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divorced parents battle over religion and education

Anon2009's picture

Submitted by Anon2009 on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 12:42pm

I was watching the news this morning, and I saw coverage of a story that piqued my attention as a SM. Apparently, the dad wants his daughter to attend public school, but the mom wanted her to be homeschooled. The child had been homeschooled for the most part, but attended public school for Art, PE and Spanish.

What do I think? As a person who got her Bachelor's in political science, I was taught that there's a separation of church and state, and I do not feel that the court ruling respects that separation. Also, there is not one section of the Constitution that grants the government the power to decide how parents should educate their children. I get the feeling that Amanda's father knew about his ex's religious beliefs when he married her.

So what do you think? Do you think the ruling is a good one, or do you think that it's wrong? I do have to ask that this be debated in a civil manner. I think we can disagree without being disagreeable Smile

Comments

purpledaisies's picture

Submitted by purpledaisies on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 12:54pm

Personally think they were right to rule in the way they did. Here is why--The father is not saying the mother can't teach her her beliefs plus all the father wanted was for his child to be exposed to otehr points of view so she can think for herself. They are right in the fact that she needs to figure things out on her own. She is old enough and still young enough to be taught that life is full of all sorts of things and not just one belief.

This childs mother can still tech her her beliefs if she wants so she wins that. The dad won in the fact that he can expose her to other children and other points of views. So they both won.

Anon2009's picture

Submitted by Anon2009 on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 1:05pm

My problem with the ruling is that a court has never before ruled that a child must attend a public school, and I think this sets a very dangerous precedent for the future.

overit2's picture

Submitted by overit2 on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 1:35pm

Absolutely Anon...I agree. Slowly, precedents are set ..more laws, more intrusions, more decisions made for families...I don't like it.

She had exposure w/the other subjects already-he can expose her to others views with his visitation time.

And the mom had primary custody? VERY bad ruling and overstepping IMO.

Personally I won't homeschool my kids-they attend public school. As a child I experience a combination throughtout school of private/homeschooling/and public...so I'm familiar with all of them.
I didn't care for homeschooling personally but I wouldn't want the option ever taken away from parents who are devoted to it and know what they are doing.

There is nor should be no law regarding what "views" a parent exposes their kids to. One view, several, many...each parent should be able to chose how they want to handle that in a divorce case. PLUS as you said, the dad knew her views b4 the divorce and now is changing things ? Doesn't sit right with me at all.

somerg's picture

Submitted by somerg on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 12:57pm

who has primary custody? the person with primary custody usually wins on big choices.

and to be honest, as long as she's getting proper education that she needs and she's current why should it matter if she's home schooled or public or private schooling?

wow....

Anon2009's picture

Submitted by Anon2009 on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 1:07pm

The mom has primary physical custody. Like I said, she was going to public schools for Art, PE and Spanish, so it's not like she wasn't allowed to socialize with other kids her age.

overit2's picture

Submitted by overit2 on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 12:59pm

OUCH...I have a huge problem with government overstepping their bounds in deciding how a child is educated. Personally the ruling bothers me a lot.

Particularly if the girl had already been doing homeschool this entire time.

Rags's picture

Submitted by Rags on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 1:42pm

I believe that the ruling is unconstitutional. This stomps on BMs right to raise her child as she sees fit as well as all of the rights indicated in the bar chart in the article.

It has nothing to do with religion IMHO but on governement interfering in the lives and personal decisions of this family. If BM is the CP then BioDad needs to limit his issues to the time he has with his daughter.

The child is interfacing with kids at public school during Art, PE & Spanish to the entire premis of this situation is pure and utter bullshit.

Dad was being an interfering manipulative asshole IMHO. One call to the ACLU and this BM can have free legal services all the way to the Supreme Court of the US IMHO. Where she will win. Again, IMHO.

Right or wrong the court gave BM CP status and determined that she is the better parent for primary custody and parenting of this kid. This is her decision not BioDad’s.

When we decided to send our son (my SS then 16) to Military Boarding School SpermGrandMa threw a bitch fit. We told her to STFU and that it was none of her business. When BioDad called to ask about it we told him he had no say or opinion and that it would not cost him any more than he was already paying as a pittance in CS. Once we addressed his concerns about it costing him money she crawled back under his rock.

SS wanted to go and asked us to support his decision. We did. Since then he no longer shares any decisions he makes with the SpermClan. He has enlisted in the AF which would totally piss off SpermGrandMa and the SpermIdiot and he has not said a word to them about it.

This little girl is going to have so many issues over this whole deal because courts are involved in something that they have no business or right to be involved in.

Don’t get me wrong. I could care less about home schooling Vs public schooling other than I think that since the DOE was created that our school systems absolutely suck the mighty wong. The performance of our kids on international standardized tests don’t lie and the fact that the products of our public schools are performing so poorly in college that the value of a degree is dropping tells me that a kid that is home schooled is going to be far ahead of their publically educated peers.

I for one would own the school district, the idiot court that made this ruling and my XH if I was this mother. When this girls academic performance drops when she enters our “focus on the lowest performing student” school systems I want to see what the idiot court who made this indiot decision has to say about it. If I was BM I would have this in front of the US Supreme Court pronto.

This ruling sets such broad reaching dangerous precidents that someone had better pay to have this shit completely over turned and the idiots who participated in this decision severly sanctioned professionally.

All IMH layman's O of course.

MyLifeMyRules's picture

Submitted by MyLifeMyRules on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 1:58pm

Whoa there pony! This cant be serious! Did you hear that? It was the sound of freedom being flushed down a toilet.....

Sephiria's picture

Submitted by Sephiria on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 7:19pm

Personally (and this is just me), I`m a HUGE proponent for home schooling. I LOVE IT but it takes a certain personality type to do it.

Different people choose homeschooling for various reasons, some for religion others (like me) becuase they`re not happy with the current education system but can`t afford private school.

But homeschooling isn`t without its pitfalls, it`s a lot of work not to mention you`ll actually need to teach the person the course.

Ultimately the answer to this situation should be the issue of exactly who is the custodial parent and whether or not that parent can supervise the student as they school.