Free Congress Foundation's Notable News Now Excerpts from FCF Programming and Other FCF Projects June 4, 2001 Maryland Home Schoolers Fight for their Rights by Paul M. Weyrich >From the "Endangered Liberties" Television Program Contest after contest. The national spelling bee. The National Geography bee. Home schoolers coming in first place and second place, year after year, again and again. How embarrassing for the public school system. For that matter, how embarrassing even for the private and parochial school systems. You had to figure that the empire would strike back sooner or later. Well it has recently happened in Maryland where Ms. Mary Simmons has been cited by the State of Maryland with 72 counts of Criminal Truancy. What is her crime? She refused to let the State of Maryland dictate to her what curriculum she would use to educate her 6-year-old daughter Mary Sharon. According to Michelle Malkin, writing in Townhall.com, Ms. Simmons and her retired husband John Stafford, chose lesson plans created by the Our Lady of the Rosary School system of Kentucky. Malkin examined their course outline and said it would put any modern education system to shame. It included all of the basics, such as reading, math, spelling, social studies, science, phonics and so on. But it also taught the Catholic faith. There was Latin as well. That school system, which goes from kindergarten through high school, featured G.K Chesterton and T.S. Eliot as well as Cicero, from which to choose. But for Maryland officials, this wasn't good enough. And when Ms. Simmons told them to mind their own business, that she and her husband were perfectly capable of knowing what was best to be taught to their child, the state lowered the boom. In many states, parents must meet state requirements in order to home school. Ms. Simmons thinks that there is an anti-Catholic bias in the attitude of the state, a view shared by the Home School Legal Defense Fund which is handling their case. Given the anti-Catholic origins of the whole public school movement, it wouldn't be surprising. This case has serious implications. If the state imposes a course of studies on home schooled students, then it can impose its ideology on them as well. Thus one of the purposes of home schooling, to bypass the political correctness of the state, is defeated. Let us hope and pray that in the end Mary Simmons wins and the State of Maryland has to retreat. If not, and she loses, and it is appealed and she loses all the way to the Supreme Court, it will mean the practical end of the brightest light in our nation's future, namely home schooling. Either home schooling parents have the freedom to operate as they see fit or home schooling becomes just another branch of the oppressive state. In that case it may be better to have the public schools inflict the damage. At least then it will be clear that Mommy and Daddy don't approve. Paul Weyrich is president of the Free Congress Foundation. For media inquiries, contact Notra Trulock 202.546.3000 / [EMAIL PROTECTED] For other questions or comments, contact Angie Wheeler [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit our website at http://www.freecongress.org This publication is a service of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, Inc. (FCF) and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Free Congress Foundation nor is it an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill. Free Congress Foundation * 717 Second Street, NE * Washington, DC 20002 * 202.546.3000 * Fax: 202.544.2819 Project Manager: Angela Wheeler * Copyright * 2001 Free Congress Foundation - All Rights Reserved.
