Proof that all homeschoolers are not conservative… I watch Hardball with Chris Matthews. While Chris Matthews would not characterize himself as liberal (which I also do not) he is certainly far from conservative.
With that said, on his November 23 show, he used homeschooling as a litmus test to decide if someone else was conservative. He was speaking to Chris Chocola, president of The Club for Gowth, which bills itself as a “fiscally conservative organization that supports a low-tax and limited-government agenda.” Here is the conversation that ensued:
CHOCOLA: The Club for Growth is focused solely on economic issues. And we‘ve supported Republicans. We‘ve supported Democrats. We‘ve now supported an independent third party candidate. We simply think that economic issues are broad based. Being for limited government, fiscal responsibility, and personality responsibility are not fringe issues. They‘re not fringe positions.
MATTHEWS: Last question—here‘s my litmus test—are you pushing home schooling?
CHOCOLA: We don‘t—no, we support school choice.
MATTHEWS: No, but home schooling, where you don‘t go to public school because you don‘t want to mix with other children. You want to keep the kids at home, so you can teach them about life at home, away from the exposure of other social groups. Are you for that? Because I would consider that culturally conservative at least.
CHOCOLA: We do not push home schooling. We support school choice. We think parents are the ones that are best in a position to make a decision about the education of their children.
MATTHEWS: Mr. Chocola, I‘m with you on school choice. Thank you, sir, very much.
I think Mr. Matthews litmis test is broken. If I am not proof alone that independant people homeschool, perhaps one should consider the fact that there was quite a large group of homeschoolers for Obama during the last election.
From my experiences, homeschoolers tend to fit the political climate of the world around them. In the northeast you will be most likely to find liberal homeschoolers in the south, you will be more likely to find conservative homeschoolers. I would think someone as saavy as Chris Matthews would know better than to use such a foolish measure to make a point.
If I wanted to argue against Chris Matthews measurement, I might point out that only 38.4 percent of homeschoolers cite religious reasons for homeschooling. These homeschoolers are more likely to be conservative. That leaves 67.6 percent of homeschoolers who don’t do so for religious reasons. While many of them may be Christian, myself included, that does not mean we worship at the alter of Republicans.
If you liked this you should also read my blogs at the home blog, the parents blog, and the frugal blog. You can read my recent posts here.
Also read:
* Have you seen the homeschooling curriculum glossary?
*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.