on petitions, slacktivism, and taking action

I’ve been sitting on my hands trying not to respond negatively to several earnest, well-meaning pleas I’ve seen on several homeschooling forums and blogs recently. Home educators and supporters of home education are being urged to sign an online petition to protest the National Education Association’s official position on homeschooling as stated in their 2006-2007 Resolutions Document, which you can download here in its entirety (see page 36 for the section about homeschooling). But unlike many others, I will not be “signing” the electronic petition for a few reasons.

First, I see no compelling reason to provide my name and mailing address to Care2, which hosts the petition. And more importantly, I do not believe that online petitions have any real effect. Even if the petition garnered a million signatures, does anyone truly expect the NEA organization, whose tagline is Great Public Schools for Every Child, to support home education? They don’t even support online charter schools, which are essentially public schools at home (which is also addressed in the document referenced above).

This essay represents my view of online petitions fairly well, and although I find the slacktivism label a bit harsh, what Barbara Mikkelson says here is exactly what has been niggling at me ever since I first heard about the NEA petition. When people sign the petition and forward it to their homeschooling groups and other supporters, they have the impression that they’ve made a stand and taken action when in reality they have done very little to effect change.

I don’t believe there’s any harm in signing the petition (unless you leave a comment on it that is an incoherent rant, a divisive attack on public schools and teachers, or riddled with typos) and I don’t say all this to belittle anyone, so go ahead and add your name to the petition if you choose. What I’m proposing is don’t stop there! Actively take a stand and get involved in protecting the liberty of parents to have choices about their children’s education. (Note: I include myself in the “you” I mention below.)

• Pay attention to what’s happening in your state legislature and how it might affect your right to choose whatever educational option you deem most appropriate for your kids.

• Practice discussing and debating contentious issues reasonably and rationally, not harshly and while full of rage. Learn the basics of logic and how to recognize logical fallacies—including your own. Recognize emotionally charged language, hyperbole, and rhetoric, and don’t allow these tactics to distract you from the facts.

• Be a good model of homeschooling by how you live and speak to and treat others. Don’t make assumptions about people and their motives just because they have different views than you do. Listen to their views and don’t try to put words in their mouth. You have a much greater ability to influence and persuade individual teachers, school employees, and your community by how you live than you do any national organization by signing your name to a form letter.

• Write letters to your state legislators about the issues most important to you. Write letters to the editor that are intelligent and well thought out, not the vitriolic rants that so often appear in newspapers.

• Don’t just teach your children how to educate themselves; continue educating yourself. Don’t rely on forwards, alarmist email alerts, or a single pet news source for your information. If your student did a research project and only cited one source, would you be satisfied that he or she had fully researched the topic? Question what you read, and don’t be gullible.

• Vote and make your voice heard at the local and state as well as the national level. This might seem to go without saying, but it’s worth mentioning. And while I’m on the subject, don’t assume that all home educators share your political views.

The fact that the NEA has an official position on homeschooling isn’t a big deal in itself and is to be expected in an organization that exists to support public education. However, the NEA’s powerful lobby certainly has the ear of policy makers and the media and encourages its members to actively campaign in support of the organization’s agenda. I don’t think we should view the NEA as some kind of bogeyman, but I do think it’s important to take their political influence seriously.

From the NEA’s web site:

Through NEA’s Legislative program and the legislative agendas of its state affiliates, NEA communicates with its members about candidates and encourages them to actively campaign for issues that affect or threaten public education. Considering what’s at stake, school employees can’t afford not to be politically active.

And neither can home educators and all those who support the rights of parents to have educational choices. Let’s not be complacent and settle for slacktivism.

What do you think? Feel free to comment!