Interesting. I had to remind myself to keep an open mind when I saw their list of supporters. I agree with getting government out of education *in theory.* In practice, I think that right now, public schools are a necessary evil. I think that those of us who are against them should focus right now on advocating homeschooling to those for whom it is an option and working to change the popular cultural perception of hs'ers. And I think the numbers are on our side--more and more people will know a hs family and think "well, they homeschool and are perfectly normal, the kids are learning and socialized, maybe it is an option."
I don't think we should be working on shutting down or de-funding public schools at this point. If we can just make ps not the default, but simply one choice of many, that would be a huge step. And the crappiness of the ps system is doing a pretty good job of being an advertisement against itself. All we have to do is show them that there is another option.
Also, there is a segment of the population--not a majority, not even a large minority, but not a splinter fringe either--for whom ps really and truly is the best option. As anti-school as I am, personally I would rather see a 7 yr old in school all day than home alone, or home with drug addicts, or wandering the streets alone, or working a job, or getting beaten up by his parents. And many children are better off for having someone other than the parents actually see the child everyday so as to take note of suspicious recurring injuries.
I do not agree with judging the merits of an idea or proposal by those who advocate it. I also understand that single-issue movements can involve people with vastly different views on other subjects. However. Several things about that site made me wonder whether the deregulation of education (which I do agree with) could be a front for the deregulation of treatment of children entirely. There is a powerful movement to roll back even the tiny advances made in children's human rights, and one of their biggest targets is the public schools filled with mandated reporters. I know for a fact that some of the prominent child-torture fetishists advocate home or private schooling for this specific reason. HSLDA has defended child-torture fetishists in the past.
I'm just suggesting (and this is really a general suggestion beyond this particular movement) that those of us who are anti-ps and support hs'ing for the right reasons be a bit careful who we associate ourselves with and who we allow to speak for us. The homeschool and alternative-school movements include a wide variety of political, religious, educational, and cultural views, which is a good thing (and I really hate the demonization of "ultra-religious" hs'ers, especially since I am one), but I do think we need to
a) draw the line at child-torture fetishists, and
b) make sure the movement isn't co-opted by other interests or interests not representative of the broad consensus of hs'ers.
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