No Bullying
—On What Authority?
Iwas recently inside a public middle school in a western state and saw a poster that read like this:
Our No Bully Oath
We Will . . .
This is a NO BULLY ZONE!
We will not bully others!
But no moral authority was offered for
why. The poster was on the wall of the
public school, so the implication is “thus
saith the State school system.”
This week I was inside a private “re-
ligious” K– 12 school. They, too, have
posters up pressing students to not bully
others. Again, no moral authority was of-
fered as a basis for the “good behavior.”
But what has this to do with scholarly
research and writing about homeschool-
ing? Consider the following views on
what constitutes the best social training
for children and youth. Professor Dennis
Evans claimed: “The isolation implicit in
home teaching is anathema to socializa-
tion and citizenship.”
1
Findings
Yes, the calls above to anti-bullying are
noble sentiments. I suppose the State-
run schools shall not post things like the
following:
Jesus, fully God and fully man, said:
“You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.”
“ . . . You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your
mind and with all your strength.”
“There is no other commandment
greater than these.”
(Mark 12: 31, 30, 31, ESV)
question about this, something judges
normally do not do.
Part of my response was like this: Do
you want all children to grow up to be
incarcerated at the same rate as are public school graduates? Do you want all
children and teens to bully others at the
same rate as do public school students?
Do you want all children to get involved
in illegal drugs and alcohol abuse at the
same rate as public-educated young
adults? Do you want all young adults to
have the same low levels of respect toward adults as do those in State schools?
Do you want all American youth to be
a part of the same rate of “unwanted”
pregnancy as is true of those in public
schools? Do you want as many home-educated young ladies to experience
abortion as do those in public schools?
Do you want the same rate of gang participation among home-educated youth
as among public school youth?
If your answer is yes to these things,
then you probably want all children
and youth to spend as much time as
possible with public school students in
State-run institutions. If a teacher’s, social worker’s, psychologist’s, counselor’s,
or judge’s definition of “good behavior” is the norm amongst public school
students then, by all means, he or she
should promote all students spending as
much time as possible in public schools.
I suppose some private
school administrators are
leery of putting too much
stock in the authority of
Jesus the Christ.
I suppose some private school administrators are leery of putting too much
stock in the authority of Jesus the Christ.
facilitate identity development that is
best.
2 Apparently she really doubts that
adult orientation will help youth more
than the norm of peer orientation.
Further, while I was testifying as an
expert witness in a Midwest court just
over two months ago, the judge was
not worried about the homeschool
children’s academic achievement or
their respect toward their parents and
other adults, but he was very concerned about how they would learn
to get along in the world without being institutionalized with all the public school students in the area for five
days per week, for twelve years of their
lives. Fortunately, he asked me a direct
Conclusions
So far, there is no research evidence
that the discouraging rates of incarceration, bullying, drug and alcohol
28;May;2012;•;The;Informed;Homeschooler
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