Who Encourages Accreditation? No Diploma? No Problem! (Part 6)
Categories: No Diploma? No Problem!, Léo’s Insights 2019-2020
Tags: accreditation
Now that we have dealt with the myth of requiring government accreditation and certification, we need to address why this issue comes up in the first place.
Every loving parent wants what’s best for his/her children. Home educating parents have the added desire to have the children educated so that all possible realistic options are made available for each child.
If the only way they know and understand is through government programs and accreditation, then parents will desire to go that route. Should the parents desire this, there are a few options at their disposal.
Although most vehemently not recommended, the most obvious way to accomplish accreditation is simply to send students back to high school. This, unfortunately, has been the main course taken throughout the history of home education, explaining why there is a much lower population of high school level home educating students than at the primary grades.
It should be noted that if accreditation is truly desired, it is likely going to be far easier to simply go to the institution that specializes in just that. Trying to accomplish this at home can be a very daunting task that most often results in students quitting before the diploma is earned.
Bear in mind that when students return to school it means a loss of income for the home education provider. Therefore, following the classic example of, “if you can’t beat them, join them,” most providers find it easier to entice accreditation-seeking parents to stay by offering ways of meeting accreditation at home.
This is far easier than educating parents about alternatives to accreditation. This is most likely because most providers actually do not know how to negotiate alternatives to accreditation.
Thus, in a bizarre twist of ideology, home educating parents and providers end up conspiring to pervert or contradict the very reason for home educating in the first place!
That is, the main impetus behind home education was to escape school, school ideology and social issue concerns, yet at the most impressionable time of the students’ lives, both capitulate to expose them to the very things that were meant to be avoided!
Perhaps there is a more important element of education that should be considered. Who do you trust? It boils down to faith, you know. Do you trust the God of creation who has at least “a grasp of the future,” or do you have a fear that without government approval, a child of God cannot succeed in life? This is critically important! (see Psalm 118:8.)
To seek government accreditation is to desire man’s approval of what God has created. Even if it is accomplished, the actual benefit is small since so very little of the material learned in school is retained past the exam.
Our faith will see us through, while our lack of it will only create uncertainty. More importantly, why would we want to put the future of our children in the hands of the very government we largely distrust? Sounds like foolishness to me.
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