03.16
Alabama state Senator Hank Erwin is bringing up the so called “Tim Tebow” bill again this year. This bill, and others like it across the country, would mandate that public schools allow homeschoolers and privately tutored students to participate in extracurricular activities at their local public school. Of course, I am supportive of the idea of expanding opportunities for homeschooled kids, but I’m not sure this is a hill I want to die on. As homeschoolers, we need to slow down on some of this stuff and determine where the best battle lines should be drawn. Conservative families are busy with real life. Work, schooling, recreation. When we decide to disrupt our lives to go protest or something like that, it better really be worth it. Is this one of those issues? Let’s look at the pro’s and con’s:
Pro’s
- All parents pay the same taxes for education. This should equate to equal access for all children.
- All things being equal, like taxation and participation, there is no reason that certain classes of children should be excluded from local school functions.
- Allowing participation brings back a sense of home-rule to the education system and bucks the trend of nationalization in education.
- Homeschooled children tend to not be afraid of peers since the constant negatives of peer-pressure are absent. This makes them more natural leaders and therefore, allowing them to play sports would let those skills have a natural expression.
Con’s
- In reality, equal access doesn’t exist. We all pay taxes for road maintenance, even though some people don’t own a car. We all pay cop salaries even if we never need the police.
- Tax dollars take a crazy path through the buearacracy, so it’s hard to tell what’s what and how your dollars even get back to the school anymore.
- Strings still get attached even when it’s your money.
The question is, is education the same as police, roads, firemen? I think clearly it’s not. The argument has been being made for decades and decades that education has such a 
tremendous beneficial impact on society that it should be a government enterprise. Pre-1900 debates about whether or not to turn over education to government focused on the argument that educated people are less likely to commit crime, become destitute, etc. This would alleviate the public financial burden of dealing with these people. At best we can say that it hasn’t worked out that way. Prisons are bursting at the seams today just as they were then. There is no proof that there are less homeless today either. That argument, while it sounds good, is a non sequitor.
On the other hand, it makes sense for people to band together at the local municipal level and fund a fire-fighting system or a police force. I would still say that these functions would be better if they were privatized, but at least the common welfare aspect is clear and self-evident in those scenarios. Education is not like that. Education is a deeply personal endeavor. It’s a broad undertaking that needs to follow specialized tracks depending on what course you want to take your life into. I’m saying all this to make the point that public funding of education as the overriding principle in all equal access decisions is wrong.
With all this on the table, I guess I’d say that I’m neutral on the Tim Tebow bill stuff. It’s just too messy in a practical sense. On paper it should be cut and dried. Equal taxation means equal access. But real world politics makes that wishful thinking. I’m sure there would be mandates attempted on homeschoolers and they would most likely be the religious type. You can’t pray at school, so why would the law allow homeschoolers to pray during the day during football season if their children participate. See what I mean? It’s just too easy to see the encroachments that would come. I wouldn’t hate it if it didn’t happen, but I’m not going to put a bunch of effort into it either.
All that being said, I’ve heard some really lame arguments against allowing homeschoolers to participate in public school sports. Here are a few:
- “You’re cherry picking the good stuff.” This one just made me laugh when I heard it on sports radio one day. All this argument does is just bury you in a hole. SO you’re saying public school is crappy, and in order to enjoy the good you have to make your children put up with the bad. It’s not fair that homeschool kids would get to take part in the good parts of public ed. without having to put up with the bad parts too. I think you might want to re-think that argument.
- “Homeschoolers should just use the metro sports leagues.” True, but we all pay those taxes too. So what? That doesn’t get you anywhere. The obvious benefit to most people is that public school is where scouts and such are. I’ve never seen a college football head coach hitting the metro leagues to look for players.
- “They’ll feel like outsiders.” Tim Tebow didn’t have much trouble with that, and in addition, his homeschooling-produced attitude of not being afraid of adults likely produced his great leadership abilities. Timidity among peers is one attribute that is not prevelant in homeschoolers. That can only be a plus to a sports team.
These arguments are silly. The real meat of the issue lies elsewhere.
