NEA: Home Schools Run By Well-Meaning Amateurs

The National Education Association (NEA) has posted an essay decrying home-schooling. Apparently, the NEA is convinced parents just aren't "professional" enough.

There's nothing like having the right person with the right experience, skills and tools to accomplish a specific task. Certain jobs are best left to the pros, such as, formal education.

There are few homeowners who can tackle every aspect of home repair. A few of us might know carpentry, plumbing and, let’s say, cementing. Others may know about electrical work, tiling and roofing. But hardly anyone can do it all.

Cementing? Cementing? I've been in the business for 20 years, and I ain't never heard of no "cementing." Guess I'm not "professional" enough.

So, why would some parents assume they know enough about every academic subject to home-school their children?

Um, because some of us took classes in those subjects and received mostly "A"s?

There’s nothing like having the right person with the right experience, skills and tools to accomplish a specific task. Whether it is window-washing, bricklaying or designing a space station.

Yeah, that window-washing gig really requires a seasoned professional. Better leave the soap and squeegee to the homeless guy at the Lincoln Tunnel. Don't try this at home, folks.

The author goes on to explain that parents "have no idea" how hard teaching is, gravely warns that the children will become social miscreants, and decries that these people are simply "gullible." But the real kicker is the author's tag line at the end of the article. Who is this all-knowing defender of teachers? This professional of the public schools?

Dave Arnold, a member of the Illinois Education Association, is head custodian at Brownstown Elementary School in Southern Illinois.

You can't make this stuff up.