Homeschooling and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

With respect to the currently (re)circulating UN Convention on the Rights of the Child contention that, if the Democratic Senator -- who is rumored to be unsupportive of homeschooling in the first place -- is elected, the first thing he will do is sign it and we’ll loose our right to homeschool, please consider the following:

Barack Obama does support home education:

http://progressivehomeschoolersofflorida.blogspot.com/2008/10/homeschooling-and-\
2008-election.html

and

BOTH Barack Obama and John McCain support the UNCRC:

http://debate.waldenu.edu/video/question-12/

Facts to consider about the effects of UNCRC on homeschooling:

Homeschooling has been illegal in Germany since before they signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and not as a result of the treaty: http://www.homeedmag.com/blogs/newscomm/?p=590

Reflections on the UNCRC from a homeschooler in Canada, a country which signed the treaty years ago:

http://freethinkinghomeschool.blogspot.com/2008/02/un-convention-on-rights-of-child-threat.html

and from Australia…

Myths and facts concerning the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Australia

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AJHR/1999/28.html

See also:

Myths and Facts on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:

http://childrightscampaign.org/documents/MythsandFacts.pdf

(also supported by Church Women United: http://www.churchwomen.org/RightsoftheChild/myths-facts.asp)

And for what it’s worth, this late on election day, what folks might really want to consider when voting is where the candidates stand on various issues of major national importance that affect us all right now, things like

Economic issues: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_crisis_of_2008

Health Care: http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/

Foreign Policy: http://www.cato.org/foreignpolicy/issues.html

Wars: http://www.comw.org/warreport/

Climate Change: http://www.pewclimate.org/

Energy Crisis: http://www.planetforlife.com/

Here’s a look at where the candidates stand on some of these issues:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1855269_1855265,00.html

You can also visit their respective websites for more information:

Barack Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

John McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/issues/

It’s a lot of reading, but it sure beats ignorance.

PHF