Striking at the heart of the schools
BevK May 3rd, 2006
http://worldnetdaily.com/…RTICLE_ID=49995
The level of enthusiasm varies from region to region, but there is no question that sports is more important than education to most high-school students. This is as true of homeschooled children as of their private- and public-school counterparts. For while personal instruction tailored to the individual is a much superior method of learning algebra, Latin and Shakespeare, it is impossible to play football alone unless a Playstation is involved.
The laws vary from state to state, but in those school districts where homeschool participation in sports is banned, parents who wanted to give their children the chance to participate in team sports often opted for lawsuits and political lobbying in the interest of forcing public schools to allow athletes not attending those schools to play on their sports teams. However, this is a short-sighted and sub-optimal strategy for five reasons.
Im going to address the following of his points.
Second, by creating an emotional involvement with the local public school, athletic participation strengthens the very institution that should be encouraged to wither away.
Perhaps, but with budgets tightening, sports may finally be separated from schools. Until then, for my son, playing for the public school has been his only option. There just aren’t enough high school homeschoolers in my small community to create a homeschool team.
Third, even if such efforts are successful, the ability to participate is unlikely to be permitted for long, as what a legislature can give under pressure, it can also take away.
Perhaps, but the real pressure needed to be applied to state educrats who weren’t going to change without it. That pressure needed to come from someone with power.
Fourth, it fails to build an alternative structure for future generations of homeschooled children.
Where alternative structures are viable, they have been built. Homeschooling sports is available in many areas of the country. When homeschooling grows enough to create homeschool sports programs in less populated areas, I’ll bet they’ll grow there, too. Until then, playing for the local public or private school is the only option for homeschoolers serious about playing sports.
And fifth, it often doesn’t work.
This last argument is just silly. There are all kinds of things we wouldn’t do if we took the notion that it often doesn’t work means I shouldn’t even try.
