Some Republican prospective presidential candidates turned to an unusual constituency last week in hopes of scoring Iowans’ caucuses votes: Parents who home school their children. But in their bid to appeal to Christian-values voters, four hopefuls ended up taking aim at a proud American legacy that made us unique in the world: Public education.
Speaking at a Christian home-schooling conference in Des Moines, Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal slammed everything from restricting public education dollars to public schools to Common Core educational standards to accreditation policies that don’t hold biblical teachings on par with college academic curricula.
As young children in the audience cried, squirmed or struggled to make sense of it all, Cruz called school choice “the civil rights issue of the 21st century.” Santorum exhorted: “We don’t need education standards or Common Core. We need parents!” He described home-schooling parents as “pioneers,” and promised, “I’m going to make sure that you have control of the educational system from here on out!”
In fact, the real pioneers were those who took American education out of private homes and into schools. “The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it,” John Adams declared in 1785. “There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it — not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.”
By 1870, every state had free elementary schools and Americans had one of the highest literacy rates. Public funding, local and state control, an academic curriculum and separation of church and state were all key to public education. In 1918, everyone was required to complete elementary school, and most states passed a constitutional amendment forbidding the use of tax money for parochial schools. Now, candidates courting Republican votes want to scrap that wall of separation. Some would allow tax dollars to follow a child whose family opts out of public school for either private school or a family dining table.
Huckabee was joined at a recent event by Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, who became reality TV stars after birthing and home schooling 19 children. Said Huckabee: “They exemplify the family you’d love for every family in America to be like.” He said they were saving the state millions by keeping their kids out of public school. “Shouldn’t we be grateful for that and be giving them back some of that money?” he asked.
No, we shouldn’t.
The Duggars may be great parents who’ve done a remarkable job of caring for and educating their children. But they made the choice to school them at home. Had they chosen public school, they would have had the benefit of taxpayer dollars. Siphoning money away from public to private schools would cause already fragile public schools to fail.
It’s doubtful any of these politicians would be holding up a large Muslim family that taught their kids their religious values for emulation. It seems the real intent here is finding the backdrop to frame a narrative about a supposed war on Christianity. But in the process, the prospective presidential hopefuls are waging war on America’s history of progress.
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