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Bill: Freedom in Education Act
Details
Submitted by[?]: Social Libertarian Party
Status[?]: defeated
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: July 2039
Description[?]:
| We have previously asked for the other parties in Parliament to consider legislation that will delegate responsibility of certain issues away from the federal government. We come here to ask for further delegation. There are many in Beluzia that are very religious and would be very appreciative if they could gain the right to participate in teacher-led prayer if the locality is given to allowing it; therefore we propose that the issue of teacher-led prayer in schools be left up to each individual school so that the prevailing feeling in each locality be allowed to do as it wishes to do with minimal interference from the government. In addition, we wish to provide parents the right to educate their children themselves. This is an especially important option for lower-income families that do not like the methods of the public schools and cannot afford a private school. So long as the children receive a good education compliant with the national curriculum, there is no reason to prohibit parents from educating their children. |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Education for children under adult age.
Old value:: Education is compulsory and has to happen at school.
Current: Education is compulsory, but home schooling is permitted.
Proposed: Education is compulsory, but home schooling is permitted.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | not recorded | From | Libertarian Communist Party | To | Debating the Freedom in Education Act |
| Message | Regulating homeschooling is difficult, time consuming and costly. Furthermore, we don't see any advantages in that system, and it hinders the social development and people skills of children that may not be otherwise exposed to children their age. People skills are important too. Parents that have issue with the public system but cannot afford a private education have every right to join Parent's committees and express their opinions and issues with the schools themselves. If their objections are reasonable, they must be considered. Secondly, on the issue of teacher-led prayers: Just because the majority in a given location may want a school to teach certain religious values, doesn't mean that all parents want this for their children. It is unfair to the minority in this case. Religion is not something that should be taught in school, as it's a personal decision. You wouldn't want our public schools teaching a certain political ideology now, would you? |
| Date | not recorded | From | Social Libertarian Party | To | Debating the Freedom in Education Act |
| Message | While we understand your argument against teacher-led prayer in schools for the time being, we still feel it necessary to permit home-schooling. People skills certainly are important, but children do interact with each other outside of school and grow up to live normal lives; as such, we have no right to interfere with the parent's right to teach their children as they believe their children should be taught. Everyone will not agree with the Beluzian National Curriculum as it is taught in the public schools, and there is no reason to force them to accept the public schools. In addition, the costs are not high at all; on the contrary, very little additional funding will be needed to grant this freedom to parents and children, and it may actually save us money by requiring us to worry about fewer students. The largest factor in regulating homeschooling in the early years will be a battery of standardized tests that will almost certainly have already been implemented for the public schools, and providing testing materials for homeschools is neither difficult, time-consuming, nor costly. Furthermore, a market for homeschooling children will undoubtedly grow if we allow homeschooling to exist--teaching materials, books, correspondence courses, or anything else will quickly come to the market and help to buoy Beluzia's market. Therefore, though we will presently remove the proposal to allow teacher-led prayer in some schools, we will keep the other proposal to allow homeschooling and put this to a vote. |
| Date | not recorded | From | Neo-Marxist revolutionary Party | To | Debating the Freedom in Education Act |
| Message | Although I can recognise both arguements equally well. My main arguement against home schooling is not the fact that it maybe costly but rather that, when exams start it would be very hard to guarantee that the parents have not aided the child with these exams. Moreover, the National curriculum if taught correctly should ensure that all children in Beluzia start their adult lives on an equal footing; something that cannot be guaranteed with the permitting of home schooling. |
| Date | not recorded | From | Front for a Solidarian Country | To | Debating the Freedom in Education Act |
| Message | We agree with what was expressed by our friends in the LCP. Home schooling has proven to be difficult to regulate and implement, and also a method that hinders the development of the children's social skills. On the issue of prayer in schools, we believe it should not be allowed, since it would be greatly unfair to minorities and to the secular status of our republic. Religion should have no place in the government, and vice-versa. Instead of this bill, we propose a "Democratization of the School System" bill, allowing parents and teachers to have a greater say on how schools are run. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | |||
| yes | Total Seats: 23 | |||
| no |
Total Seats: 43 | |||
| abstain | Total Seats: 19 |
| Random fact: Cabinet ministers who disagree seriously with the head of government would usually be expected to resign. Parties within the cabinet may attempt to manoeuvre to replace the head of government though, for example by proposing a new cabinet bill or voting for an early election. |
| Random quote: "Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair." - George Burns |