While surfing the net last week, I happened upon a live presentation being telecast over the internet. On May 4th, President Clinton presented a speech on education at City Academy School, a charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota while on the third stop of his School Reform Tour. At the end of his talk, he answered questions that had been emailed to him that morning by students listening on the internet. This website chat was hosted by ChannelOne.com and moderated by Channel One news anchor Tracy Smith. The following is verbatim from the website where I was viewing this live broadcast. The punctuation is exactly as printed on the website as the President presented his thoughts on homeschooling.

Brenna from Lamar asked the following:
“President Clinton, what are your views on parents homeschooling their children?”

The response by President Clinton:
“I’ve had a lot of experience with this, I was governor when this was being debated. I think states should acknowledge that this is being done anyway. The best way to do this is to get homeschoolers organized. There is a good way and a bad way to do this.

“But the students have to prove they are learning on a regular basis. That is the public interest there.

“There will always be in every state a small percentage of kids who are doing that, most of the time the parents are very dedicated.

“It’s going to happen regardless so it’s better to have laws that make sure it is being done right.

“I personally wanted my daughter to be exposed to different people and be a part of and see how the larger society works.

“So if people do it, their children should have to show that they know what they have to know.”

My take on his terse remarks is that he did not have a personal view on homeschooling, but relied on outdated phrases and a very tired philosophy. He did not answer the student’s question regarding the parents. Instead, he focused on the rights of the state and outcome based results. By adding that he wanted his daughter to be exposed to different peoples, he displayed an ignorance of the diversity of people with whom homeschoolers interact. President Clinton also neglected to mention that his daughter had attended a private school, as was her right. After all, as a parent, he took seriously the right that he and Mrs. Clinton had to choose the best form of education for their child. Would that he accord all parents that same right, with no governmental interference or ivory tower philosophical views concerning results based on preconceived notions of performance rather than true academic achievement shown through responsible acts in childhood and adulthood.