It’s been nearly two weeks since the presidential election. President-elect Barack Obama’s supporters are catching their collective breath and planning excitedly for the future. Republican voters are in mourning. And third-party supporters are resigned, having known full well before the election that they would not be happy with the outcome because it was unlikely that a third-party candidate would win.
Everyone is forming their own opinions about what will happen to the economy, the war on terror and our country in general over the next four years, now that we know who will be president during that time. What I’m wondering is, what will happen to homeschooling?
What has me worried is the very real possibility that Obama could choose his friend William Ayers as Secretary of Education. Phyllis Schlafly suggested this a few weeks before the election:
After all, Ayers is a friend of Obama, and Professor Ayers’s expertise is training teachers and developing public school curriculum. That’s been his mission since he gave up planting bombs in government buildings (including the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon) and assaulting police officers.
I lived in the Chicago area for my entire life until last year, so I’m well aware that both Obama and Ayers are part of the same social circle that congregates in Hyde Park on Chicago’s near South Side. I know better than to believe those that claim Obama and Ayers barely know each other. I’ve read enough Chicago newspaper articles to know that Barack Obama has been deeply entrenched in the South-Side liberal Democratic network for many years.
Ayers is pro-socialism. His post-terrorist career has been based on training teachers to indoctrinate kids into groupthink, particularly in regards to certain social issues.
If Ayers becomes Secretary of Education, do you think he’ll have a problem with homeschoolers and our freedom to teach our children the way we see fit? I do.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. I just keep praying about it and recently have not been taking one day of homeschooling for granted. 🙂
Scary isn’t it!
i think so too. 🙁
I live in Chicago as well and I disagree on the matter. After all of the time Obama has spent distancing himself from Ayers I think it is improbable he would hire him for any position. Especially after hearing about Obama’s stringent application process, 63 questions designed to make sure you have no embarrassing moments in your past.
From what I’ve seen Obama supports homeschoolers’ rights. This from his own webpage and quoted from his book.:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post_group/NewHampshireEducatorsforObama/CJxd
I’m actually considering contacting his administration and trying to get an official statement in hopes of quelling all of the worries floating around the internet on the matter.
I would love to believe that Obama will support us homeschoolers and the freedom we have in teaching our own children… I hope that is the case and will have to check out Kim’s site to see if she gets an official statement.
I have done a lot of searching myself to find info on the subject and have had a hard time finding any kind of statements or information indicating that Obama actually supports homeschooling, and parental rights as well. (An expection being abortion, we parents do have the right to kill our babies, but anyway…) I did come across a couple of sites that you all would probably find interesting:
http://obamastatesofamerica.com/2008/08/18/obama-on-homeschooling/
http://f2a.org/coast2coast/voterguides/F2A-Presidential-2008.pdf
Hope you had a great weekend, Barb! 🙂
I agree with you, Barb. Even if he doesn’t appoint Ayers, he’s been following his teachings for years and that includes using the schools to indoctrinate. Not to mention the Democrats and the teacher’s union having a close relationship. I think there’s lots to worry about.
I’m not so concerned about what Obama or those serving in the Dept. of Ed. under him would do because I think it’s unlikely they’ll have much (if any) impact on homeschooling. What *REALLY* concerns me, however, is what type of justice Obama might appoint to the Supreme Court.
We’ve already seen earlier this year with the case in California the kind of havoc activist judges can wreak on the right of parents to homeschool. Fortunately, that decision got reconsidered but there’s always the chance that some homeschooling case might wind up being argued before the Supreme Court someday. I’m very leery about how an Obama-appointed justice might rule if that’s the case…
Thanks, everyone, for stopping by and commenting. I want to specifically address three comments:
Kim, thanks for sharing that link. If you can get any kind of statement from the Obama camp that is pro-homeschooling freedom, I would love to see it. My concern re: Obama and homeschooling is based on twenty years of homeschooling in IL, where it was usually Democrats who tried to restrict us, if not outright prevent us, in our efforts to teach our own.
Pam, thanks so much for the links in your comment. I urge everyone to check them out.
Crimson Wife, the Supreme Court situation is a worry for a number of reasons, including homeschooling. Thank you for pointing it out.
Bottom line: Folks, we are all going to have to be very diligent if we want to keep our homeschooling freedoms.
Obama spokesman, Justin Hamilton, recently answered the question posed by Suburban Journals.
“Q. Do you support home schooling?
A. Barack Obama respects the decisions reached by some parents to home school their children, provided those parents are conforming to the laws and regulations set forward by their states governing home-based instruction.”
Mary Lee, that doesn’t mean he supports homeschooling. After all, he’s just saying they should conform to the law….and the law can always be changed.