I like the reasonable position you hold Homer. I just made this
   same type of argument in another group regarding homeschooling.
   There are certain requirements for basic knowledge. This
   knowledge matters to function in the world. Good state laws for
   homeschooling will ensure the NECESSITIES get taught properly.
   Not everything is a necessity. evolution/creation is one of
   them. There's many others as well that don't fall into the "this
   is necessary". But I have a pluralistic mindset: As long as the
   basics are taken care of, the rest of it doesn't much matter;
   it's in the realm of trivia to me. =   My mother wanted to
   homeschool us in the 1980s in the USA. At the time, it was
   exclusively the domain of religious reasons and too difficult
   for her to do. She didn't want to do it for religious reasons.
   She wanted to do it because I learned better and faster on my
   own than at school. But, the option wasn't really there. I
   survived and managed to get into a small private school through
   a scholarship I worked hard to get so that I got smaller class
   sizes and a better learning environment. NOW, it's much much
   better. Homeschooling is a viable option for more families. It's
   not _JUST_ for the religious. It's also for the kids that school
   isn't made for. School wasn't made for me. Maybe it's not made
   for anybody - I dunno, but wasn't for me. The option has to be
   there imo. The flexibility has to be there. Basic standards are
   all that's necessary to create a socially functional adult and
   there's a lot of stuff that's not required. The "What's
   important?" can be debated and negotiated democratically, as I
   think it should, through a diverse population deciding "what's
   important". That becomes law. I'm grateful the Common Core is
   going away. It was _too much_ consistency... and tied right into
   Bush's "No Child Left Behind" thing. Now that that was signed
   away, states have more control again. I think they should.