Random thought on homeschooling

A month or so ago, Antoine Clarke opened a small can of worms by suggesting some sort of government spot check of all children to prevent abuse. Of course, one hears that argument all the time, but not on libertarian blogs. Anyway, I was reminded of the dust-up over the weekend, when we visited my mother, who has retired to the Ozarks.

Now, most residents of south-central Missouri are just normal folks. But there is a subset of the population for whom a move to the trailer park would be a massive leap up in living standard and social status. Mom just happens to live near such a group. No one works. They get by on a combination of largesse from less trashy relatives, disability and other government payouts and (suspected) drug dealing. In one branch of this clan, the father is in jail for getting his 12 year-old daughter pregnant, the mother is shacked up with and pregnant by another guy and the 8 year-old boy has been permanently expelled from school, as he is completely unmanageable.

Permanently expelled from school? How is this possible? Isn't school attendance compulsory? Doesn't the state have a legal obligation to provide an education to all children under the age of 16? Not to worry, he'll be homeschooled. By this semi-educated clan of low level criminals. Seriously. This is the school district's clever plan. I want to point out that it's not just lousy parents that use homeschooling as a cop out. Here you have a lousy school system/social services system doing the same thing. Rather than deal with this difficult kid, they're using homeschooling to cover their failure.

Missouri actually has some pretty stringent record keeping requirements for homeschoolers, but homeschoolers aren't required to show the records to anyone unless they are accused of truancy. Then producing these records is the only defense required. Not having the records usually means a guilty verdict. The chances that this family will provide an adequate education and keep the appropriate records are slim to none. School officials could easily get this kid back in school, but of course, they won't. They're the ones who kicked him out in the first place.

And in a couple of years, when this kid is making meth and/or molesting under-age girls and/or engaging in whatever criminal activity he will undoubtedly become involved in, people will shake their heads, look at each other knowingly, and say "Well, he was homeschooled." Sigh.