16.12.20 by LED’A
“Insufficient” warned the Conseil d’Etat. The Impact Study of the project of law to ban home education is filled with empty words and outdated concepts under the guise of being in the best interests of the child…to confine them up for their own good.
The association LED’A (Les Enfants d’Abord – Children First) is not in opposition to the school of the Republic which unites us. We do not oppose school. We just choose to do without school. Like any public service, we want to have open access to it if, and only if, we need it or want it. As the name of our association and as our philosophy statement suggests at “Les Enfants d’Abord” (Children First) our activity is motivated by the best interests of children and the respect of these individuals in every regard. There is no president in our ranks and we are better for it. We operate true horizontality. Children, as soon as they are able to raise their hand, are able to vote. Their voices have the same weight as those of adults, regardless of whether they understand the question they are voting on or not.
Obviously operating in this manner often raises a few eyebrows.
At LED’A , a child is not just a child, they are first and foremost an individual. Someone who is able to decide for themselves and experience freedom in order to reach autonomy. So how could we force our children to join the ranks of an industrial education system when we are specifically organised and volunteer to create “home made”, made to measure education for those we consider most. To what end? Although not opposed to school, we are not blind. We can see more and more teachers providing home education for their own children so that they not be beaten down by a system that they themselves have inside knowledge of. 700,000 children are bullied each year. This should be the great national concern of the government. Just as children with disabilities wishing to be educated within the classic system are home educated by default due to lack of resources and willingness of public authorities.
Artificial Socialisation or Natural Sociability.
Contrary to government claims packed full of cliché, at LED’A home education never rhymes with confinement. The government wish to impose freedom on everyone from behind the school gates, the relaxation of an hourly bell, surveillance cameras at the entrance, the benefits of socialisation of children all the same age, packed by groups of 30 into an enclosed space, with only one adult as person of reference. All to be graded. Such an artificial form of socialisation, which has become the norm, is equally inept. In contrast, our children live their lives alongside their parents in every activity that life has to offer. Meeting other children and adults alike without every asking their age. These are simply people with whom they can play, exchange, experiment and learn all throughout their life…without grades. Specialists have shown and we are also fully aware that our children are hungry for knowledge and learn naturally. It is irrepressible and intrinsic. To deny them the right to learn at their own pace, the end of home education in elective form, would be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights of which France is a signatory. International standards in terms of human rights cannot be undone. This is called the ratchet effect. In an attempt to respond to this the government speaks of the right to an education being in the best interests of the child. And discredits the family who is, until proof of the contrary, the first social space and place of confrontation with the other. Above and beyond supra national conventions and regulations applied to democracies, one unalterable principle remains: natural rights or inalienable rights. The rights of a child who does not belong to their parents and even less to the state. At LED’A we believe that the people best placed to accompany a child in their existence are those who have know them from birth.
Some Statistics:
- 0.4% of school aged children are home educated.
- 700,000 children are victims of school bullying each year (14 times more)
- 50.7% of home educated children are male
- 49.3% are female
- No figures exist on children “under the radar” or “phantoms of the Republic”
- In 2019, according to the government, 179 children were removed from school or home educated with a view to radicalisation. This is 0.59% of the 30,486 home educated children not in the CNED program. A mere 0.00149% of the 12 million children in the education system.
- In 2016 to 2017, 92.8% of home education inspections were deemed satisfactory by the National Education Department. Only 7.2% of those remaining were followed by a second inspection.
Quotes:
« Cases of children exposed to a risk of radicalisation and identified during the inspection of education at the family home are exceptional.” Excerpt from the Vademecum written by the National Education Ministry p.38.
“On a legal level, I think we have reached a good balance” J-M Blanquer, 18 June 2020, under oath, before the Senate Commission “Combat Islamic Radicalisation”.
The LED’A Media Team is available to reply to requests for exchanges on particular points of law with the aim to enlighten their readers on the Impact Study presented by the government.
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