I heartily agree with your views on this, but I'm at a loss about what to do about them. Thankfully we have several years to decide (our first child is due in December!).
Our state requires a letter of intent at the start of the year, and a test or portfolio at the end of the year. How do I protest those? By just not doing them at all? By pre-emptively filing a lawsuit or something?
Please don't consider this question impertinent, because it isn't meant to be...
I completely agree with all that you said about testing and control, but I wonder where our responsibility to submit to governing authorities plays into this debate? Can we justify a protest by saying that the government has stepped outside its sphere of authority? How do we reconcile this with Scripture?
I am one of those old-timers, and I am also concerned about where homeschooling is headed. It seems that the "powers that be" have recognized that they couldn't face homeschoolers head-on, so they have chosen to sneak in the back door, with funding, etc.
Unless more of us rise up and take our freedoms back, we may be seeing the slow erosion of our homeschooling liberties, then everyone will suffer.
At the same time I am hopeful that, as new homeschoolers mature in their role, we older parents can clue them in on some of these dangers so that their own years of brain-washing will be reversed (just as ours had to be--I am speaking here humbly as one who has had a long journey down the road to free-thinking). Practically noone enters into homeschooling with a comprehensive understanding of just how radical and wonderful it is. It takes time and experience. The very fact that we even consider secular-based, government-controlled education for the children of Christian families as being one of the "authorities" that Paul mentions we should honor is indicative of just how much we have been influenced by our own years of public education (no insult intended for the person with the above question).
It's folks like you, Spunky, that are carrying on this important fight. Keep up the good work.
Sherry
I have a slight disagreement with you, Spunky, but don't have the time or the space here to go into detail. I may take it up this weekend, after I catch up on other stuff. It doesn't matter all that much, as the outcome is the same, but I don't view America's fixation on testing as necessarily an issue with tracking. It is a fixation that started a long time ago in Britain and we've gone overboard.
We as a people think that intelligence and aptitude can be reduced to a raw score on a test. We think that these tests are indicative of success and failure. We think that these tests are valid. That is why we want every child tested...so none are left behind. I'm not into conspiracies and generally believe that most in the debate have the best interests of the children at heart...they just have a flawed view of what children need and how to go about assisting them.
And it is a fixation that goes well beyond education. Why did I need to take a standardized test to determine whether I was qualified for a management position at Burger King after years of experience? Couldn't the manager of the store make that decision from personal experience? Did anyone notice that a month later, the three that had passed had all stolen money and quit? And the one that failed was still there, acting as manager without the title and pay?
It is a nationwide fixation in every field, reflected in our governemnt's actions.
Thanks, Spunky, for this very informative post today. I sent out an email to my homeschool group with a link to this post. The very first two responses were about how 'practicing' taking the tests helps prepare their children for the ACT and SAT, and that testing was a 'good' thing! - they completely missed the point I was making! WE are the guardians of our children, not the government. Goverment testing means we have to teach government curriculum in order for our children to pass the governement test. Parents need to ask themselves, "what is education?" I know what the Word of God says about that, and that is what we are trying to follow.
Dana, the testing to tracking idea is one of the practical components. Like I said, the roots are deeper than just that our modern uses. But it is one of the more visual outcomes of testing that's why I focus on it. It is a way for parents to begin to put more of the pieces to education reform together.
An intersting book that I just recently found and plan on reading is
EDUCATION AND JOBS - THE GREAT TRAINING ROBBERY By Ivar Berg
You can read a review here.
http://jonjayray.netfirms.com/berg.html
Brandy your question is not impertient. I had an answer all written and Haloscan ate it. I'll try again later.
Sherry, I agree that we all enter homeschooling at different levels. We're all not "radical lifers" when we start. But my hope is that as more people understand exactly what's going on they'll begin to tell others and we'll be able to work toward maintaining our freedom.
Thanks Kathy, I should add that in our state the ACT is the SAME test as the state exam. It is paid for with tax dollars. Parents no longer have to pay for it. It is also required for graduation beginning with the class of "07. This is happening in other states as well. Colorado, Illinois, and Kentucky have passed similar legislation. Other states have considered it but have not passed anything yet.
Another post that I wrote has more links explaining this aspect a little more fully.
http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot...est-
please.html
argh...Haloscan doesn't like me today. What I am basically saying is that NCLB is symptomatic of a larger, cultural problem, not causative. The students are tracked because everyone wants to make sure no one gets "left behind" and too many people equate the ability to pass these tests with success. I just started a rather interesting book as well..."Standardized Minds." It is kind of funny because it came out a couple of years before NCLB, and yet could have as easily been written today...
Addressing the question about obeying the laws of the land: the laws only have authority where God has dictated: thou shalt not kill, not steal, etc. They exist to enforce what God has already mandated, and they exist to prevent enroachment on our freedoms to do what God has already told us to do. In the case of children, the parents were already appointed by God to raise and train and influence the children. The state must reinforce that, not undermine it. To demand that our children accept a STATE test is undermining the parents. God has already mandated that the parents control the home. The state must not be allowed to come in and demand a "little test" as harmless as it looks, or threaten families that do not. It is not their business. Therefore, Christians need to ignore any command that violates God's commands. Deuteronomy 6, all the Proverbs that refer to the child/parent relationship, are all emphatically clear: it is the parent the child must honor, not the state. The state must be in submission to the parents in this case. The best way to get a law to drop dead is for a lot of people to ignore it. Remember the midwives in Egypt.
Dana, That doesn't surprise me that the book came out before NCLB. NCLB isn't a new creation. George Bush didn't come up with this. These ideas predate his administration. The students aren't tracked to make sure no one gets left behind. That's just the public justification for testing. It's sounds compassionate. Who could go against children falling through the cracks?
The goal is conformity and uniformity. The centralization of education is what is going on. But because we have 50 individual states and the federal government constitutionally is supposed to prohibitted from federalizing eduction, the easiest way around that is to get all 50 states to agree to the same standards. That's what is going on here. When a plurality of states adopt the same standards you have a defacto national standard without federal legislation. Read the speeches of the governors around the country. They are all talking about "rigor with relevance." The rhetoric is the same because the standards and goals are identical.
I agree wholeheartedly. I'm not sure about the whole tracking thing, but I can say that quote about "the state exists to serve the people, not the other way around" is one of the biggest reasons we chose to homeschool. Have you read Dr. Mary Kay Clark's book, Catholic Homeschooling? I don't know if you or your readers are Catholic, but this books is good for any Christian. She talks quite a bit about the principle of "subisidiarity" and the church's teaching on how the state is supposed to be subject to and supportive of parents, and when parents and the state's ideals conflict, the parents ALWAYS come out ahead by nature of their God-given authority. It makes me want to home educate and refuse public testing JUST BECAUSE I CAN! We're the parents, and we will decide what, when, where, and how to teach them.
Anonymous, I agree with you. For the state to require parents to test is a usurption of our God given authority. We have a natural right to govern the education of our children free from state interference.
We are called to hold the state accountable for their actions. When we refuse to test our children that's what we are doing.
Note to all: Haloscan is acting up. My advice is to copy a comment using Control C before you publish. Then if it eats it, just use Control V to repaste it into a new window. That's what I do.
I live in British Columbia, Canada. Over here we're very blessed to have the most homeschooling freedoms in Canada because of the diligence of various homeschooling groups who have worked very hard to lobby the provincial government.
I have to register my children with a local school so the government knows they are being educated at home, but that school has absolutely no involvement in our homeschool unless I want them to and I have complete freedom in what I choose to teach my children and how. We've choosen to register our children through a private Christian school instead of a public school since we prefer that they receive our tax dollars 
Nevertheless, I find many of these discussions interesting because I know the situation in our province could someday change. For instance, I've been told that in the province of Alberta a teacher is assigned to a homeschooling family and "checks up" on that family regularly. Ugh!!
Can anybody document a state in the US where homeschoolers are required to take the same graduation test as the school kids?
Tiananmen Square was the Chinese people standing up to a brutal and thuggish regime, at risk to their own life. Any moral equivalence to a bunch of homeschoolers whining about state mandated tests they aren't even required to take is just silly.
The point is to keep your names out of the system, by not registering them or reporting yourself or submitting to state tests. Once your name is there, you'll have a hard time getting it out. In the 80's we went to great lengths to remove our children's records from the central organization. If left there, their names would come up as absent or truant.
Years earlier before the Berlin Wall was removed, we hosted a young woman from East Berlin in our home. She had managed to enter the west because her parents had managed to get all records of her existance removed, from her birth certificate to any numbers or passports, etc. She told us how her family had to erase all knowledge of her. In keeping the state out of your homeschool, you will have to be careful not to register your children with the system. If you are already in the system, you can get your names out, through various means.
ok, now haloscan is telling me I already said that. Which I did, but haloscan doesn't seem to want you to know. So if this suddenly pops up 3 times, I apologize. But it doesn't appear to be here...
Spunky, I agree completely that socialism is the effect of these reforms, but not so much that it is the goal. I forgot to save my post before haloscan ate it, but I shall try again : ) The book I'm reading isn't so much about educational testing, but about standardized testing in general. NCLB is yet another effect of our nation's fixation on testing which goes back to faulty research done in the mid 1800s that was used to promote the notion of white supremacy. The same methodology is used today in the SAT...with similar results. Many of these tests were originally norm-referenced against white mid-upper class males. Is it any surprise they score best on all standardized tests?
The problem we are facing is that this is what the American population wants, and I do not think that is due to catchy campaigns and an ingnorant populace. I believe politicians are answering the concerns of their constituents and delivering what their constituents want. NCLB is enjoying widescale support accross the nation...particularly in points of accountability and teacher quality. Why? Because as a nation we believe that good-test-scores = success. The state answers the public's concerns with greater and greater control because voters are demanding it. The effect is the same, but it makes the battle take place on a different front.
As a nation, we have turned from the idea of individual accountabilty and responsibility. As a nation, we look to government to solve our problems...whether it is parents smoking in their cars, education reform, the cleanliness of our city or any other aspect of our lives. If there is a problem, we as a people say, "There should be a law against that." So we make one. Until the people of America stop looking at government as a solution to every unpleasantness, our slide into socialism will not stop.
I'm not comparing the magnitude of oppression in China with state mandated requirements, Chris. But his courage is admirable and inspiring. And yet I find in this country that we can't even get homeschoolers to say no to a test. That is what I was comparing. I think you missed my point completely. Further, a society that isn't diligent to protect their freedoms and watch for minute losses is bound to eventually lose them.
As far as the state requiring homeschoolers to take the state exam. I can't speak for other states because I don't always have the most current information. But I was part of a successful move to keep that from happening here in Michigan. They tried about 4 years ago to have homeschoolers take the state exam. Thankfully, the legislator who introduced it pulled the legislation the day after I debated him on a Detroit radio station. I don't think it was just because of our exchange on the radio, but let's just say this guy didn't come out looking real good.
This isn't just hypothetical. A good offense is better than playing defense any day. Staying informed and educated is the best way to keep the state from intruding on homeschool freedoms. I don't expect you to understand my worldview COD. But it's the way I see it.
I agree, Spunky. If we are not diligent in the little things, even that will be taken from us. If we cannot be responsible in defending the liberty we have, one day even that will be lost. China has always submitted to repressive regimes, hence no surprise that the current regime is little different. America has a long history of liberty and freedom, concepts that predate the gospel throughout Northern Europe and yet were foreign to much of the world until contact with the west.
But if we aren't ready to defend them, even in what seems trivial in comparison to what other countries must go through, we will lose them, one trivial freedom at a time.
>Part of the frustration for some >long time homeschool advocates is >watching more recent homeschoolers >willing to give back small amounts >of control.
Yes, it is frustrating. In 1982 we chose to move to Illinois rather than bow to the state of Iowa and their homeschool regulations.
I'm wondering if the concept of "freedom" has been watered down over the past 30 years.
I'm not totally against testing. Althought I am not for State or Provincial testing. I find it useful to see where we are. Sometimes I think she knows things but it turns out my dd does not know it quite as well as I thought she did. I do however have a huge problem with monkey puzzles. Picking A B C or D does not constitute a test or exam. If your total score is 100 and 25 points is monkey puzzles fine but for all 100 points to me that is just ridiculous. Either the test is so easy that it is just a question of eliminating the wrong answers or they try and trick the kids. Of course if the student gets the chance to write their own answer in the "marker" actually needs to KNOW the material and it does not take 10 - 15 minutes to mark. Another thing that bugs me is comprehension tests. Authors seem to have trouble comprehending their own work when it comes to these.
Spunky I was wondering if you are going to be sending your children to college how do you plan for them to apply to the college. Will you do test for that, portfolio's or what are the options? Anyone else who has already sent their children on?
Thanks
Jenn, I'm not against a parent choosing to assess where their children are at. I'm speaking specifically about state mandated tests. At this point our daughter's plans are not firm. There is a small college near our home that accepts homeschoolers without the ACT or state exam. If she goes to college we'll go that route first. Once she has taken a few courses, transferring to another college is possible without testing. There are also other colleges that are accepting homeschoolers without testing. Groves City college in PA was recently in the news for making the decision to do that. In fact the Dean left a comment on my other blog telling us that they will work with homeschoolers on a case by case basis. So there are options. And if you follow the link to the young lady at the end of this post, you will see that she faired VERY well without taking the Texas exam.
Testing and the current No Child Left Behind law is not about accountability for the schools. If that were the case, these tests would be anonymous and the information compiled differently. These tests follow the children and are being used to track them for future education and work related decisions. If it were just to check-up on the schools, a statistical sample would be sufficient. The fact that ALL children must be tested tells us that this test has another purpose.
The reason all children are tested is so that the schools won't attempt to game the system by creaming.
I don't know if you are familiar witht this statement: And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight..." (Leviticus)
Just a few people can accomplish a LOT of change if they will only persist.
Case in point: our son brought home a psychology book from a college. I picked it up and read it and was so disgusted, called the President of the college, emailed the Psychology department, and began a weblog about this book. I then suggested to the college that we contact some newspapers about it. It took us a few months, and there were only five of us, but the college withdrew the book. I offerred to pay my son in law's way to Oklahoma to talk to the board, the department and the president, but he said he would rather stay home and do a cyber war, so to speak.
In essence, the book was taken out and 600 new students were spared the agony of studying it. So in our case, 5 of us chased a whole lot more. But it was a persistant effort. We never let up.
I had a similar experience at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. The issue related to the definition of family and allowing unmarried singles into married student/family housing. It was nearly a done deal I was told. The vote was supposed to be 7 to 1 in favor of the change in definition. In less than a month, I gathered a few friends and made an appointment to speak before the U of M Board of Regents. The room was filled with people totally in support of the opposing side. After I and two others spoke, the Regents ushered the large crowd out of the room. In a closed door vote, they decide 7-0 with 1 abstaining to keep the definition of family as it was originally intended. Despite a lot of press and pressure from others just a handful of people were able to have an impact at the university. A regent called me a day or two later and told him he couldn't recall another time in the history of the regents that such an about face in direction had taken place so quickly.
What some people are unwilling to do is accept the fact that there will be some backlash, which is part of the territory. During the few months we were waging the cyber-protest about the text book, I in particular was accused of being deranged, insane, crazy, and a trouble maker. I was told that I plunged headlong into a business that was not my own. There were some intimidating remarks calculated to make me back down. Of course, after we "won", some of these naysayers wanted to be part of the victory.
All points made here are great. But another thing I want to add is that in the state I live in I am required to test every 3 years starting at the end of 3rd grade. I am not required to submit the test to anyone, just retain it in my records. However, I have to foot the bill for this test. I am on a strict budget for what I can spend on homeschool supplies. From what I have seen these test cost an average of around $50 (and thats if I administer it myself), if I have a "qualified" person administer this test then I would be looking at a much greater cost. I own my home and I pay land taxes so if they are going to require me administer a test that pretty much is just garbage to me anyway then I think I should get to at least deduct that amount from my land taxes or something. To me this is taking away from my children's education.
I hear you about the backlash Lydia. After this happened, the news called and asked me to debate one of the main people who supported this change. We did have an on air back and forth exchange for about 15 minutes. It went very well. My saving grace from an huge backlash was that the Detroit media mispelled and mispronounced my name. Thus, they were unable to harrass me to badly because most couldn't find me. Anonymity is a God send sometimes.
I found your blog through LaShawn's and I wanted to first say, I have no children, I am 23, and I was publicly educated. I consider myself myself fairly well read, and I have some things I'm curious about. Please don't interpret this as any kind of attack on your way(s) of life, just me raising some moral issues I have with Home Schooling.
1) I can understand that avoiding testing puts the power in your hands, but where's the line on that? Should the government ignore when some people beat the snot out of their kids? (I'm not comparing home schooling to child abuse but I am saying that without ANY government inderdiction in the raising of a child, many parents would do just that)
2) Do you worry that without any outside influances you're essentially brainwashing your child? I am different from my parents in many ways including my political beliefs and religious beliefs, they respect that. I got the opportunities to think for myself from the things I learned and the people I met in public school. I have no illusions, I was fortunate and I went to school in a very good school district, but ought a child have the opportunity to think for themselves and make the decisions of where they want the differ from their parents?
I ask these things because I fully intend to give my children the best education I can some day, and I think public schools are lacking in many ways, but it seems to me home schooling is in others. My parents effectively shaped me into a useful, moral member of society and managed it without having me in constant proximity. Supper, the evenings and the mornings were sufficient.
I want to share my own personal public school experience with you. In high school I took all college prep classes. I passed these classes with flying colors. However, when it came time for me to receive my diploma there was a problem. Seems I had taken to many elective art classes which were not consider a college prep elective. However, had I of taken 2 automotive classes in place of those art classes then I would have gotten my college prep diploma. With this said, I now have to fill you in on what automotive class consisted of. Yes, I did take it once. There was no text book, there was no learning. It basically was a bunch of "redneck" boys who goofed off and tinkered with their trucks. The "good" girls of the class either went to the library, used the time to work on our "real" classes, or sat and talked. The "bad" girls....well, um, lets just say they were not learning where an oil stick was. Now these teachers that allowed there to be classes with no text books, children to roam the halls unattended, and gave a grade based on how much they liked you or your parents are now moved up into positions on the board of education. Scary huh?
Do I regret having not taken those lame classes? Not at all. My art teacher is one of the greatest people I have ever known. I learned so much from her. She would take me and another friend on the weekends to places like the High Museum of Art and once to see The Who's Tommy at the Fox Theater. She was a wonderful woman but sadly she left teaching the year after I graduated.
Its really ironic though that the things I didn't learn in school are the things that taught me so much about how I want my children to be educated.
It would be rather funny if they ever wanted to question what I am teaching my kids.....haha. More than they taught me.
John, that's a topic for another post. I'll repost your questions but for the sake of this posts discussion, let's end it here.
Spunky,
This post was wonderful !!
Testing has become big business, people are making a fortune off of it.
I'd just love to see kids walk out on the tests or all give bogus answers on purpose to see what the educrats would do.
There was an incident in Massachusetts(the Bryants)
where kids were taken from their homeschooling parents and custody given to the state (the kids could still live at home) who required to test them.. the kids refused to take the tests.. the state could not make them take pencil in hand.. it was a beautiful thing.. and they exhibited such .. well.. SPUNK !
Judy
The question about homeschool lacking: that depends on the teacher, doesn't it?
Thanks Judy. For those interested in reading a bit more about the family she mentioned you can read about it here.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/
new...RTICLE_ID=33114
Thanks for talking about this, Spunky. Good job!
It's really just another classic example which illustrates how by the second or third generation, we have begin to take freedom for granted. If we didn't fight and struggle and bleed to obtain a freedom, we think it came easily, and are willing to relinquish that freedom little by little.
When you don't comply, in a state-ordered test, you are merely non-compliant with the law, not a felon. In the 80's, those who refused to use the public school system were non-compliant. That isn't the same as breaking the law deliberately. There is something much deeper intended by those who don't comply. It is not an act of defiance. They have something greater to fear than the consequences of not complying: the fear of letting the school system influence your child for 12 plus years, and the fear of family problems for generations to come. Not just that, but the fear of the Lord, who told parents specifically that they are in charge of the children. Non-compliance is not to be feared--it is like non-conformity. There are many laws we don't comply with because they don't APPLY to us.
Funny you should be discussing this - I'm reading "Write from the Start" by Donald Graves & Virginia Stuart, copyright 1985.
Though he is not intending to talk about testing, he shares re:the financial importance of standardized testing as well as the necessity to teach to the test because of this financial investment. Tucked away in the midst of this I read:
"Standardized tests, designed to put nearly half of all children below "grade level," contain ambiguous questions and trick answers." Hmmm.....
"The fact that ALL children must be tested tells us that this test has another purpose." (quote from comments above - by Spunky quoted again in Daryl's comment) I would say, "Follow the money!"
Edited By Siteowner
Exactly Dawn, that's what Judy was getting at as well in her comment. Testing IS big business.
(Also, I editted your comment slightly, the quote was from me in the original post. Daryl just recopied that portion in his comment.)
Hey, thanks for commenting on my post, Spunky. I wasn't sure if you'd be back so I'll give you the first bit of my response here, since it is related. : )
It isn't "strictly American" as mental testing is gaining ground internationally with increasing emphasis on test scores in every nation. But we have an obsession which is much older and much more entrenched. In fact, it appears that America is setting the trend in this area, as well. As the Yale psychologist notes, most societies also consider what a person actually does. We cast that aside in favor of what a test says a person should be doing.
The major exit exam in Germany, for example, is the Abitur. It is nothing like our SAT and could more easily be compared to the work I did on my honor's thesis in college. We seem to be exporting our fixation on standardized testing...
Interesting Dana, when I met with one legislator about reforms here in Michigan I asked him where they were getting the ideas for their reforms? His answer, Germany. So I guess it just depends on who you talk to. In fact, it was his answer that led me to study this whole issue a little more indepth.
Oh, our reforms are coming from Germany, there is no doubt about that. Germany has a long history of tracking and sorting. In fact, in the letter you linked to, you can see a lot of that influence in the project based learning, etc. Standardized testing is our own addition to the mess, though, and is a separate issue. There is standardized testing in Germany, but it is not so enmeshed as it is here. Actually, you may have noticed my remark on testing in Germany on your other post... It was difficult for me to adjust...what I was expected to answer on the test wasn't necessarily ever presented in class. I was expected to read and research outside of class, and make applications with what I was learning. It was a wholly foreign concept to me and at first I bucked at being held responsible for things that had not been delivered to me in class. In fact, we had no text books.
They are talking about taking a standardized test like the SAT and giving it the same kind of qualifications as the Abitur...in fact I believe there was mention of essay testing that was cross graded by a team of teachers. That is more like what happens with the Abitur, Germany's exit exam. And with your score on that, you are able to get a whole host of jobs without college. It is similar to possessing a two year degree here. The whole thing sounded almost exactly like Germany's system, and seemed to imply a movement away from the standardized test.
I'm not saying we're the only ones doing this [standardized tests], but the fact remains that American parents want it...demand it even. When schools attempt to move away from standardized testing, parents protest and pressure the schools and the legislators. They truly believe that good test scores equals subject mastery.
Not every thing about German education, particularly at the Gymnasium level, is all bad. The tracking fits well with their planned economy, and is what I object to most. It serves to give the best education to what they consider the most promising students. But they aren't sorted by standardized tests, but rather by course grades and teacher recommendation. The basic philosophies are the same, but the means are a little different.
I've already finished homeschooling my children and they are homeschooling their own. Two of my children tested for the G.E.D. It was loaded with questions designed to change the mind to politically correct thinking. For example: A couple has just got divorced. Which one should the child go live with, and which one should pay child support?" accompanied by data about each parent. A homeschooler who has been brought up in a stable home has quite a challenge to write an essay on such a thing without compromising his values. There were other questions of a similar nature! When are we going to establish our own G.E.D?
Thank you ma'am for the edit. Could you follow me around and do that all day long?? 
Commenting by HaloScan
