Utah State Senator Calls for End of Mandatory Education

[happy atheist]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/1 ... 12150.html

Donnie and Marie Osmond's nephew is Utah state senator Aaron Osmond. Apparently Utah's lax home-schooling regulations are too darn restrictive for his taste.

In his post, Osmond called on parents to decide whether or not their children should go to school, and asked for exploration into how much time children should be in school.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56606 ... e.html.csp

The Home School Legal Defense Association considers Utah a "low-regulation" state. Parents are required to file an annual affidavit with their school district pledging to instruct them in the same subjects taught in public school for the same length of time.

The state does not require testing for those students, inspect parents’ curriculum or police whether the affidavits are filed.

[Three and Done]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/aaron-osmond-mandatory-education_n_3612150.html

Donnie and Marie Osmond's nephew is Utah state senator Aaron Osmond. Apparently Utah's lax home-schooling regulations are too darn restrictive for his taste.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56606 ... e.html.csp

[/quote

The only thing I find shocking (as sad as this is) is that more fundies don't live in Utah than any other state.

[apple1]

Shaking my head...

[tenth muse]

I think he belongs back a few centuries.

[Rachel333]

Ugh, the sad thing is that a lot of families would take advantage of this and give their children no education at all. Of course, some do this anyway...

[crazyforkate]

Ugh, the sad thing is that a lot of families would take advantage of this and give their children no education at all. Of course, some do this anyway...

It's relatively easy to get around. I've known homeschooling families where the mom basically did all the work for them, either feeding them the answers or outright doing the courses (especially online stuff that you can't verify). Result: the kids grow up with an extremely patchy education, where they kind of know a little bit about the curriculum but can't solve problems or figure things out themselves. It's really sad.

[ILoveJellybeans]

An end for mandatory education? I dont think they understand what this will mean-imagine living somewhere where most people cant read, write or count. Cause thats what will happen. If you dont make it a requirement that kids either go to school or are homeschooled well, it wont mean that all of the parents will start homeschooling their kids with a real curriculum. There will be some parents who will not bother to teach the kids anything at all.

[FlorenceHamilton]

The logic fail on this is outrageous. I will need to vote for a Democrat forever even if s/he is as disgustingly absurd as Anthony Weiner.

Even if you are hyper right wing, this is a prescription for a failed nation. We are a nation. In order to remain strong and relevant, our populace needs to be strong and healthy, well fed and productive. To be productive and compete in the global market and continue to be a leader, we need an educated population. Large swaths of uneducated people are a huge burden. Is this really necessary because secular education teaches evolution and insists you behave respectfully to people of all religions, skin tones, hair color (even green) and sexual orientation? They want to deprive children the right to succeed and thrive in this country and on the planet because they might get a secular thought?

If the DANGER is so great that the children, once exposed to secular education, will give up their faith. Perhaps it is time to really examine your faith.

[Jana814]

Odd coming from Aaron Osmond. He is the oldest of the Osmond grandkids. His father is Viril (one of the ones that is hearing impared) If it was not for a regular outside the home education who knows what would have happen to his father (and uncle).

[apple1]

Seems that his own education missed Horace Mann.

Mann's principles of education:

(1) Citizens cannot maintain both ignorance and freedom; (2) This education should be paid for, controlled, and maintained by the public; (3) This education should be provided in schools that embrace children from varying backgrounds; (4) This education must be nonsectarian; (5) This education must be taught using tenets of a free society; and (6) This education must be provided by well-trained, professional teachers.

Bottom line: Educated people result in a better society for all. Mann believed that an educated populace was necessary for democracy to flourish. Mann's crusade took education out of sectarian hands and ended up creating public education in Massachusetts, and eventually throughout the US.

[Pam]

An end for mandatory education? I dont think they understand what this will mean-imagine living somewhere where most people cant read, write or count. Cause thats what will happen. If you dont make it a requirement that kids either go to school or are homeschooled well, it wont mean that all of the parents will start homeschooling their kids with a real curriculum. There will be some parents who will not bother to teach the kids anything at all.

Even though I agree with him when he states that "Some parents completely disengage themselves from their obligation to oversee and ensure the successful education of their children. Some parents act as if the responsibility to educate, and even care for their child, is primarily the responsibility of the public school system.", that does NOT mean that ending mandatory education will now make those parents actively engage themselves in overseeing and ensuring the successful education of their children.

[apple1]

An end for mandatory education? I dont think they understand what this will mean-imagine living somewhere where most people cant read, write or count...

... and who later in life cannot get and/or keep employment that is able to support themselves and their offspring. The result of this is then massive need for public assistance (and I suspect these people will say that they opposed public assistance).

Unsustainable.

[Peas n carrots]

I come from a family of teachers, and this makes me go d'oh! Obviously this Osmond didn't get a very good education. What a stupid statement. I really do think the conservatives want a barefoot and ignorant populace so they can rule over us with their medieval beliefs. Anyone who denigrates education is a dangerous person in my opinion. :shock:

[happy atheist]

I think having parents more engaged in education would be a good thing, but that is reliant on there being education.

[ThisOlGirl]

And while we're at it, let's lower the legal working age to, oh, I don't know, 8 or 10. I mean, if the kids aren't in school, might as well put 'em to work, amirite?

[doggie]

Part of this is education is the garlic of the fundys world. Less education the easier control is just look at the duggers for an example.

[Anxious Girl]

These fucking asscanoes! Don't they realize that a free mandatory education in order to become successfull was 1 of the ideals and values of the American founding fathers? Oh, wait, these self-centered pricks care about $ only.

[ADoyle90815]

And while we're at it, let's lower the legal working age to, oh, I don't know, 8 or 10. I mean, if the kids aren't in school, might as well put 'em to work, amirite?

They could decide to take after the FLDS cult in that as soon as a girl starts having regular periods, she is married off to a man old enough to be her father or even grandfather in some cases. I'm not saying they'll bring back polygamy, but if there is less education especially for girls, they'll be able to have larger families and not be able to get out of bad marriages. Also, if there's a lack of education, women won't be asking to be ordained in the Mormon priesthood or wearing pants to church any longer.

[dairyfreelife]

I guess he wants to lower our 99% literacy rates because why? Ending mandatory education would mean that this country will fall back into a second world country within a generation as most of the population would not be educated. Taxes would not back up education anymore, so only the wealthiest of people could afford to educate their children. Local areas could establish schools, but lack of oversight would mean that anything would be taught, including creation science in many areas. The funding for children with disabilities would not be available, so parents would not get the resources to help educate their children and many schools would discriminate on the basis of disability. This means that such children would be sent away again to special schools that may help or institutionalized for life, depending on the disability.

Yes, let's do away with mandatory education. It will do wonders for education of this country. :roll:

[YPestis]

I think people forget that whatever issues mandatory education has, the lack of such an institution would cause even larger problems. Compare India to South Korea's economy in the latter half of the 20th century. The country with a highly educated work force, due in part to free and compulsory educational system did pretty well for itself, did it not?

Many conservatives dislike the US educational system, complaining it's too large and intrusive. There's an unspoken belief that loving parents would automatically ensure their progeny is well educated and in a way that doesn't violate their beliefs (i.e gays, evolution and feminists). The government, in their view, is just making education more difficult with their regulations. Giving parents total control would ensure each child is educated to their own, unique skills. That's a bag of baloney for anyone who've worked with under-privileged youths or, like us, read up on fundie education. The majority of parents would go to great length to educate their kids. The minority of parents would only show abuse and/or neglect of their children's schooling. What happens to kids whose parents don't care to educate them? Or who don't know how to? If there are no standards, how do we ensure no child is left behind?

If conservatives think it's a pain to run a public education system now, imagine how difficult it will be to deal with tens of millions of illiterates? We live in an increasingly complex world. Most children will need more than basic arithmetic and Bible verses to survive. Re-educating adults is a drag on the economy and a waste of our human resources. Time that could have been spent training a surgeon is used instead to train that young man to do fractions and write an passable essay. Money that could have been spent educating children would not be spend educating adults. I just don't see how anyone could be against compulsory education. You could argue that there are too many regulations in public education, but don't try to convince me that we are better off having none.

[PennySycamore]

There are some posts that just make you go "WHAT THE FUCK!!" This is one of them.

YPestis, your post reminded me of the bumpersticker that says "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance".

[bananacat]

It's clear that conservatives are completely uneducated about history. Our current conservative versus liberal reviews don't really map well to decades ago so I won't use those specific labels, but we actually started having mandatory education because the pro-business side pushed for it during the industrial revolution. The rich business owners needed workers who could perform jobs with minimal training so they could keep their assembly lines going. I would think modern day conservatives would be all over anything that helps companies turn a profit while giving less to their workers, but clearly they have no idea what they're talking about.

[GeoBQn]

When my dad was teaching 7th grade US History, he had to give the Constitution Test. A passing grade on the test was mandatory for graduating junior high. He had a student one year who was a very bright girl, but she didn't always apply herself, and she ended up failing the test. My dad had to call her mother to schedule a time for the girl to come in before school and retake the test. The mother was being very uncooperative, and at one point, my dad got exasperated and said, "Ma'am, do you realize that if your daughter doesn't pass this test then she won't graduate?" The mother responded, "As long as my daughter gets her 'little friend' every 28 days, I don't care." This left my dad completely speechless.

Another year, my dad had a student who came back to public school after being homeschooled for several years. Whenever they get a kid in from homeschooling, the counselor would ask the parent which curriculum they used. The mother responded, "Whatever he needed." The boy was supposed to be in 7th grade, but he couldn't do math beyond addition and subtraction. When asked to write an essay, he could only write a few sentences in illegible handwriting. After two months, he still didn't know his way around the building.

There will always be parents who do whatever they can to get their kids an education, and there will be parents who either don't bother or are unable to get their kids the resources they need. For kids in the second group, public school teachers might be the only people who care about helping them succeed in life, or who notice problems that need to be addressed (from vision impairment to scoliosis to abuse.) Even one kid who falls through the cracks of Osmond's proposed system is one too many.

[JenniferJuniper]

It's just another step to allow the wealthy to drive the non-wealthy deeper into poverty while they reap more benefits.

I'm sure Senator Osmond and those like him can afford to send their kids to the finest private schools. Why should they have to pay taxes to support public schools systems that teach evil things like sex education and career counseling? (seriously, he bitched about that?)

Kids of parents who have to work multiple jobs to survive or are otherwise unable to provide an education for them should just go out and clean toilets like Newt Gingrich said. Or maybe we should open up Chinese-style factories and eliminate child labor laws in the US. That'll keep the little bastards in their place.

[DarkAnts]

This is another reason for changing the states name to Utardia.