What Would a Pluralist Say About Homeschooling?

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What Would a Pluralist Say About Homeschooling?

Dr. Brian D. Ray

An academic authors argument might sound good at first. He might pull you right in. Termsused by thinker-writers, such as good society,pluralism, andparental choice, are engagingor at least appear benign. And you might hear one write something that really draws you in,

such as . . . A truly good education system will . . . honour the deeply-held commitments

of the parents whose children are being educated.1

And then the author, such as academic fellow Ashley Berner at the University of Virginia,

continues by laying out a perfectly accurate claim like the following:

In fact, most U.S. citizens continue to think of their public schools as somehow

ideologically neutral. This is simply inaccurate. Education, like all human endeavours,is shot through with belief and longing, with affirmations about what matters andwhat does not. (page 76)

Berner, in her piece titled Making Space for Civilization: Educational Pluralism, has justarticulated something you know to be true and that leaders in the Christian home-educationmovement have been trying to get across to fellow believers for three decades. In fact, non-

Christian home educators have been trying to convey the same thing. Now you are tracking

with this academic and are ready to jump onto her wagon and recommend her article topolicymakers and others.

Findings

But wait a minute, slow down, and carefully consider her next few steps.

Berner does a decent job of addressing three of the four main questions she posits abouteducation: What is the aim of education? What is the nature of the child? What is the role of

the teacher? But when she gets to the fourth and final question, Who has ultimate

authority?, her argument breaks down as she reveals, unwittingly or not, some fundamentalpresuppositions and her worldview.

Academic Berner suddenly leaps to an unfounded claim. She asks, Who decides [about achilds education]?Her answer?

When honest brokers disagree, who adjudicates? A good society in the twenty-firstcentury must, it seems to me, find a way to embrace educational pluralism. That is,

the State should establish certain standards which even strong disagreement may

not overrule. These could include compulsory education up to age sixteen or

seventeen; a strong curriculum that insures literacy and numeracy in the early yearsand that builds up the intellectual, emotional, physical, and even spiritual sensibilitiesof every child until graduation; a plan to sponsor individual interests, particularly at

the upper grade levels; an agreement to promote civic and moral duty; the provisionof adequate facilities and staff training across the system. Each of these components,

of course, deserves its own essay! (page 76)

Hold on! Please define good society, Ms. Berner. And why did you pull, out of thin air, the

position that the State should hold the position of god over the education of children? Why


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did you begin with the presupposition that the State has first and final authority over

childrens education and upbringing? Why not the church (or synagogue or mosque or

soccer team)? Why not the parents? Why not the child? Why not some invisible cosmicforce? What happened to freedom and limiting the power of the State?

Why did you not clearly lay out your worldviews relevant building blocks for us on this

question, the one about authority over a childs teaching, training, and indoctrination?

Berners worldview assumes that the State has a claim on children. From a statistperspective, the State does. From a scripturalist perspective, it does not.2 Christians should

know that God gives the duty and authority over a childs education (e.g., discipleship,

nurturing, training, schooling) to his or her parents, with the father leading. Statismassumes that the State has a claim over a childs education in order to control what the

State thinks is best for the people who comprise the State. Scripturalism gives the State

no claim over the teaching, training, and indoctrination of children. Scripturalism gives theState the duty and power to punish anyone who would harm a child, not the power tocontrol a childs education.

Conclusions

It appeared that at the beginning of her article Ashley Berner might lay out a good

argument for educational freedom in free nations, but the astute reader is quicklydisappointed. It could be that Ms. Berner does not even know what she did. She failed toground her flow of logic and conclusions in an explicitly articulated worldview. It appears

she came down on the side of statism. She clearly rejected Biblical scripturalism in the flow

of her paragraphs and in her final conclusions.

I suppose Berners final sentence makes her educational god about as clear as possible:

The good society should make space for conflicting ideals within the parameters of civicaccountability. (page 78)

In other words, what is done about a childs education should ultimately be undergovernment authoritysimply put, the Stateand not under parents who are providentiallyplaced by God. She is saying, whether aware of it not, a childs education is, in the end, of,to, and for the State, not to the glory of God under the direction of parents. In the end,

statism allows for some parental influence but not truly free, parent-run, home-basededucation.

Beware, readers, of the bait. Look for a clear line that demarcates the presuppositions and

worldview of an author. If you are Christian, you must compare it all to the Word of God.There is no other proper way.

Endnotes:

1. Berner, Ashley. (2011). Making Space for Civilization: Educational Pluralism.CommentMagazine, Fall 2011, 7478, pages 7475.

2. Crampton, W. Gary. (2011, MarchMay). Scripturalism: A Christian Worldview.TheTrinity Review, 299, retrieved 3/27/2011 from

trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=276.

Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., is president of the National Home Education Research Institute, anonprofit research and education organization. Dr. Ray often serves as an expert witness in


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courts, testifies to legislatures, and is interviewed by the media. Brian is married to Betsy

and they have eight children and four grandchildren.

Copyright 2012, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in

the April 2012 issue ofThe Old Schoolhouse Magazine, the family education magazine.Read the magazine free atwww.TOSMagazine.comor read it on the go and download the

free apps atwww.TOSApps.comto read the magazine on your mobile devices.
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What Would a Pluralist Say About Homeschooling?