You might wonder what the two have in common unless you're a homeschooler who has been tripping through the blogosphere these past few days.
On 'blog after 'blog the state of Tennessee and the Subway Corp. are being trashed and bashed for their abject ignorance when it comes to alternative education.
It's hard to say which entity has made the bigger faux pas.
In one corner we have the Tennessee state education agency which has proclaimed all highschool diplomas earned by homeschoolers for coursework completed in home-based schools null and void. Adding insult to injury, homeschool grads are not eligible to apply for state government jobs because the state had no input into or oversight of their education. Homeschoolers can't "prove" they earned a high school diploma legitimately.
Like publicly schooled kids can? When's the last time you heard of a publicly schooled student whipping out his or her standardized test scores as legit proof of a sound education? What passes for "proof" needs serious reexamination, me thinks.
In the other corner we have the Subway Corp., known for its famous sandwiches and the commercials featuring a guy who reportedly lost a bunch of weight just by eating their fare. Apparently Subway has slept through the buzz in education circles these past few years -- the winners of national spelling bees, geography bees, and such who were homeschooled, the growing list of colleges and universities actively courting homeschooled students because of their impressive track records for learning and outperforming conventionally schooled peers on the ACT exam, the burgeoning industry that recognizes homeschoolers are shoppers, too, and targets said families with everything from books and science lab supplies to specialized field trips and all manner of computer software and electronic gadgets. Google homeschool supplies/curriculum/products and see what I mean.
No, Subway has been out of the loop to the point of purposely and specifically excluding homeschoolers from a current essay competition that can earn the winners all manner of prizes.
Guess the company won't miss our dollars since it obviously doesn't value our children enough to let them enter its contest.
Less money spent at Subway means more money for books! And anyone who knows a homeschooler knows we love our books. Like oxygen, they are.
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