About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

62 Ariz. L. Rev. 1 (2020)
Homeschooling: Parent Rights Absolutism vs. Child Rights to Education & Protection

handle is hein.journals/arz62 and id is 9 raw text is: HOMESCHOOLING: PARENT RIGHTS ABSOLUTISM VS. CHILD RIGHTS TO EDUCATION & PROTECTION* Elizabeth Bartholet** This Article describes the rapidly growing homeschooling phenomenon and the threat it poses to children and society. Homeschooling activists have in recent decades largely succeeded in their deregulation campaign, overwhelming legislators with aggressive advocacy. As a result, parents can now keep their children at home in the name of homeschooling free from any real scrutiny as to whether or how they are educating their children. Many homeschool because they want to isolate their children from ideas and values central to our democracy, determined to keep their children from exposure to views that might enable autonomous choice about their future lives. Many promote racial segregation and female subservience. Many question science. Abusive parents can keep their children at home free from the risk that teachers will report them to child protection services. Some homeschool precisely for this reason. This Article calls for a radical transformation in the homeschooling regime and a related rethinking of child rights. It recommends a presumptive ban on homeschooling, with the burden on parents to demonstrate justification for permission to homeschool. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................... 3 I. T H E R EA LITY .................................................................................................... 8 A. History and Trends.........................................................................................8 * Copyright 2019, Elizabeth Bartholet. ** Moris Wasserstein Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Publications related to some of the issues in this Article appear at http://www.law.harvard.edu/ faculty/bartholet/pubs.php. I want to thank the following colleagues who have been so very generous in sharing their wisdom in connection with prior drafts of this Article: John Affeldt, Paulo Barrozo, Manuel Cepeda, Rachel Coleman, Deborah Dentler, James Dwyer, Milton Gaither, William Fitzsimmons, Michael Gregory, Robert Kunzman, Frank Michelman, Martha Minow, Michael Rebell, Jeffrey Shulman, Laurence Tribe, Frank Vandervort, Katharine Young, and Emily Zackin. I also want to thank my truly extraordinary Research Assistant, Isabel Macquarrie, who has been an essential partner throughout this project. And finally, I want to thank my Faculty Assistant, Eleanor Topping, who has provided essential support.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most