Let’s Just Make Something Up!
Posted by Hazel Stone | Filed under Yellow Press
Well, the New York Times is at it again. The deaths of four children at the hands of their bad chemical-sporting mother is being inexplicably blamed on home schooling.
Yes, home schooling. Apparently due to the fact that the “mother” in question pulled the children out of school, and glibly told a visiting social worker that she was now home schooling. She killed her four daughters some undetermined time thereafter.
The reasoning behind this ridiculous claim is that DC is one of six states in the Union that has no regulations on the books regarding notification of intent to home school, or any sort of oversight requirement. Meaning, if only this genetic defective had been watched like a HAWK by some omniscient bureaucrat (oxymoron alert) then these kids would still be alive.
Bunk. We’ve looked into home schooling several times, but it is a bit difficult to actually DO when you both have jobs outside the home. The laws in Alabama (where Scions 1 and 2 were born) stated that you had to either be a certified teacher, or teach under the auspices of a church. No other oversight, no home visits. The laws in Florida, where we now reside, do not require that the home schooler have any particular education requirement, but the school superintendent must be notified, both a log and portfolio of work accomplished has to be presented, and the child must submit to an annual education evaluation and assessment test. Again, no home visits required.
Now, those are just two states. If I had the stomach for it, I’d go survey all 42 other states that have home schooling laws on the books, just to quite thoroughly demolish what passes for “journalism” at the New York Times.
The fact of the matter is the woman killed her kids because she wanted to, and even had they been in public school, she still would have found the time to do so when they were home. Yes, if there had been a pattern of abuse, perhaps some responsible, observant adult would have seen it…if there still exist such a creature in the public school system. But that doesn’t change that the conclusion drawn by the “journalist” in this article is lazy, spurious, and wholly fabricated out of their own foetid imagination.
Let’s face it, true journalism (with all the ugly fact-checking required) is in its death throes…sped along by hacks like Ms. Jane Gross here. Hildy Johnson is surely spinning in her grave.
Others on this same subject:
Tags: bad chemicals, hype-no-tized
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January 15th, 2008
She will probably get off just like Andrea Yates and the other homicidal bitches that murdered their children and hit the news. Our society has shown a remarkable tendency to forgive mothers’ acts of murder against their own children.
January 15th, 2008
Only because *I* am not in charge. *snarl*
January 15th, 2008
Here in the UK the law on Home schooling is very simple. The law just states that all children must be educated, at school OR OTHERWISE.
The parent has the decision on what constitutes an appropriate education. There is no requirement on parental qualifications, and no requirement on oversight (oh boy though, do they try – until they discover you know the law. Two of my nieces have never been to school, and my sister has only once seen social workers at her house. That was about 12 years ago, and I think they’re still trying to get the fleas out of their ears).
This is possibly the only sphere in which we Brits don’t have an infinitely worse Nanny problem than America. Are you aware of this British blog (scroll down and read the post re: Nanny Bans Heroes)?
http://nannyknowsbest.blogspot.com/
January 23rd, 2008
You miss the point – she didn’t actually home-school the kids; she killed them when they came home from school, and then told the school that she was home-schooling them. Had the law not allowed her to withdraw them from school so abruptly and with no oversight, the school would have realised they weren’t there, figured they were unlikely to all be sick, and immediately alerted the police, who could have rushed over and perhaps saved them.
Of course, this assumes the public school would even have noticed anything was wrong before about a month had gone by, which seems unlikely to me.
It also ignores the fact that if she didn’t have this excuse she could have just told the school the kids had been sent to their grandmother in North Carolina or somewhere. That’s perfectly legal in every state in the union, and it would be a long time if ever before the school noticed that they hadn’t received a request to transfer the records.
So yeah, the story’s still bogus, but not for the reason you give.
January 23rd, 2008
No, Chuckles, I did not miss any points. I did A) note they weren’t actually homeschooled, and B) was distinctly talking about the ARTICLE BY THE NYT.
You seem to be deliberately misconstruing in order to pick a fight, or else your reading comprehension skills are somewhat sketchy. Either way, move along.