UNESCO Takeover of Home Education
The Free YOUR Children organization has consistently sounded the alarm regarding UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Last month, I warned about UNESCO’s goal to globalize education by controlling private education and home schooling via school choice.
Not long after that article was penned and published in the Pulse, UNESCO released its 43-page document titled “Homeschooling Through a Human Rights Lens.” Right out of the gate, the paper calls for monitoring home schooling due to the increasing popularity of this educational option.
Notable contributors acknowledged in the publication were Michael Donnelly (of the yes. every kid. Foundation and former senior legal counsel and director of global outreach for the Home School Legal Defense Association), Angela R. Watson (Homeschool Hub, Johns Hopkins University) and Ashley Berner (Institute for Education Policy, Johns Hopkins University).
The Homeschool Hub, which was launched by Johns Hopkins University, seeks to serve as a one-stop shop for home schooling data, information and research for every state in the U.S. Johns Hopkins has partnered with EdChoice to push the globalization of education via school choice and EdChoice has also funded the Homeschool Hub. It is also important to note that the yes. every kid. foundation also actively lobbies for school choice.
Oddly enough, organizations such as the National Home Education Research Institute already exist to provide the same information. Why all of a sudden would we need an organization that has partnered with and is funded in part by school choice lobbying organizations to provide more of the same?
Home School Legal Defense attorneys Will Estrada and Kevin Boden attended the launch of the Hub in Washington, D.C. and reported that the event left them “feeling optimistic.”
HSLDA subsequently published an article on its website titled “What’s Up With the New Johns Hopkins Research Hub?” on May 12, 2024, but after backlash, removed it from their website and made the following statement on May 17, 2024:
“Thank you for your feedback and questions. We understand how our article missed the mark, and we regret the error.
We did not intend to express alignment with Johns Hopkins, EdChoice, or Homeschool Hub. Nor did we intend to express an endorsement of their work.
We believe it is our responsibility to be the guardians of homeschool freedom. This is a role and a burden we take very seriously and have been committed to since our inception in the 1980s.
The Homeschool Hub is launched. It’s out there, and we don’t expect it to go away. We plan to watch developments carefully and report back on what we see happening. As for ourselves, HSLDA has commissioned many important research projects in the past that have given us powerful tools for defending homeschool freedom.
Our purpose in attending the launch meeting was two-fold: One, to help us to understand and monitor what they’re doing. And two, to make sure our voice is heard.
We have always fought and will continue to fight for the privacy and freedom to educate your children without government interference. We stand by that commitment.”
Personally, I believe that the HUB is and has always been a direct threat to home-school freedoms, and their contributions to the UNESCO publication regarding home schooling are alarming. Additionally, their ties to organizations promoting school choice are more than a red flag.
UNESCO’s Homeschooling Through a Human Rights Lens goes on to state that a “closed door” workshop was held in September of 2024 with notable contributors such as Elizabeth Bartholet, the same Bartholet who called for a presumptive ban on home schooling back in 2020.
Also acknowledged for their contributions were Angela Grimberg (executive director of Coalition for Responsible Home Education) and Jonah Stewart (research and operations director of Coalition for Responsible Home Education). CRHE is the organization behind the unconstitutional Make Homeschool Safe Act.
The crux of this document is simply this: If parents have complete autonomy over their children’s education then there is no way the global players will be able to cultivate a global citizenry and gain ultimate control. They have outlined their playbook for you. Here is how they plan on navigating around your constitutional right to educate your child at home.
The definition of home schooling is one talking point that is addressed, and in its report UNESCO points out that a clear definition is needed in order to ensure accountability. The report specifically notes “learning pods” and tutoring and addresses the fact that a broad definition of home schooling allows the lines to be blurred, which in turn could lead to a child not receiving a quality education. This proves my point in our state of Tennessee, as to why we staunchly opposed a bill that now legally redefines home school co-ops in Tennessee as “learning pods.” This piece of legislation is right in line with the accountability measures UNESCO is clamoring for.
The overreaching sentiment in this document is that of “registration, authorizations, tests, and home inspections.”
They left no stone unturned. From education standards, to a parent’s ability to teach their children, to socialization, UNESCO has a plan and its goal is to produce children who serve global societal needs.
In addition to this particular publication, they have also called for the “regulation of private tutoring for the public good.”
“UNESCO’s 2021 report of the International Commission on the Futures of Education stressed the need for ‘a new social contract for education to repair injustices while transforming the future’ (p. iii). The International Commission was especially concerned with social inequalities in access to education, both quantitatively and qualitatively, recognizing that access related not just to schooling but also to wider avenues for learning,” according to the Regulation of Private Tutoring for the Public Good report. “Since higher-income families generally have greater access to shadow education than lower-income ones, shadow education maintains and exacerbates social inequalities.”
In other words, tutoring should be regulated because it is not fair to those who can not afford the same educational opportunities for their children.
So, how does UNESCO plan on achieving their goal of a global citizenry? Let me say it again. Taxpayer-funded private and home education is their Trojan Horse. Supporting school choice initiatives hastens their goal and entangles families in the strings attached to government money. Much like a black widow, school choice proponents are luring families into a trap that will soon lead to total government control. Once again, here is your warning. Will you heed it?
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Photo, top, courtesy of UNESCO / Facebook