Parents have many fundamental responsibilities in nurturing their children. Food, clothing and shelter are three basic needs for every child. But then come certain provisions that may be seen by some as discretionary and possibly even considered nonessential. Parents are charged with the task of sorting through this seemingly endless list of concerns. It is their place to rank the level of importance for each matter and act accordingly. One of the many categories involves the child’s education.
There was a time when this was the sole responsibility of the parents. The mother was the primary tutor with the father assisting her as necessary. This arrangement was possible due to one primary reason. Most mothers did not work outside the home. We saw that change significantly during World War I and even more so during World War II. With many thousands of men called to war, the labor force was reduced dramatically. Women were needed to perform work previously accomplished by men.
After World War II, a baby boom followed and an economic explosion sprang forth. Automobiles, homes, clothing and many other consumer items were in great demand. Women had become accustomed to working and continued to do so in order to purchase these things. The government tax coffers were bulging and one of the results was that more and more public schools were built. Teachers were hired by the hundreds of thousands and were mostly women, many of which were mothers themselves.
It became much easier to borrow money from banks to purchase the new automobiles and homes. Before long, borrowing became a way of life for the vast majority of Americans. Revolving charge accounts were common with Sears Roebuck and J. C. Penney emerging as lenders. They charged higher interest rates than banks on goods purchased in their stores. The borrowing frenzy exploded making it necessary for both parents to work outside the home in order to make those monthly payments.
Then came credit card companies charging extremely high interest rates. Soon millions were struggling to make even the minimum payments on their accounts each month. They had become enslaved to these companies by their own greed and their lack of prudent priorities. The result was that their children would be educated by various state government schools and taught by mothers who were also entrapped by self inflicted debt. A teacher’s union had been formed in the mid 1800’s and during the boom of the mid 1900’s, it began to grow exponentially. Today it boasts over three million members, the largest union in the U. S.
As often happens when an organization grows to this level, money corrupts and the leaders tend to buy influence. A social agenda developed that soon permeated the entire school system. Curriculum was socially engineered and in a very short time, the school system was impacted. God was banned in most school systems and sex education moved from children’s homes to the classrooms.
Many parents have become concerned about these and many other problems with public education. As a result, the home school movement is experiencing a resurgence. However, the NEA has used its influence to make it very difficult for parents to home school. One of those deterrents is that parents who home school are not exempt from paying school taxes even though their children do not attend. In addition, good quality curriculum is very expensive. And of course, the mother cannot usually work outside the home to pay for these expenses. This is very unfair and creates a hardship that affects the entire family.
However, even with these disadvantages, homeschooling is growing at a phenomenal rate. Most parents want what is best for their kids and if they were not in bondage to debt, this means of educating their children would be soaring even higher.
“The only way that you can completely control what your children are taught in school is to teach them yourself. Homeschooling is expensive, time-consuming and intimidating to those that think they are not qualified to teach their children. But it is also the greatest gift you could ever give to your children and society.”
Wayne Hudson
Note: For more information, see: https://thefederalist.com/2015/09/01/why-homeschooling-is-growing/