Things to Ponder

Would You Let Them Scan Your Child?

One family said NO, but their child was still scanned.

Still, a substitute teacher's mistake proved just how vulnerable children who opt out can be. "They rounded up all the kids in our son's class and they rescanned them all, including our son," Chris explained. "He was trying to tell the lady 'No, I'm not allowed to scan,' and she hushed him. Privacy experts fear that ultimately, schools will require children to scan. Lillie Coney of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said, "Your ability to say or to provide information upon demand, or to decide not to provide information upon demand is going to diminish a great deal."
Coney and others warn that fingerprint scanners condition children to accept tracking as a part of everyday life, which could lead to a loss of our everyday freedoms. "If you train children to think 'You have to give a fingerprint,' later on they'll give a dna sample, an iris scan--anything you ask them for," said Consumer Privacy Expert Katherine Albrecht.

Do Unto Others

PunditMom ask that Homeschoolers respect her decision to send her child to a private school. I really hope that all the homeschoolers that call in will. If we want people to respect our right to homeschool we need to respect their right to make the best educational choice for their child, regardless if they choose public school, private school or homeschooling.

At first I was shocked that any homeschool parent would presume to tell another parent how to raise their child, but some of the fundamentalist christian parents on the Dr. Phil Board seemed to have a mantra.

• you aren't a good Christian if you don't homeschool (for religious reasons).
• you aren't a good parent if you don't homeschool.
• your child will go to hell if you don't homeschool.
• you will go to hell if you don't homeschool.

Honestly I could see why some people were turned off homeschooling. For me homeschooling is an educational choice, not a religious calling. I respect and support parents that choose to send their children to public schools or private schools. I trust they will make the right choice for their child. So homeschoolers please do remember to be tolerant of others choices and beliefs if you choose to call in to School Your Child Well.

Also I would ask that my fellow homeschoolers be tolerant and respectful of the different methods of homeschooling. Unschooling is a valid homeschooling method. There were a few posters on the Dr. Phil Board that had the attitude that their way of homeschooling was the only correct way to homeschool. Attitudes like these help no one, and harm everyone.

So remember do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words if you want the choices you make for your children to be respected and supported then you need to respect and support the choices other parents make for their children even if those choices differ from yours.