Another California Ruling

[Gretchen in NJ]

Has anyone seen or heard anything about this ruling?

http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2008/08/another-california-ruling.html

Another California Ruling

Thursday, August 14, 2008


Homescholers who use Christian-based curriculum will want to listen up. While the 2nd California Court of Appeals ruling (http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2008/08/homeschoolingnow-what.html)is getting lots of attention, there is another federal ruling (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081306.html)that could cause homeschoolers some headaches;

"A federal judge ruled Friday that the University of California is permitted to reject certain Christian curricula as inadequate for meeting admission requirements.
The University of California (UC) system has decided that high school students who use certain Christian textbooks will not be considered to have taken the requisite courses necessary for admission to the University."The disputed curricula includes textbooks from two of the largest publishers of materials to homeschoolers, Bob Jones and Abeka. How this ruling affects homeschool admissions into the university remains uncertain. But if texts used by a Christian school are rejected, the same textbooks used in a homeschool environment seem likely to be rejected.

"Jennifer Monk, the plaintiff's lawyer, condemned the decision as a threat to the religious freedom of Christian education. "It appears that UC is attempting to secularize private religious schools," she said. "Science courses from a religious perspective are not approved . . . if it comes from certain publishers or from a religious perspective, UC simply denies them."The case will be appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc13-2008aug13,0,3960655.story)and could go to the California Supreme Court. I first blogged about this case in August of 2005 (http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2005/08/trouble-ahead.html)and then again in February of 2006 (http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2006/02/uc-vs-christian-curricula.html). Stay tuned, but it may be a while before this is finally resolved.

Text of the ruling is here (http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/acsi-stearns/ruling0808.pdf). (PDF)

[JFS in IL]

If the kids can pass SAT subject tests and/or score high on AP exams or other tests - who cares what curriculum they used??? This is bizarre.

[Twinmom]

Wow. That's all I have to say. Just, wow...:glare:

[Ellie]

Well, of course, this will mostly affect Christian schools, not homeschoolers, as there are far more Christian school students than homeschooled students.

I'm sad to see this happen, but you know, there are other ways to get a college education than enrolling in state universities. Even for those who plan to attend state universities, there are workarounds for admission. That the state of California will not accept science credits for classes taught using ABeka or BJUP texts is not the end of the world.

[WendyK]

Oh brother.

[Carol in Cal.]

I'm sad to see this happen, but you know, there are other ways to get a college education than enrolling in state universities. Even for those who plan to attend state universities, there are workarounds for admission. That the state of California will not accept science credits for classes taught using ABeka or BJUP texts is not the end of the world.

UC Berkeley is one of the few reasonably priced top tier universities left. UC Davis has some of the best ag and medical programs in the West. I could go on...

We need to understand this better to get ahead of the curve. I am sure that their specific objection does not have to do with the fact that the texts are Christian, but rather with some of the 6 day creation and catastrophism taught as fact therein. Not having studied these particular texts in detail, I don't know whether they leave students unprepared in their backgrounds in lab work and in training about evolution and ancient earth/ancient universe, but we really have to ask ourselves what our options are as Christian home schoolers if we want to keep these fine schools as options for our children. Do we teach from secular texts? Do we teach from both? Do we look for textbooks that cover both points of view and keep our fingers crossed that that will be considered adequate preparation?

As a Californian and a Berkeley graduate, this concerns me a great deal. I wonder how they feel about Apologia. Hmmm.

[Jennifer3141]

Good grief.

Jen

[sdWTMer]

Thanks for posting this as I was not aware at all that this is happening in my state! Yikes!

[Gretchen in NJ]

Thanks for posting this as I was not aware at all that this is happening in my state! Yikes!
:lol:You are welcome from New Jersey.:lol:

[Danestress]

I'm curious about what in a particular they found to be substandard.

I am using Bob Jones for math this year, for the first time, and have never looked at Abeka. I will say that BJ math appears to be very rigorous at the 6grade level. Do they think it gets weak in high school?

Or is this mostly about science curricula that teachers kids the earth is young and that fossil evidence is unreliable and all that good stuff?

[Tammyla]

Thank you, Gretchen.