Caveat: This blog entry is intended to shine light on the absurdity of our laws and our lawmakers, the illogical straw-man arguments made by panic-master politicians who are greedy to unearth votes in the dark corners of ignorance, and the monstrous nature of a government seeking to encroach on every aspect of our daily lives. While researching the child abuse statistics to prepare this blog entry, I thought my heart would break in two. I pray for all of America's abused and neglected kids, whether the abuse comes from felons, families, brutal bullying in schools, coaches, or social networking. I do not take child abuse lightly. No one should.
An Open Letter to Ohio Lawmakers
To your recent proposal that ALL home educators be investigated by social services before being permitted to home educate, I have the following observations:
Tragically, nearly 5 children in the USA die every day from abuse and neglect. This statistic comes from National Statistics on Child Abuse. The annual death toll is approximately 1,600. Just awful.
Statistics on the number of abuse-deaths in home school families are hard to come by. But, based on the homeschoolphobic mainstream news histrionics, it is roughly one per year. Based on my math, this represents approximately .032 % of the victims. It is very important to note that truant families and these vile human beings who hurt their kids ALWAYS purport to be home schooling. The .032 % is probably much lower.
The more appalling statistic:
99.97% of the children who die from abuse in the home attend public or private school (100% minus .032%). What in the world is going on here? Of course, of course, I know , I know - - correlation does not equate causation (unless, of course, you home educate). But, folks, 99.97% is a staggering statistic! Ohio lawmakers - do not ignore these numbers. Ohio's children deserve the best - even the kids who get on the big, yellow bus every day.
I suggest that a task force be formed to review known cases of abuse. Based on the well-documented successes of home educated students, this Board of Overseers should obviously be headed by experienced home school families (without prejudice to race, religion, gender identity or marital status).
In addition to determining the safety of the home and the safety of the school environment, the Board will be charged with identifying those students who are not reading at grade level and whose math scores are borderline or below grade level. If performance is found to be substandard, the child(ren) should be immediately pulled out of the school in order to be home educated.
If any physical abuse is reported to the Board of Overseers, then social services will be contacted immediately.
Based on the academic performance of home educated students and based on the safety standards in their learning environments, these families are surely best-equipped to advise and supervise in the public schools, where currently a disproportionate number of students suffer from severe depression, chronic fear of bullying, and exhaustion.
This country and the State of Ohio should not stand by while 99.97% of the reported cases of abuse - all kids who attend public or private schools - goes unfixed.
Most sincerely,
Rosemary Laberee
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