“Children brought up to be ignorant”

The following is a letter that was sent to the Independent in response to a rather unpleasant letter from Helena Cox  published in today’s newspaper. Ms Cox’s letter claimed that home educating ‘fundamentalist christian families’  were brainwashing their children and she claimed that this was tantamount to child abuse.

Dear Sir

Re Helena Cox’s letter – Children brought up to be ignorant

I was astounded to read Helena Cox’s letter of the 18th March and, I must confess, somewhat disappointed that the Independent felt able to publish something so filled with prejudice and discrimination.

Based upon some part time work as a home tutor Ms Cox feels qualified to write in such intolerant terms about families who are undertaking their moral responsibilities as parents so seriously that they are prepared to sacrifice in all manner of ways to raise their children to be effective and useful members of society. There is a growing body of research both from UK and American academics that clearly demonstrate that home educated children – even those from Christian families – out-perform their peers in academic, maturational and social measures. Maybe Mx Cox needs to read more widely.

It seems, according to Ms Cox, that  all children should be taught, ideally by people like herself, in order to ensure that  they grow up to be as tolerant as she is towards minorities now living in Britain.

Having sent twenty years mixing with home educated children and their parents, I simply do not recognise the picture that Ms Cox paints. ‘Brainwashing’,   ‘child abuse’ as well as the wonderfully pejorative use of ‘fundamentalist’ betray Ms Cox for what she really is – an illiberal, intolerant statist who would have all children, in schools being taught the same government approved curriculum to ensure that they could exercise free will, as adults! Even the Dark Ages were not as dark as that!

Steve Richards, B.Ed., M.A. (Educ), M.Ed.

Educational Director, NorthStarUK