A few weeks ago at the newspaper meeting, we were brainstorming opinion piece topics, trying to tie national events to our editorial page, so when the recent homeschooling case came up, I jumped at the chance to get a story credit without having to talk to anyone. I glorified my pet educational mode and had a good time doing it.
And then something that I have always wanted to happen to me happened: my lit prof approached me before class and took issue with my semantics. "It's a beautifully written piece, but I want you to know whether you think the ruling is flawed, or the law is flawed," he said. Somehow, when I was writing the column, I knew I'd get a response from him; I'd expect nothing less from a criminal defense lawyer. He handed me a printout of the court proceedings.
I sat down that evening when I got off work and pored over it, then visited his office the next day. We hashed out the precedent, or lack thereof, for homeschooling that exists in California, and he boiled down the case in question to the child abuse that was the real matter at hand. "I've learned that there's always more behind the story," he said, and I agreed. My stint at the school paper has taught me that.
He also gave me the best compliments I think I've received this year. He told me again how well I write and that he's already bragging about me, floored as he was to find out I am a freshman. Hearing him call me "bright" was comforting and sustaining. It's nice to know a year of frantic study hasn't dimmed me too much.
5 comments:
Just curious how one goes about getting the court proceedings printout...Is there a public website one can access? This would be an excellent source for story ideas.
I think he subscribes to an online database that requires membership, so I don't know that there is any way to get them otherwise.
Lexis-Nexis, which PLNU subscribes to, has access to the various rulings.
Also, it appears that CA has its own court website: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/
With the case at:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878.PDF
I've been frustrated with the way this ruling was portrayed and misinterpreted in the popular media. As you said, the real problem in the case was the child abuse in that home, but also the fact that the parents simply refused to follow California law.
They tried to say they were operating as a public 'charter school,' under some odd loophole involving absences, rather than as a 'private full-time day school,' as CA law allows. Those parents who do operate under that part of the CA statute -- even those who lack teaching credentials -- may continue to freely educate their children at home in peace.
All that to say that you don't quite accurately characterize the holding of the case in your opening sentence. But you're in good company there; the LA Times screwed it up royally to begin with.
That was precisely my problem–I trusted newspapers to give me an accurate account. As my prof told me, "That's what we're here for–to teach students to go to the source."
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