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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/simon-webb-we-must-get-tough-on-home-schooling-1764348.html

From my facebook thread:

I believe Simon's children are miserable hothoused prisoners of their home who are desperate to escape their father, and will probably end up broken drug addicts selling their bodies for cash due to being unable to properly form relationships after their claustrophobic upbringing.

And I have as much evidence as Simon does of his worries. So I demand that I be allowed to inspect him.

Also, note that Simon "works with children with special needs in inner London ". So I'm guessing that he works for, or at the very least hand in glove with, the LA.

And from twitter:

thatdebswoman: OMG, I've only read the first paragraph & already seething - who the fuck is this prick?

pete_darby: Someone who wants Ed Balls to hold him, as the auto's scare him.

bridd: he wants Balls' sweaty caress

pete_darby: There is nothing good or right about that sentence.

AHEd as a whole, as an organisation, exists to support the right of everyone to home educate. That's it, straight down the line, anything else is a distraction, a side issue.
 
However. Forging ahead with the side issue...
 
What would disappoint me would be to say to anyone on the list "you can't express your opinions because it offends someone." This means that people are going to come up against other people expressing opinions they disagree with, but as long as it doesn't turn into people saying "people like you shouldn't home educate", I don't know that it's the business of AHEd in the person of the list owners to step in.
 
In order to keep AHEd as an organisation that supports all home educators, I think we need to accept disagreements, even very deeply held ones, and accept that in defending the right of all to home educate, we must defend people who are home educating in ways we may personally think are wrong. We have to accept any opposing sides in any argument, as long as they're all supporting the universal right to home ed, and as an organisation we should accept the presence of arguments as an okay thing to have, even a good thing.
 
One of the truisms of the fight for freedom of speech, freedom of conscience is that in order for it to be meaningful, you fight for the right for people to say and believe things you personally find repugnant. The fight for educational, parental, child freedom has to include freedom for people to handle their families in ways we find just plain wrong. It also includes the responsibility to tolerate people telling us we're doing it wrong ourselves!
 
As soon as we deny people the freedom to, in our opinion, Get It Wrong, we're heading for, at best, the Tasmanian model. But we have to balance this with excluding people by telling them You Cannot Say This Here.
 
As long as people in this group can say to each other "Even if I do not agree with how you live your life, I will defend your right to conduct it without the interference of the state or their dupes", in my opinion we're doing the right thing as a group.
 
Tolerance does not necessarily imply approval, disagreement does not necessarily imply intolerance. If we can foster a group that values both disagreement and tolerance in the service of defending the broad principle of home education FOR ALL, I think we'll be a stronger organisation for it.

The alternative is, I think, a homogeneous, exclusive, somewhat wishy washy group, dominated by passive aggressive sniping, veiled references to taboo subjects and off-list bitching. I've been involved in too many of those online, thank you very much, and AHEd is too important to let it become, well, like the rest of the internet.

MPAA tell teachers to record DVD's with a camcorder then burn their own discs instead of ripping

Now, not only is this monumentally stupid, and a waste of time... haven't they repeatedly said that ANY copying or format shifting is breaking the DMCA?

SO not only are they telling teachers to break the law, but do it in the most half-arsed, neandethal fashion. Well done, lads.

PARENTS’ DECLARATION

WE DECLARE our independent status and affirm our responsibility for the upbringing and education of our children in accordance with our lawful rights and natural justice.

WE ASSERT our right to choose the place, form and content of the educational provision for our children in accordance with the following:

The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable—

(a)to his age, ability and aptitude, and

(b)to any special educational needs he may have,

either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

(Section 7 of theEducation Act 1996)

In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.

(Protocol 2 Article 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights)

WE WILL protect the rights of our children to own their own lives, to privacy and freedom from undue official interference in accordance with the following rights:

The right to respect for a private and family life, home and correspondence

(Human Rights Act 1998)

the right to be free from “arbitrary or unlawful interference with [their] privacy, family, home or correspondence” and from “unlawful attacks on [their] honour and reputation”

(Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child)

WE DEMAND that state officials remain within the bounds of the powers already conferred upon them under current law in their dealings with us, the people. 

WE WILL UPHOLD AND DEFEND the above principles without fear or favour where the state forgets its legitimate function, oversteps its bounds or seeks to exert undue influence or power over our lives and those of our children against our traditional freedoms and natural justice.

May 1^st 2009

Please indicate support for this Declaration via the comments box on http://ahed.pbworks.com/ParentsDeclaration or write to ahed 

• 07:22 ON Sunday, I got to play boardgames all day with my son and other excellent people. WIN. #
• 11:05 Things I didn't know, part 1,235,346,234,221: every offence is arrestible, since 2005 is.gd/mGd7 #