Vetoing a Parent's Prerogative

Virginia wants parents who home-school to have a college degree, but educational success originates in a family's culture.

On May 21 Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) vetoed House Bill 675, which would have allowed parents who have a high school education to home-school their children. Although the governor's intention may have been to elevate the qual- ity of education for children in Virginia, his veto violated the foremost right of a parent.

Of all the states, Virginia is by far the most tyrannical when it comes to home schooling. No other state requires that a home-schooling parent have a college education.

I have no problem with Virginia or the county testing the results of my teaching to make sure that I am doing a good job educating my children. This the state does. Should a home-schooled child fail the state's examinations, the parent is put on probation or disqualified. This standard for home-schooling parents is higher than it is for professional educators, who incur no penalty for failing to do their jobs.

But why does the governor think I must have a college education to educate my children? And why stop there? Why not specify a major and a grade-point average? In fact, why confine qualifications to the area of formal education? Why not constrain home schooling to parents who have a particular minimum annual income? Or insist that the parents be white, or straight, or Presbyterian? Certainly, data could be produced to justify any or all these criteria.

The source of educational success originates in the expressions of a family's culture, not in such personal data.

In his 1990 autobiography, "Gifted Hands," Benjamin Carson, an African American who grew up in inner-city Detroit and Boston, talks about how he and his brother, Curtis, were failing academically and on the road to trouble. Again and again, he testifies about the influence that his mother had upon his education. Without her encouragement, determination, academic strictness and faith, Carson believes he would be dead or in jail. Instead, he's the renowned head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University. His brother is a corporate executive.

Carson's mother did not have a college degree. She didn't have a high school degree. In fact, she only got as far as the third grade. She was a single mother, impoverished and basically illiterate. Yet both her sons are success stories.

My point is that a parent is the most influential agent in a child's education regardless of whether that child is schooled at home or attends public or private school. Warner should not presume to veto this natural authority.

Home-schooling parents tend to be highly conscientious about their children's education because home schooling is a deliberate act requiring sacrifice and significant changes in lifestyle. Home-schooling parents also are willing to put in the effort and the financial cost and put up with public criticism to educate their children.

In home schooling, the teacher-student ratio is ideal, discipline is not a problem and teaching can be adjusted to a child's learning style.

Like anything in life, the decision to home school is a trade-off. My children gain a lot through home schooling, but they also forfeit some experiences by not attending a public or private institution.

Yet, as a parent responsible for the upbringing of my children, deciding to make that trade-off is my inalienable prerogative, not the prerogative of Virginia and not of its governor -- not ever.

-- James Metzger

jdotrdotmetzger@att.net