Displaying items by tag: homeschooling

The idea of compulsory school attendance for children is not a new or radical one in modern society. The World Bank reports that, of the globe’s nearly 200 recognized nations, only a tiny handful fail to mandate school attendance.

In mid-2020, I mused that if the COVID-19 pandemic ended up producing any silver linings, the most likely bright spot would be its impact on government — so-called "public" — education. Throughout the previous spring, government schools had largely shut down in-person classes, switching to ad hoc and, it seems, fairly lame, "remote learning."

In North Carolina politics, few issues are as contentious as education. For years, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the Republican-led General Assembly have locked horns on such issues as funding formulas, teacher pay, and parental choice. More recently, legislators have tried to give all schoolchildren access to in-person instruction, only to be stymied by Cooper’s veto pen — wielded at the behest of the North Carolina affiliate of America’s largest teachers union.

North Carolina is already the homeschooling capital of the United States. Now the attraction of this education option is soaring higher than ever — thanks not to the actions of its proponents but to the antics of its opponents.

My 8-year-old daughter and I recently read about the Salem Witch Trials. She had heard about Salem from a friend who visited the nearby town during its popular Halloween festivities, and she was curious about the witches. We went to the library to get some books on the topic of how 20 innocent people were put to death for “witchcraft” in 1692, with scores more accused and jailed.