Child Labor 1912

The Child that Toileth Not. The Story of a Government Investigation that was Suppressed With one hundred and twenty-one illustrations by Thomas Robinson Dawley, Jr. Former Special Agent, Bureau of Labor, Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington D.C. New York: Gracia Publishers, 1913 (Second Edition). A review that is somewhat belated, being 95 years after publication: This book was uncovered recently in a old building in Birmingham, Alabama, one of many subject to severe moisture damage and possibly the object of a mouse's interest since a quarter-sized chunk has been eaten out of the spine. The book is hardly in condition to be sold, although the ... (read more)

Miles College Library Shreds Books to Clear the 4th Floor of the Building

The library of Miles College, a Historically Black College dating back to 1905,  put its law book collection in the dumpster today. I don't know what other lawbooks are available to the students at Miles College law school, but the 4th floor collection had to be cleared. Pleasant-tempered immigrant laborers with no knowledge of the language in which the books were written were hired to shuttle moving dumpster carts out to the larger dumpster in back of the library. Meanwhile, art books, music books, history books, language books and textbooks reflecting the history of Miles College were prepared for shredding by having the back covers ripped off. I found ... (read more)

The Orphan Perspective: A Critique of Education and Society

The Orphan Perspective: A Critique of Society and Education   How many classic children’s stories tell the story of an abandoned, orphaned or outcast child! There is Peter Pan, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Jane Eyre, Mary in The Secret Garden, Sara in The Little Princess, Anne of Greene Gables, Heidi, Louisa May Alcott’s Rose or Fanny, or Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, to name only a few. Orphans are prevalent in folktales and fairy tales, in popular literature (Harry Potter), cartoons (Little Orphan Annie) and movies (Star Wars).  Why do orphans dominate children’s literature to such an extent? Recent ... (read more)

Homeschooling in Europe - November 30, 2007 Update

Regarding homeschooling in Europe, the HSLDA and the WorldNet Daily are the most familiar and prominent conduits of information on the subject. However, the HSLDA website is by no means kept up-to-date, and much of the writing is very confusing and hard to follow. So if you go to the website and look up "homeschooling in Poland," you may find some information that is 4 years old and you may still not understand the issues. There are websites that provide information about international homeschooling, but there too, information is not up-to-date. In Germany you can go to Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit, and that has pretty good information, although ... (read more)

Homeschooling vs. the European Union

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Europeans who want to homeschool look to America as a place where it is legal to homeschool, and a place where homeschooling thrives. Certainly, some horror stories have come out of Europe (Germany, Belgium, Holland) about bans, crackdowns and prohibitions on homeschooling. A German federal court recently upheld the view that homeschooling constitutes child endangerment, leaving it possible for the state to deny custody to the parents of German homeschooling children, whether they are in Germany or not. I suggested in my last blog that some homeschooling families have decided to make an issue of homeschooling, ... (read more)

Homeschoolers Worldwide - for Ron Paul?

Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Homeschoolers Worldwide - for Ron Paul? Homeschooling and the right of individual families to raise their children according to their own lights is presupposed in the constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, a right whose champion is Ron Paul. The following notes suggest that homeschooling is on the rise. These notes are intended also to point to the interconnectedness of the homeschool movement worldwide as well as to the importance of supporting Ron Paul, so he can in turn support the homeschool movement. Worldwide, homeschoolers should ... (read more)

HSLDA endorses Mike Huckabee: why not Ron Paul?

Friday, September 21, 2007 (http://www.homeschoolersforpaul.blogspot.com) HSLDA endorses Huckabee: why not Ron Paul? Since Mike Huckabee was recently endorsed by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) there has been some discussion about why it didn’t endorse Ron Paul. Why would HSLDA endorse Mike Huckabee? The question is: if you wanted to safeguard your right to homeschool, who would you vote for – Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul? The following is a summary of some explanations for this endorsement as suggested by members of a Homeschoolers for Ron Paul meetup group, together with some thoughts of my own, and ... (read more)

"Homeschool, Sweet Homeschool: A Resource List for Progressive Learning"

Education has long been regarded as potentially liberating. The opportunity to learn to read can be linked to changes that shake the foundation of coercive power structures, as well as open up worlds of possibility for individuals. Because mandatory schooling is associated with opportunities for mobility and privilege, with social and economic progress, it is possible to look at the institution as a country's pledge to its citizens to enable such opportunity. In 19th-century America, public education appeared as an alternative to the brutality of child labor and, as such, as a benefit to children. Compulsory schooling is supposed to lead to literacy, ... (read more)

Sourcelist - informal education

The following notes are reading suggestions and links on the subjects of informal education and homeschooling. First is a page copied from the website of a group called Freedomofeducation.net. More follows below.   Home | Articles, Essays & Commentary | Books | Quotations | Links | Search The Philosophy of Liberty | Freedom & Liberty Links | The Education Establishment | Higher Education | Non-Institutional, Family-Based Education Private K-12 ... (read more)

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