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The Likes of Rumsy in Charge of Education??? BE AFRAID! Be VERY afraid...

The National Homeschooling Legal Defense is quite understandably upset over the bill, HR 1815 (Section #522). RECRUITMENT AND ENLISTMENT OF HOME SCHOOLED STUDENTS
IN THE ARMED FORCES.

From their site.
Did You Know:

There is a bill being considered at this time in Congress regarding the military, and section #522 mentions home education. It is HR 1815 and here is the text of section #522:

RECRUITMENT AND ENLISTMENT OF HOME SCHOOLED STUDENTS IN THE ARMED FORCES
(a) Policy on Recruitment and Enlistment-
(1) POLICY REQUIRED- The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe a policy on the recruitment and enlistment of home schooled students in the Armed Forces.
(2) UNIFORMITY ACROSS THE ARMED FORCES- The Secretary shall ensure that the policy prescribed under paragraph (1) applies, to the extent practicable, uniformly across the Armed Forces.
(b) Elements- The policy under subsection (a) shall include the following:
(1) An identification of a graduate of home schooling for purposes of recruitment and enlistment in the Armed Forces that is in accordance with the requirements described in subsection (c).
(2) Provision for the treatment of graduates of home schooling with no practical limit with regard to enlistment eligibility.
(3) An exemption of graduates of home schooling from the requirement for a secondary school diploma or an equivalent (GED) as a precondition for enlistment in the Armed Forces.
(c) Home School Graduates- In prescribing the policy, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe a single set of criteria to be utilized by the Armed Forces in determining whether an individual is a graduate of home schooling. The Secretary concerned shall ensure compliance with education credential coding requirements.
(d) Secretary Concerned Defined- In this section, the term `Secretary concerned' has the meaning given such term in section 101(a)(9) of title 10, United States Code.


NHELD has examined this legislation and offers these arguments against it:
The problem with Section (1) of this section:
“The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe a policy on the recruitment and enlistment of home schooled students in the Armed Forces.”

This section is problematic in that Congress is delegating its so-called authority to “regulate” to the Secretary of Defense who can adopt whatever “policy” he desires with little effective ability of the public to influence what that “policy” is.

Ok, all feelings of that Nazi...ahem...excuse me...of Rumsfeld aside, this bit of the bill is just plain unconstitutional. It is a big giant bit of policy that is without any kind of representation. For those of us with a vested interest in homeshooling, for those of us, who believe we have a constitutional right to educate our children as we see fit, this puts power into likely completely uninformed hands. It's one of those little sleeper bits of potential law that only a few will perceive as a threat, but ask yourself, should the Secretary of Education decide who to draft or make policy concerning defense? Of course not, so why would we let the Secretary of Defense determine anything regarding education?

If you would like to sign the online petition, click here.

I'm biting my tongue here not to ask why we would let someone, who wrote torture policy determine what our children should learn?

Whoops, did I say that out loud?