperation with Capitol News Illinois) published an article condemning homeschool freedom in Illinois.
While authors Beth Hundsdorfer and Molly Parker are right to express their concerns about the described abuses perpetrated against young children, citing one or two anecdotal stories about neglect is reactionary and overly broad, to say the least.
To lament that Illinois law doesn’t mandate intrusive, big government policies like registration and testing of homeschool students is akin to demanding a sledgehammer be used to secure a bulletin board tack.
Yes, it is heartbreaking to read or hear about incidents of child abuse.
As a father of eight, I am particularly incensed when homeschooling is used as a smokescreen for wrongdoing by parents or other caretakers.
The fact is that parental abuse is nothing new. It has been (and is) going on in the homes of children educated in public, private, and home schools. Anecdotes aside, there is no evidence to suggest that child abuse is specifically problematic or pronounced in families that homeschool.
Ironically, the authors of this article complain about the absence of government oversight. Evidently, they are oblivious to the evidence that documents rampant child abuse taking place virtually every week in public schools statewide.
These are the very same people that Hundsdorfer and Parker want exercising “oversight” on our children?
No, thank you!
Maybe they should familiarize themselves with the Elizabeth L. Jeglic study that found that 11.7% of children between kindergarten and twelfth grade are victims of public educator sexual misconduct annually. That’s about 5.8 million public school students.
Shockingly, Hundsdorfer and Parker didn’t bother to cite the comprehensive 2018 investigation by the Chicago Tribune, which reported hundreds of cases of sexual abuse and rape. Maybe they would be appalled to learn how school officials not only failed to protect children but also were among the perpetrators.
Add to that the recent report by the Chicago Public Schools Office of Inspector General (OIG) that lists 446 sexual misconduct allegations reported during the calendar year 2023. (How many more cases went unreported?)
You can read more HERE.
- Why aren’t Hundsdorfer and Parker reporting on these outrageous crimes against children?
- Where are their calls for accountability for public employees?
- Where are their calls to protect all the vulnerable children being abused in our public school system?
- Where are their calls to create more government controls to prevent public-school parents who abuse their children?
- And where is the outrage when it comes to failing academic standards?
Are they going to call for more “oversight” regarding public school English proficiency in Illinois, which is an abysmal 30%? What about 26% proficiency in Math?
To suggest that homeschooling freedom in Illinois ought to be diminished in favor of so-called “government oversight” is ridiculous when you consider that public school officials are clearly unable to get their own systems in order.
Sin, not educational choice or lack of government oversight, is the problem.
