Friday 6 December 2013

The war against home education



Dealing with some of the more militant types of home educator is a bit like coping with a remedial class for slow learners. Everything needs to be repeated endlessly, explained in a dozen different ways and then the whole, soul-destroying process begins anew the next day. Not only that, but one gets the same silly comments and interruptions, the constant cries of, “Sir, I don’t get it!” I felt this most forcibly when people were asking on here recently, as to  why I went into detail about the actual reason that our old friend went to Ireland.  I assumed that my motives would be plain, but I see now that I must settle down and explain, step by step, exactly why I wanted to set the case out in such detail.

To begin with, it is necessary for readers to understand that there is a certain strand among British home educators who believe, or purport to believe, I am not sure which, that some sort of war is being waged against their chosen method of education. They claim that attempts are constantly being made to suppress home education and that there is an agenda by some in the mainstream educational establishment to do away with the practice entirely. It is of course preposterous, but there it is. In order to maintain this worldview,  these people  need always to be uncovering new plots against home educators; they require  a continuous stream of threats and menaces to their favoured  lifestyle. (Of course, fighting all these attacks on their liberties makes for a far more congenial life than actually educating their children! It is  essentially a displacement activity, which means that rather than teaching their kids their times tables, they can instead spend their time  lobbying MPs and writing political manifestos).

Sometimes, there are slack periods, when no obvious danger is looming on the horizon for home education in this country.  When this happens, they  have  to fabricate threats and pretend that some individual is being persecuted because she is a home educator.  This stops other home educating parents becoming complacent and thinking that they are safe! This is what was done last year, when this appeal was widely circulated among home educators;

A well-known member of the HE community and trusted friend needs our help. The 
person's family is facing a possible court order and they felt the need to leave the country very quickly in order to protect the children from unfounded interference based on home education as a risk factor. 

Now anybody reading this, would assume that home education was integral to the threat facing this person. She is a member of the HE community and  she is facing a court order and the possibility of ‘unfounded interference based on home education as a risk factor’.  This was very neatly done and many people fell for it. Of course, the attention of social services and their unfounded interference was precipitated not by home education at all, but by the sequence of events which I outlined a few days ago. The key factors were things such as the condition of the home, the call to the police and previous trouble with various authorities which also had nothing to do with home education. The mother in this case was also in the habit of posting about her use of illegal drugs and that probably didn’t help matters either! So while it was not wholly untruthful to say that home education was a risk factor, the ‘unfounded interference’ about which people were worrying, was not based upon this. If it was a factor, it amounted to about 0.00001% of the total of concerns being expressed by the agencies involved.

This is not an exceptional case, of course. We regularly see home educators trying to work up fears that they are under attack and that if we don’t all support them, then our own lifestyles will be the next to be targeted by the government. I have mentioned any number of incidents of this sort  on here over the years; this was not the worst example of such scaremongering, not by a long chalk. In this case though, hardly anybody with whom I have been in contact knew the true story. Those who signed the original letter have been very keen to keep the actual events from being known, because it shows that all those people like Neil Taylor-Moore, Alison Preuss and Barbara Stark, who signed that letter,  were playing people for mugs and using a case which had very little to do with home education in order to put the wind up them.  It was this practice, which is not limited to that particular instance, to which I wished to draw attention. 

16 comments:

  1. Jeez have you nothing better to do than write these fictions?

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  2. I recently noticed Simon has a new book out
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Best-Days-Our-Lives/dp/0752486373
    I would imagine that people wouldn't be too keen to buy it, nor his publishers to continue their association with Simon if they were aware of this blog and Simon's predilection for internet stalking and harassment - publishing malicious hearsay as fact in order to hound individuals he imagines have slighted him.
    The publisher's contact form is here
    http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/contact-us
    I do believe people should have access to full information before they do business with people.

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    1. I don't think they would give a toss. Nobody has been able to show where he mentioned the girls name or age apart from a personal email. They willjust think him a little odd for blogging with people like you

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    2. Nobody has been able to show where Lisa claimed otherwise but that didn't stop Webb making a fictitious drama out of it.

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    3. 'I would imagine that people wouldn't be too keen to buy it, nor his publishers to continue their association with Simon if they were aware of this blog and Simon's predilection for internet stalking and harassment - publishing malicious hearsay as fact in order to hound individuals he imagines have slighted him.'

      A bit behind the times there, anonymous; that came out in April! The publisher of my book on home education got quite a few crank calls and emails about it, but it didn't really do me any harm. Just caused a few remarks about what strange people some of these home educators are. You go right ahead!

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    4. Excellent cheers.

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    5. The image of my publisher ordering a load of my books to be pulped, because I keep a blog that some people don't like is delicious! It's only a hint and of course no affair of mine, but you might want to phrase your emails with some care. I say this because when I had an academic book being published with Trentham Books, a home educating parent decided to contact them and advise them to have nothing to do with me. Unfortunately, the parent concerned was Peter Williams of Alton, whom some may know from the comments here as being, shall we say, not the most rational and articulate of individuals. The publisher, who deals exclusively in educational books, asked me whether all home educators were as mad as him. I had to confess that it was not at all uncommon. So do stop to think carefully about what you are going to say. Remember that if you sound too demented, it is liable to give other people a bad impression of home educators in general.

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  3. Lisa wasn't bothered. You lot exaggerated it for your own ends.

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  4. Simon sometimes I think you mistake passion for militancy! I find your use of language at times to be misleading and divisive!

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    1. 'Simon sometimes I think you mistake passion for militancy!'

      I'm fairly sure that I do know the difference. I have been pretty passionate about home education myself for decades, but that nobody would describe me as militant.

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    2. Are you sure you know the difference?

      Wider society may consider you a militant!

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  5. They claim that attempts are constantly being made to suppress home education and that there is an agenda by some in the mainstream educational establishment to do away with the practice entirely. It is of course preposterous, but there it is. In order to maintain this worldview, these people need always to be uncovering new plots against home educators;

    If home education is not under threat from the European Union, how do you account for the banning, in 2010, of the freedom to home educate (except in special circumstances) in Sweden? The treatment of home educating families in Germany? The present threat of banning home ed in the Netherlands?

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    1. 'If home education is not under threat from the European Union, how do you account for the banning, in 2010, of the freedom to home educate (except in special circumstances) in Sweden? The treatment of home educating families in Germany? The present threat of banning home ed in the Netherlands?'

      Of course. Just as I explained above, this is the equivalent of the child in the remedial class shouting out, 'Please sir, I don't get it!' When I talked of British home educators fearing that war was being waged against their lifestyle; I was of course referring to the situation in this country. I should perhaps have spelled this out in capital letters, with hyphens between the syllables! The question of what is happening in Sweden and Germany is an interesting one, but of little relevance to this country. (Unless, that is, you are Neil Taylor-Moore and believe that the European Union is all a sinister plot by the Rothschilds and other influential Jews...) Do try to keep up, Anonymous. It's your time you're wasting!

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  6. Simon wrote,
    "because it shows that all those people like Neil Taylor-Moore, Alison Preuss and Barbara Stark, who signed that letter, were playing people for mugs and using a case which had very little to do with home education in order to put the wind up them."

    Careful Simon, that sounds suspiciously like a conspiracy theory!

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  7. Love your blog, Simon !! Haha !! This post reminds me of many individuals in the Home Ed community in South Wales. Keep it up !! Always a good read !!

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    1. I am a home educator. I have come across some militant types. They think we should remain anonymous and that the authorities want to spy on us. I was feeling down but your post has made me laugh.

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