Home-schoolers learn lesson: life not always fair
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
I feel sorry for the Stotts and the Pelletier families, who recently lost a court case against the Maine Principals' Association. That doesn't mean I think they're right.
The families wanted their home-schooled children to be allowed to compete as members of Eastgate Christian Academy and Seacoast Christian School athletic teams. On May 9, U.S. District court judge D. Brock Hornby ruled that the MPA's rule against such participation does not infringe on their constitutional rights.
That's not to say I entirely agree with the MPA, either. The MPA allows home-schooled students to participate on the sports teams at the public school in their home school district. For the Stotts, that's Poland Regional High School. For the Pelletiers, that's Wells High School. The MPA says that allowing home-schooled athletes to play on private-school teams gives an unfair advantage.
Home-schoolers shouldn't be on teams at schools they don't go to, period.
If you want to play sports for school X, then go to school X.
"But I pay taxes," you say. "Doesn't that entitle my kid to play on the high school team in my town? Or at the least try out? I pay for that resource."
By home-schooling, you decline to take benefit from that resource. To say that the academic aspect of the local public school isn't what you're looking for — but the athletic department or the drama club or the band is OK — borders on hypocrisy. You can't have it both ways. Home schooling may be the right academic decision for your family, but with that decision come hard choices.
While public high school teams are comprised of groups of students whose parents or guardians all happen to pay taxes in the same school district, when you get to their core, that's not who they represent. High school athletes represent the people they work and study with everyday. High schools are a community within a community.
If paying taxes to a school district is the measuring stick, then what's to stop a student who attends a private school from playing sports at a public school? Say student A goes to Cheverus High School, a Catholic high school in Portland. Student A's family lives in South Portland. Just because Student A doesn't make the Cheverus basketball team, or get the lead in the school play, Student A can't go play sports for South Portland High School or play Nathan Detroit in South Portland's production of "Guys and Dolls."
Say Student A lives in a town that doesn't have a high school and the town will tuition the student to any public high school in the area. Should student A be able to play a fall sport at one high school and a winter sport at another, all while attending a third?
Of course not. Student A and his family chose Cheverus, and that's that.
Home-schooled students are attending another school, one where the academic merits are weighed against a lack of athletic teams. If you're a home-schooled student, does it stink? You bet. Is it fair? Probably not. Does that matter? Absolutely not.
Lesson one, and it's a lesson that should be taught to everyone, life isn't always fair.
"It's not fair" has never been the strongest legal argument in cases dealing with individual choices. It ranks right up there with "Just because" and "That's the way it's always been."
There is no denying that extracurricular activities of any kind can enrich the high school experience, and if being a member of a team is that important, then it might be better to enroll in the local school. If for whatever reason that's not an option, then the MPA and home-schooling families can reach a compromise when it comes to students who want to take part in individual sports, such as track, cross country and tennis. Let home schooled athletes compete as independents in individual sports. There's no reason that Samantha and Douglas Pelletier shouldn't be able to compete without the banner of a high school over their heads. If the MPA is going to be a stickler about letting students take part in individual events, then call them Pelletier Regional High School and come up with a nickname.
Being a member of a high school team, however, is about more than showing up for practices and games.
For many students, home schooling is the way to the best possible education. If the price of that education is not being on the soccer team, then that's a consequence home-schooling families have to deal with.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com