Home schooling should be parents' choice

I had never heard of home schooling before moving to the United States. In Italy, where I was born and raised, there is no such right. The state decides how, where and what children need to learn and that's it. School programs are the same for the whole country. There isn't a lot of room for differences or even questions.

I believe that home schooling is a great alternative for parents who desire to educate their children at home. I admit that when I first learned about it, I was a bit hesitant. Teaching my children at home? It seemed strange, but over time, I became familiar with this concept, and learned a lot from friends who choose to educate their children at home.

I always assumed there was some legal support for home schooling, but in light of a recent California decision, this is clearly not the case.

Justice H. Walter Croskey for the 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled that, "Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," and unless they hold teaching credentials, they cannot home school their children. Parents who continue to home school, said the judge, could be subject to criminal prosecution.

This ruling affects a lot of people: the Pacific Justice Institute estimates that there are more than 166,000 home schooled students in California alone.

The case itself isn't a simple matter. It involves a child claiming to be abused by his parents and requesting to go back to public school. California law isn't clear on the role of home schooling. The courts have largely left it to the school districts to decide how to handle home schoolers and what requirements they need to follow. Furthermore, the furor that erupted isn’t likely to cause any immediate changes for home schoolers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger quickly made a statement of support for home schoolers, and California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said no one would be forced back into public schools.

But the fact that a blanket statement or a requirement with such far-reaching implications was made in the first place doesn't seem to be very, well, American.

This decision has significant implications for military families. Many of us choose to home school our children at one point or another, and we don't really have a choice as to where we are going to live or when we are going to move. What if we move in the middle of the year and our child is having a hard time fitting in? Is the state of California telling me that even though my husband is off fighting a war for our freedom, I don't have the freedom to choose how to educate my own children?

I believe that the choice to home school my children, for religious, personal or any other reason, should be left to me, not to the state. Our constitutionally protected right to pursue happiness also protects my choice to educate my children at home.

The state can certainly expect that home schooling is done effectively, that kids are learning and even that they sometimes take tests to prove it. But the state shouldn't be casting stones when it comes to education.

And more importantly, when there is a conflict over how laws are interpreted and enforced, the American state should always err to the side of freedom.

There's nothing more fundamentally American than that.

Anita Doberman is a freelance writer, mother of five and wife of an Air Force pilot stationed at Hurlburt AFB in Florida.