Homeschool parents can point to their successes, as can public schools. Iowans like Henry A. Wallace, Thomas Cech, Robert Noyce, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Robert Ray were educated with the help of tax dollars. Failure rates of public schools are public information. Unfortunately, failure rates of home schooled children are not public.
It is insulting that a home-school parent points to poor inner-city public schools as reason to denigrate public education (Register, Sept. 29). Public schools with a poor tax base need to be assisted not demonized. A home-school parent who dismisses the "infrequent tragedy of kids being abused" (Register, Sept. 29) when home-schooled is repulsive. A civilized society looks out for each other.
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Members of the public can volunteer in the classroom, tutor a child, chose to be a leader of a parent-teacher organization, work to raise money for supplies, encourage others to vote for enrichment taxes to fund the arts and instructional materials, work as a member of the school board. We all need to be grateful to those who helped educate us and pass it on to the next generation.
Children will not always “belong” to their parents. Hopefully, they will become a productive member of society, making a livable wage. A good education is part of that ingredient. The new law on Independent Private Instruction has endangered that ingredient. Will this law encourage more parents to try this experiment in their child’s learning?