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The Latest Threat to Homeschooling—a Citizenship Test

The Latest Threat to Homeschooling—a Citizenship Test

Last updated on: February 5, 2015 at 12:28 pm by Libby Anne

The Latest Threat to Homeschooling—a Citizenship Test 2015-02-05T12:28:29-04:00 Libby Anne

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Have you heard about the latest threat to homeschooling? I hadn’t until I came upon this headline! And yes, this post comes with snark, because some days taking the entire world seriously just takes too much effort!

Federal citizenship test threatening homeschoolers’ freedom

Oh no! The horrors! Wait—what?

The New Hampshire Legislature is reviewing a bill requiring all homeschoolers to take the same citizenship test that conventional public and private school students must take in order to graduate high school. In doing so, the measure deny home educators the freedom to choose how they want to teach their children civics.

This may be confusing, but I was under the impression that there are generally right or wrong answers when it comes to civics. I mean, the number of branches in our government isn’t really a context-dependent thing.

In general, homeschool instructors have done a phenomenal job teaching their children civics — and every other subject for that matter, averaging 32 points higher than traditionally schooled students nationwide across the curriculum.

This is false. Perhaps a test on statistics should also be required for graduation!

Yet lawmakers in the Granite State want to enforce a mandate that would force homeschoolers to take a 100-question test before graduating. If they don’t answer at least 60 of the questions correctly, they won’t receive a diploma and will not be permitted to graduate high school.

If this author thinks homeschoolers score 32 points higher than traditionally schooled children, why does he think they can’t score 60/100 on a civics test? Is this a statistics problem too?

The proposed Senate Bill 157 requires all public, private and homeschool students to take the United States Citizenship Civics Test, which was developed by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (a federal agency) as a condition for students to receive their high school diplomas.

Rep. James Parison (R-New Hampshire) is one of the lawmakers who is quite familiar with SB 157. He has stated that the major concern of the bill’s sponsors is that the state of New Hampshire has ceased to require civics education to be taught in the schools as a standard.

If all students have to take this test, how is this a threat to homeschoolers specifically? It’s not like this is a test over a specific curriculum, after all! It’s simply the test people have to take when becoming U.S. citizens, which means it covers the basics of civics that should be included in any civics curriculum or instruction.

This frustration, however, is no excuse to dictate to homeschoolers what materials they must teach to their children in order to ensure their graduation, argues Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) staff attorney Michael Donnelly. With homeschool students having demonstrated academic excellence in every area of their education, and with homeschoolers taking no tax dollars out of the system for their instruction, he sees no justification behind the state of New Hampshire requiring home-based students to take the test.

And I repeat, if homeschoolers are so brilliant, why is taking this test such a threat?

His major concern is that the state’s sweeping mandate of a federal citizenship test violates the rights of homeschool parents and other private educators to educate their children or students the best way they see fit.

I feel like I’m missing something here. Is “educate their children . . . the best way they see fit” some sort of new code for “not at all”? And if it isn’t, and homeschooling parents are teaching civics anyway, how exactly does this test violate their rights?

“Such intrusion is fundamentally at odds with the rights of parents and private schools to direct the education of their children and students,” Donnelly asserts. “It is our experience that homeschoolers do a good job teaching civics and do not need a federal citizenship test imposed on them to determine if their students are ready to graduate.”

When will these people realize that it’s not all about the parents? This isn’t about helping parents determine if they’ve adequately covered the subject. This is about ensuring that the children receive a basic education in civics.

Despite the fact that many public schools don’t adequately teach the inner workings of government through civics courses, most homeschool curricula covers civics and educates students so that they have all the tools to become patriotic and exemplary citizens.

I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but if this is true, then why is this test a problem for homeschooled students?

[Homeschoolers have] a plethora of materials from which to choose. One such offering in citizenship and civics curriculum is readily available to homeschoolers via HSLDA, called Generation Joshua, which is intended to train students to become outstanding citizens involved in the community and public affairs.

Oh, I get what’s going on here! Is HSLDA perhaps worried that homeschooled students who use its civics curriculum won’t be able to pass a basic civics test?!

But enough with the snark, let’s be real for a moment. Today, I just feel frustrated. It’s not that I necessarily feel strongly about having homeschooled students—or any students—take the citizenship test as part of their civics education. The first state to pass such a measure was Arizona, and it feels in line with the whole “close the border” sentiment that I just can’t get on board with. But regardless of the specific issue, I’m tired of homeschooling parents and homeschooling leaders giving absolutely no consideration to the needs and interests homeschooled children and instead thinking only of themselves.

I’m tired—so tired—of all this fear mongering.

And I’m sorry, but you cannot claim that homeschoolers are brilliant, including in civics, and that having them take a civics test to demonstrate this is an infringement on their parents rights’. These two things seem completely at odds to me. But then, isn’t this the case for so much of what the homeschool lobby does? They claim homeschooled students score 30 or more points above average, but then freak out at any suggestion of oversight to ensure that homeschooled students are being educated. If homeschooled students are so brilliant, why exactly is basic oversight always portrayed as huge threat to homeschooling? How can they not see this inconsistency?

There was a time when I felt I could not say anything negative about homeschooling, that I had to protect its image against possible stigma. But today I care more about homeschooled children than I do about the image of homeschooling. Homeschooled children deserve better than this.

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