ON ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Have you heard about the recent legislation in California requiring parents to be certified teachers in order to homeschool their children? As if one needs a degree to be an adequate teacher. As if one cannot educate oneself or one's children without a little piece of paper (or two or three).

This really bugs me. As a mom who has homeschooled her kids in the past and learned a thing or two about all the ways public education fails children, this really really bugs me. I applaud parents who choose to invest that much time and attention in their children. Studies of standardized test scores support the argument that these parents most often do a very good job. Why take away that freedom?

Next thing you know someone is going to be telling me I can't write books because I don't have a formal degree in writing. As if!

"If I had my life to live over again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner."

- Tallulah Bankhead