The old saying that if you want to shoot a dog, first call it a mad dog applies. I suspect that behind closed doors at NEA headquarters at 16th and M Street in Washington, a plan has been hatched to try to stop the exodus from government schools to home education. The first step would of course be to discredit home education by linking it with “abuse” and “indoctrination.” Doing that establishes the predicate for claiming that there is a “compelling state interest” in guaranteeing that all kids receive the supposed benefits of a “real” education, run by “professionals” certified by the state.
Back when he spoke here, Richard Epstein suggested that the biggest threat to the public education establishment is home schooling. I think he was right. The remarkable success of home-schooled students along with the increasing danger of government schools — violence, drugs, peer-pressure not to excel and so on — makes home schooling look like an attractive alternative, and with the internet, it becomes more and more feasible for a wide array of people.
The institutional threat to the education unions is too great for them to ignore.
