 rep opsommer vs government bureaucrats  kudos to rep opsommer for taking a stand against the horrible idea of requiring home schooled to be students to be registered with the state the government s role is to oversee public education not what takes place in people s homes said rep opsommer a student s parents will always be the most important factor in how well the student learns not the government the individual freedoms granted to the people of this country extend to parents and their right to teach their children in the manner they see as most productive and it is not the government s role to take over these decisions that families have historically been able to make for themselves if as many propose we need to keep government out of our bedrooms how about out of our living rooms and dining rooms too i question the motivation of why the state needs to register these kids some i m sure are concerned about the quality of education that those kids are receiving but most probably think that parents who home school are religious fanatics that are keeping little johnny from the wonderful experience of a public school education after all government does such a great job with such things as running the economy and airport security that what s the worst that could happen and can we someday expect the same type of treatment for parents who do not register their children with the state rep opsommer pointed to the danger of what can happen once the state has the authority to trump the decisions of parents last month in detroit it was proposed that parents be jailed if they fail to attend parentteacher conferences are we talking about a parent that has to work nights and can t make it or a parent who is too busy watching oprah i doubt that legislation that would jail parent would care about the distinction  