If you thought that the end of the world was imminent because Jesus would arrive any day now, how would you spend the remaining time? One family in Texas clearly felt that teaching their home-schooled children stuff like math and science and other forms of book-learning was a waste of time and so let them just good off.
What is interesting is that there seems to be no way for the state to compel parents to provide their children even the basic elements of knowledge.
Laura and Michael McIntyre began homeschooling their nine children inside the family’s El Paso motorcycle dealership more than a decade ago.
Officials say the family did not have to teach state-approved curriculum or give standardized tests.
However, problems started when a relative told authorities that he never saw the children reading, working on math, using computers or doing anything educational besides play music.
He said he heard one of them say that learning wasn’t necessary because “they were going to be raptured.”
The El Paso school district eventually asked the couple to provide proof that their children were properly educated. The family sued and an appeals court ruled against them.
The couple argued that school district officials violated their 14th Amendment rights by attempting to verify that their children were learning.
The case then headed to the state’s Supreme Court, where the justices made a 6-3 ruling on technical grounds in favor of the McIntyres.
So we are going to end up with nine adults who will lack the minimum competencies to get jobs, let alone function in society. The only thing that can be said in favor of these parents is that they are not as bad as those parents whose children die because they withheld medical treatment that could have saved them in favor of praying.
What is surprising is that in Texas, a state that shows great deference to religious people and seems to be the source of much of the religion-based wackiest ideas in the nation, a school district actually challenged rapture-loving Christians.
It’s not that surprising that the El Paso school district challenged them, to me. El Paso has considerable cultural differences with other parts of Texas, and tends to be more Democrat-leaning.
I hope that they learn to be good motorcycle mechanics along the way. Without math of any kind, I doubt that they could keep the books in any kind of sensible order after the demise of the parents.
Shhh … we must remain very quiet … we are witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime event. The emergence of a what was assumed to be an impossibility, a self-reproducing population of useless and parasitic monks on the the North American continent. These vermin are common in Israel (ultra-orthodox), Pakistan (Imams), India (Fakers and holy men) and several other backward nations but here we see the emergence of a religiously-based and soon to be state-sanctioned parasitic class within a wealthy western nation. It had previously been assumed that this sub-species could only develop roots in a religiously based nation.
I hope a lawyer finds those kids as adults and launches a lawsuit.
Unskilled labour is a thing — the minimum competence required is a functioning body and a willingness to work for pay.
Herd immunity shouldn’t only be about eliminating disease, it should be about eliminating ignorance.
Denying medical care and education to children should both be considered forms of abuse and child endangerment. There are some valid reasons for home schooling, but intentionally creating a generation of ignorant people is not one of them.
left0ver1under, not being formally educated does not entail being ignorant.
(You may be educated, but you’re clearly ignorant)
PS left0ver1under:
What? “Herd immunity” is neither a policy nor a methodology; it’s a phenomenon.
(Your intended analogy is silly)
@ 7 John Morales
John, did you read the fucking thing?
Your observation that, “not being formally educated does not entail being ignorant” is vapid in context.
@ 8 John Morales
No, it’s not silly. Education can be seen as a defence against foolishness. And in a democratic society, the lower the susceptibility to foolishness, the better for the common good.
I wish you would try to actually understand and engage meaningfully with what’s been said, rather than just try to poke pedantic holes in other people’s words. It’s the latter practice that’s silly. It might be fun for you, but it’s fucking boring and tiresome for everyone else.
Silentbob:
No. I merely responded to an opinion made in a comment.
Your acumen is duly noted, given that my assertion is context-free — i.e. universal.
Yes, it is silly, for various reasons; for one, transmission of education and disease vectors are not comparable, and for another, what some call education others call indoctrination.
Your wish has been already granted, though you don’t clearly don’t apprehend that reality.
(Also, if it’s actually pedantry, it’s perforce not incorrect!)
You imagine your own opinion represents all those who are not me? Heh.