Yesterday I was accused by one person who commented here of seeking adulation! I really can't be going about this in the right way, because I have yet to notice that I have received any adulation at all here over the last year. Come on guys, you are welcome to be adulatory if you want; don't be shy!
I was thinking a little more about the idea of people like me wanting to restrict the freedoms of home educators. I was perhaps a little harsh about this, saying that I had no interest at all in such freedoms. Let us look at the freedoms of home educators and how they might be being restricted at the moment.
One of the problems that I have always found with very gung ho liberal and left wing types is that they are often very eager to impose their own ideology upon others. Frequently, they are readier to do this than right wing conservatives. So it is not enough for one of these people to boycott Israeli fruit or academic exchanges. That is fair enough, we can all choose with whom we do business. That is freedom. These sort of people often try to get everybody else to do the same as them and attempt to make anybody not taking part in the boycott to feel like child murderers or Nazis. I have observed this process time and again. For one person to avoid wearing a fur coat is fine; that is freedom. To try and stop anybody else wearing fur coats is an attempt to restrict the freedom of others to make choices.
How does this relate to the restriction of freedom for home educators? Some home educating parents are happy for officers from their local authority to visit them. Actually some enjoy the visits. I have remarked before that there are parents who attend home educating groups who feel obliged to keep quiet about the visits they receive. On the HE-UK list, we can see why this should be. Somebody there articulates what might perhaps be called the 'Party Line' on visits and friendly relations with the local authority; i.e. that this is a despicable form of collaboration and those who allow it are no better than Quislings. She writes;
'I live in an area with quite a number of home educators who like to show off to the LA - it's really annoying because whilst I wouldn't want to curb their freedom, their actions mean that the LA expects it off all home educators. Every time one of us gives extra to a LA, no matter how proud you may be, it takes away more of all our choices.'
I simply adore the sneering attempt to belittle those who enjoy visits, they 'like to show off'. This is a fairly common attitude among those on both the lists and in some home educating groups. All local authorities are liars and up to no good. Anybody who accepts a visit or sends more than the bare minimum to their LA is letting the side down. In short, by applying psychological pressure, attempts are being made to stop others from allowing local authority officers into their home. This has been explicitly stated on a number of lists and those who have admitted having happy visits have been exposed as traitors who make life more difficult for other parents.
I observe that on one of the larger lists, a poll was conducted just after the publication of the Badman Review. the question asked was whether people were in favour of compulsory registration. 17% were in favour; between a fifth and a sixth. A minority, but a substantial one. Of the seven hundred people on this particular list, well over a hundred are likely to be in favour of compulsory registration. And this was a list set up to oppose Graham Badman and all his works! Roughly the same percentage were in favour of this when making submissions during the review itself. I have an idea that if parents were to be offered practical help such as free paper and pens, ink for their printers, access to examinations, school music rooms and science rooms, this percentage would soar. We will never know, because nobody at all feels able to admit to being in favour of compulsory registration. Not on that list or HE-UK, EO or the other main ones. Their freedom to express this view has been eroded by the vociferous shouting and unpleasant behaviour of others. One needs to read what John Stuart Mill had to say about the Tyranny of the Majority!
Similar things happen with those who believe in structured education and teaching of children. They do not feel free to express their own views on this among other home educators sometimes. If we are going to talk about restricting the freedoms of home educators, then this is the sort of thing which comes to my mind. That some home educating parents are made to feel unwelcome at a group because they believe in structured teaching. That some parents keep quiet about receiving visits in case others condemn them. That almost a fifth of parents on the HE lists are in favour of compulsory registration, but would not dare to say so because they would be pounced upon. Such insidious, psychological pressure acts to restrict the freedoms of some home educating parents just as seriously as anything being done by local authorities.
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Sadly, horribly true. I wish I could disagree with you on this and say that wasn't my local experience, but it is.
ReplyDeleteMrs Anon
Perhaps this is as close to 'adulation' as I may reasonably expect to get, Mrs Anon.
ReplyDeleteHang on a minute, let me just look that word up.
ReplyDelete'servile flattery; exaggerated and hypocritical praise'
Is agreement close to that? If so, you can tick that off your to do list today, Simon ;-)
Mrs Anon
'servile flattery; exaggerated and hypocritical praise'
ReplyDeleteYes, your comments do not of course fall strictly into the category of 'servile flattery', Mrs Anon. Nor are you in the habit of laying on the exaggerated and hypocritical praise with a trowel. Still, as the person commenting yesterday suggested, adulation is what I am trying to elicit here and so this will have to do. It is true that your saying, ' I wish I could disagree with you', hinted that your adulation was perhaps not as whole-hearted as one might wish, but there it is. For lack on any more adulatory comments, yours will have to do!
LOL! Who says you don't have a sense of humour?
ReplyDeleteMrs Anon
There is a difference between social pressure restricting freedom of speech (which I deplore) and attempting to change the law so that a freedom is legally removed (something I deplore even more).
ReplyDelete"That almost a fifth of parents on the HE lists are in favour of compulsory registration, but would not dare to say so because they would be pounced upon. Such insidious, psychological pressure acts to restrict the freedoms of some home educating parents just as seriously as anything being done by local authorities."
ReplyDeleteJust as an example. Home educators can currently choose to register with their LA. They might not choose to broadcast this on one of the more militant email lists but this doesn't prevent them from registering. If the law were changed to make registration mandatory, the same would not be true for those who do not wish to register.
I strongly oppose any course of action which could lead to compromising the education my children and I have evolved together and this includes a strong opposition to registration.
ReplyDeleteHowever, to imagine that I am not entirely open to debate on these issues, or to say that I do not have close, in fact, dearly beloved friends, who completely disagree with me on these points, is to err hugely! My closest friends tolerate LA visits...can't say they enjoy them though. We also argue about everything perfectly happily and sometimes for years! They are certainly not cowed in my company!
Again, I feel you may have put a slant on the situation which may not be very significant, Simon. I would say that most of the people I know would rather get on with it by themselves, and do without LA visits if they could and this is most likely the reason why there isn't a vociferous minority on BRAG, for example.
'I would say that most of the people I know would rather get on with it by themselves, and do without LA visits if they could and this is most likely the reason why there isn't a vociferous minority on BRAG, for example.'
ReplyDeleteI would not have expected such people to be in favour of compulsory registration, which almost a fifth of the members of BRAG apparently are.
'There is a difference between social pressure restricting freedom of speech (which I deplore) and attempting to change the law so that a freedom is legally removed (something I deplore even more).'
ReplyDeleteSocial pressure is actually more powerful than legislation. I cannot remember when last I heard anybody use words like 'nigger' or 'coon'. This is not due to any legislation, but rather the fact that anybody using words like this these days is likely to be looked at as though he is a leper. This was not the case twenty or thirty years ago. Social disapproval can be a stronger force for altering how people think, speak and behave than simply passing a new law.
Such people (who accept LA visits grudgingly) might well vote for registration...not because they benefit in any way from it whatsoever, but so that they *assume* that other children will be better protected that way.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that universal registration will stretch already over-stretched services too thinly to achieve it's aim is something that I think we will need to discuss at greater length, particularly given the current economic situation.
'The fact that universal registration will stretch already over-stretched services too thinly to achieve it's aim is something that I think we will need to discuss at greater length, particularly given the current economic situation.'
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more! Now that ContactPoint has been switched off, it would be a nightmare. One can just imagine the games of cat and mouse as families attempted to dodge their local authorities.
"I would not have expected such people to be in favour of compulsory registration, which almost a fifth of the members of BRAG apparently are."
ReplyDeleteDid they genuinely want registration or did they see it as the lesser evil? Would they have sought registration if Badman hadn't happened. I've not heard from any home educators who actively campaigned for registration before the Badman review, etc happened and threatened worse. It seemed more like appeasement - if we offer registration they may back down on the rest...
"Their freedom to express this view has been eroded by the vociferous shouting and unpleasant behaviour of others. One needs to read what John Stuart Mill had to say about the Tyranny of the Majority!"
ReplyDeleteSo the Tyranny of the Majority by a vociferous minority? There is nothing to stop LAs offering things to registered home educators and nothing to stop home educators registering in order to take advantage of those offers. Why is there a need for the majority (the population through it's government or even a majority of home educators if that is the case) to force a minority to register against their will?