Parent's Rights

Hello and welcome to our first blog post. Elizabeth and I enjoy discussing politics and our culture. Even though we are not experts on either, we try to stay current on as much as we can. So some of our posts may be about current events and others about our families. As you can assume from our title we are unapologetically conservative.

So today I have been really thinking about one of the most irritating things happening in our world right now, which is our government slowly and quietly infringing on parent's rights to raise their children how they see fit. Last week we saw the state of California tell parents they can no longer homeschool if they do not have teaching credentials,
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/MNJDVF0F1.DTL
Whatever your thoughts are on homeschooling, parents on both the right and left sides of the aisles should be outraged at this ruling. Parents homeschool for a variety of reasons. One of the major factors is the dismal quality of our nation's public schools. You don't have to look far to see how cheated our youth enrolled in the public schools are. This is only one example of how public educated children perform on tests compared to other industralized nations,
"U.S. students currently lag behind their international counterparts in basic science and math skills. When comparing the 8th grade test scores of American students with their international counterparts, the U.S. is in the 32nd percentile in math and the 59th percentile in science. Yet, these figures worsen when comparing 12th grade advanced math and physics students around the world, American students are in the lowly 6th percentile in math and at a bleak 0% in science. These figures portray the stark reality that, when compared to other countries, American students are failing."
http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/Education/PNPublicEducationHerbold04-15.html
Another excellent piece on the failings of our public school system is John Stossel's report, http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338
The quality of education is merely one factor why parents don't want to send their kids to public schools. Another factor weighing high on many parent's list is the liberal indoctrination kids have to endure. Especially in California, "California’s school children, as young as kindergarten, would be required to learn about the contributions of gays, lesbians and the transgendered to American society as part of a bill pending before the state Senate."
http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20May06/Art_May06_05.html
What about this story from a San Diego school who is allowing Muslims students prayer time. Where is the prayer time for Christians, Jews, etc? http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070702-9999-1n2prayer.html
A fanatistic column written by the hard hitting Texan crime fighter, Chuck Norris, is really worth checking out. My favorite quote from the article,
"Is it merely coincidental that homeschooling was outlawed by the Soviet State in 1919, by Hitler and Nazi Germany in 1938 and by Communist China in 1949? Will California be next? America? Will we yield control and our educational rights as parents? Such would not only be an American travesty but a human disgrace."
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58452

As I said before, regardless of your thoughts on homeschooling, all parents should be angry that a court is saying they know better how to raise your kids than you do. Parents need to be aware of what is happening in our world right now and stand up for your rights. Sadly I think too many moms and dads don't care about these issues because they aren't directly affecting them. But little do they know that rights as parents are quietly being trampled on.