"As education divide deepens, Democrats fear a demographic problem for future power"

[meadowlander]

16. Also homeschooling should be banned except where there is extreme necessity.

Like you're living on a boat in Costa Rica or there's no school less than a forty minute commute away from you-necessity. Even in those cases, they should have to be registered with an accredited online school where actual teachers can monitor the kids' progress and check for signs of abuse.

Sorry but the child's right to a comprehensive, fact-based education that will set them up to be a productive member of a 21st century democracy trumps parents' rights to indoctrinate their kids. We need to stop being namby pamby about this and stick up for the kids - especially the girls in fundamentalist families whose "home schooling" mostly involves raising their younger siblings. This sets them up for a lifetime of being trapped in abusive relationships because they don't have the education to emancipate themselves.

You can teach your kids whatever the hell you want evenings, weekends and summer break. The rest of the time they should go to a real school. If you don't like the quality of your local school, your choices should be volunteer to help and/or vote for increased funding. Full stop. If I had my way, private and parochial schools would be banned as well except to the extent that they offer supplemental classes outside of the regular public school curriculum.