[baddox]

> the point is that homeschooling is being done by unqualified people using unverified, quickly-considered techniques, while public schooling is at least largely done by people who got teaching certifications and their methods get public scrutiny.

But still, you're assuming that unqualified (according to whose qualifications?) people using unverified (by whom?) techniques are worse on average than public schools.

It's not easy to agree on what objective measurements comprise "good schooling," but I think most people will agree that homeschooling and public schooling both vary wildly in quality if we were to agree upon some objective measurements. It's not fair to implement policies for either type of schooling based solely on the worst examples of that type of schooling.

[kevingadd]

I think it's reasonable to assume that unless anyone has proven the contrary, which they haven't. If you were replacing a public school with a private school, I'd agree that it is unwise to assume the private school is worse. We're talking about replacing an entire school staff with a couple overworked parents, though.

Many arguments in favor of homeschooling are about parents' religious freedom or about how the public school system has failed the children, and in both cases this does nothing to demonstrate that the parents are going to do a better job.

I do agree that objective measurements would allow this stuff to be considered rationally, but historically it's really hard to come up with useful objective measurements due to all of the different pressures involved.

[baddox]

> I think it's reasonable to assume that unless anyone has proven the contrary, which they haven't.

I disagree. I think it could go either way, as I have no real scientifically valid evidence either way, but I think the burden of proof is on the party advocating using violence to prevent the other party from doing what it wants.

> Many arguments in favor of homeschooling are about parents' religious freedom or about how the public school system has failed the children, and in both cases this does nothing to demonstrate that the parents are going to do a better job.

True, but it also does nothing to demonstrate that the parents are going to do a worse job.

[kevingadd]

Who said anything about violence? I think it's a pretty absurd leap to go from me expressing a negative opinion on homeschooling directly to me seemingly dispatching SWAT teams to round up homeschoolers.

[baddox]

How then would you implement a policy that prohibits parents from homeschooling if they don't meet certain qualifications?