K- 12 students nationwide.
2 “Forty-five
percent of respondents support the homeschooling option, with just 34% opposed,”
they found. I wonder what “support” means
in the mind of respondents. Does it mean
they proactively promote it? It is also worth
noting that 55% of Republicans support
homeschooling while 37% of Democrats
do. Further, 26% of Republicans oppose
homeschooling while 41% of Democrats
oppose homeschooling.
The Is/Ought Fallacy
One must wonder about this: 34% of adults
oppose homeschooling. Why? Now here
is where we get into being careful to not
commit the is/ought fallacy. The is/ought
fallacy is committed when a person holds
the mistaken belief that something should
exist solely because it does exist. Should
the responses to polls drive a person’s values and beliefs? Should the opinion of the
majority drive the thoughts and practices of
lawmakers and policymakers and community leaders? No, truth or some dependable
standard, should drive people. They should
drive policymakers and everyone. This is
why the United States is a constitutional republic and not a pure democracy.
We need to think and make decisions
according to what ought to be. The public should not be encouraged to believe
something simply because “X” percent or a
majority think it; that is, because such an
opinion exists.
Whether this survey is accurate or not,
advocates of private parent-led home-
based education really need to take note of
this next item. When asked, “Do you sup-
port or oppose allowing parents to educate
their children at home instead of sending
them to school?” 53% of the general pub-
lic said yes. That is, they want parents to
have to get permission from the govern-
ment to choose this private form of educa-
tion. In a free country, who would think
this? Do they think parents should have to
get the state’s permission to put their chil-
dren in Roman Catholic schools, Luther-
an schools, New Age schools, Mormon
schools, agnostic day schools, or Muslim
schools?
What would have happened if the researchers had started this section on
school choice and homeschooling with
the First Amendment to the Constitution? “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press; or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” What if
the investigators had included at the beginning of the survey some choice quotes
from the Supreme Court stating that the
state may not control a child’s education?
Or what if they had told people that tyrants throughout history have opposed
parents being the main educators of their
www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
There are actually
professors today—in
the “land of the free
and the home of the
brave”—who believe
in banning all forms of
private education for
children.
