All politicians were like Douglas Carswell, Daniel Hannan and Nigel Farage instead of the liblabcon corrupt clones we are currently saddled with...
Nicked from Douglas's own blog.
Home education: proud to be booed
How they howled. How the enraged officials jeered at what I had to say.
Speaking to an audience in the Westminster bubble this morning, I told them I disagreed profoundly with the regulation of home education proposed in the Badman review.
The first murmurs of disapproval began with my introduction, when I said home education parents were overwhelmingly loving mums and dads, doing what was best for their child. "We should stop treating them as a public policy problem" I said to shaking heads.
These officials weren't happy to hear someone undermine the case for giving officials more power. They couldn't bear it when I suggested that perhaps compulsory state registration of home educators was not the answer. Most home education parents do so because they don't like what their local authority has to offer. Doesn't that make it a bit rich to allow that authority to barge into their home?
I then dared suggest that the need to safeguard children's welfare was not the same thing as compulsory oversight of home education. The need to safeguard children does not mean compulsory registration.
Interestingly, the one actual home educating parent in the room who spoke up in agreement with me was met with cold, aggressive stares.
When I said that folk need more independence over their children's future and less state oversight, I was actually booed.
As I left, one official explained how "Independence is bad. Look at the academies in my area - we can't control education like we used to and parents want to send their children to them instead". Pesky things, people eh? It simply didn't occur to him that the answer might be to have less control over all education.
The unyielding, arrogant, we-know-what's-best-for-your-child attitude I encountered today makes me realise that mums and dads who fear what these proposals could mean are right to be fearful.
Home education: proud to be booed
How they howled. How the enraged officials jeered at what I had to say.
Speaking to an audience in the Westminster bubble this morning, I told them I disagreed profoundly with the regulation of home education proposed in the Badman review.
The first murmurs of disapproval began with my introduction, when I said home education parents were overwhelmingly loving mums and dads, doing what was best for their child. "We should stop treating them as a public policy problem" I said to shaking heads.
These officials weren't happy to hear someone undermine the case for giving officials more power. They couldn't bear it when I suggested that perhaps compulsory state registration of home educators was not the answer. Most home education parents do so because they don't like what their local authority has to offer. Doesn't that make it a bit rich to allow that authority to barge into their home?
I then dared suggest that the need to safeguard children's welfare was not the same thing as compulsory oversight of home education. The need to safeguard children does not mean compulsory registration.
Interestingly, the one actual home educating parent in the room who spoke up in agreement with me was met with cold, aggressive stares.
When I said that folk need more independence over their children's future and less state oversight, I was actually booed.
As I left, one official explained how "Independence is bad. Look at the academies in my area - we can't control education like we used to and parents want to send their children to them instead". Pesky things, people eh? It simply didn't occur to him that the answer might be to have less control over all education.
The unyielding, arrogant, we-know-what's-best-for-your-child attitude I encountered today makes me realise that mums and dads who fear what these proposals could mean are right to be fearful.