My letter to Ed Balls today

For those who are unaware, home educator laws are being challenged in the UK at the moment that would infringe on us home educators rights and personal freedoms, based on some recommendations by a fella named Graham Badman who conducted a review and decided that home educators should be forced to register and receive annual reviews, amongst other useless things. Stage 1 was to send this letter to Ed Balls (UK Parliament, specifically to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.)... Below is what I sent today:

Please accept this as my response to the recent report published against home education. The argument presented by Badman that resulted in his recommendations that would change the current home education process is appalling to those of us who know too well the values and benefits our children receive from an education that is individualised and addresses each child's gifted and special needs . A state run monitoring system could never be qualified enough to make recommendations to parents on how to better educate their children in the home, because it is a 'state' system based on a standardised National curriculum that is administered by state-teaching methods that are in dire need of improvement. Parents who home educate their children are stepping away from 'standardised' and 'average' education. So the very idea that now the state will come into our homes and make recommendations of how us parents can 'do better' by our children is insulting, to say the least. Badman's review does not even mention that across the globe, home educated children demonstrate extremely high standards of academic achievement and citizenship. Nor does it mention that there are numerous famous home educators throughout history and today who continously speak up in support of home education. I believe you would have great difficulty to find enough cases of 'poorly educated' children who were, or are, educated at home. Therefore, what is the real purpose that Badman's recommendations?
Not only is the state unqualified to carry out this proposed monoriting of home educators lives, which I may add is infringing on personal freedom and right to privacy, but statistics and high-profile child abuse cases also prove that the state is obviously unqualified to sufficiently manage the current departments that are SUPPOSE to protect children from abuse; i.e., social services, education departments, health visitors, A&E departments, NHS, and many more 'state agencies' that are funded by our tax paying money and yet continuously FAIL to protect children from terrible abuse. With due respect to your position, please see this Trojan horse of Badman's recommendations for its true purpose; which is to take the legal right and responsiblity that parents have to educate their children.
I can guarantee you that parents with children of special needs would overflow an auditorium to tell you how the state education system is incapable of administering to the special needs of their child, and yet, Badmans recommendations mistakenly suggest that this proposed monitoring would be to ''ensure'' special needs of children are being met. This is purely hot air that is wasting more of tax payers money and resources that could be better served at fixing the poorly run state schools and other social services departments that are obviously failing in their duties..
My opposition to Badman's review is not a matter of not wanting the state to see closely how well our children benefit from home education, it is more an opposition us smart parents know will bring unqualified monitors into our homes who bring their professional errors and poor judgement with them. There have been too many miscarriages of justice to now justify this so-called monitoring of home educators that seems more of a sanction to state-fund witchfinders, whilst distracting the public from the true issues that relate to child abusers.
And in response to Badman's using Germany as a model for how home education is managed, let it be said that even the USA just yesterday adopted a resolution that officially calls on the Federal Republic of Germany to recognise the rights of parents to raise their children. Their formal proposed resolution sent to Germany recognises "the importance of religious liberties and the right of parents to determine their children’s upbringing and the method in which their education should be provided." It acknowledges that parental rights are essential to excellence in education and explains that home educated students have demonstrated "high standards of academic achievement and citizenship." It then urges the Federal Republic of Germany to "recognize the basic, fundamental rights of parents and allow its citizens to determine the educational upbringing of their own children." and further notes that "the Federal Republic of Germany infringes upon the parental rights of its citizens to direct their children’s education, using threats of imprisonment, seizure of their children, and other forms of coercion.". Home educators in the USA see Germany as sticking out ''in the midst of Western Europe for its harsh repression of parents. They have this notion that homeschooling creates this parallel society, and they deem that as dangerous''. And yet Badman uses Germany as a model for his recommendations? Home education is a fundamental right of parents and all freedom-loving nations should protect it as such.
I believe it is obvious that perhaps Badman would be better serving the state by asking Home Educators to come in to monitor the state agencies and schools and to make recommendations on how to improve such a sorry state they are in.