My first instincts after reading the original Baltimore Sun story were that:
- The family lived on a rural farm-type property, with no neighbors close by.
- The family home-schools its children. No teachers to interfere.
So, without further ado:
- From the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, here's the Merryman spread: 6+ acres, agricultural zoning. And, check out the cool Google map satellite view option. You won't find Gladys Kravitz in the backyard here.
- Third paragraph of a Moscow Times followup*: Dennis Merryman was the youngest of seven children they were raising and home-schooling.
I'm not a fan of home-schooling and I'll be the first to admit that I don't fully understand the concept. But even with this limited knowledge base, I can go out on a limb and say that there is no way that a home-schooled kid's opportunities for socialization can compare with their conventionally-educated peers. A guy's best shot at a date for the Home School Senior Prom rests with his mom or sister. (Now that I think about it, that was my best shot too. Unfortunately, I was attending John F. Kennedy High School at the time.)
The closest I can relate to home-schooling is telecommuting, which I do occasionally. When I telecommute, I'm connected enough to others in the office that they know I'm alive and not in trouble, and not out on the golf course when I should be working. Home-schooling, on the surface at least, seems like telecommuting with little or no accountability to the office.
In the hands of irresponsible parents, a home-schooled child can simply be hidden from society, as Dennis had to have been as he wasted away. Our public school teachers are often the first to notice signs of child abuse or neglect. If Dennis had a place--say, a public school--to check in with on even an occasional basis, surely he would be alive today.
*Blogger's Note: The original Baltimore Sun story initially cited in this entry is no longer available online.
¶ 8:02 PM
I have learned a bit about homeschooling in the two years since this was originally posted. Clearly homeschooling is a good option for some families under some circumstances. In the right hands, for the right kids, it seems like a wonderful thing. I'm sorry I didn't take (or have) the time to do my homework two years ago.
But let's face it--what stands out in the minds of those of us who don't homeschool are the rare news stories of child abuse of children who aren't exposed to the general public on a regular basis. Or the kid in trouble with the law for doing something nasty during school hours while presumably being homeschooled.
Are the overwhelming majority of homeschoolers--good apples--being tainted by the few bad ones? Absolutely. The same way those hoping to be adoptive parents from Russia face increased waiting times and scrutiny due to the actions of the few who committed the most heinous of crimes against their adopted Russian children.
What particularly stands out in my mind as I write this is the recent posting in one of the adoption forums to which I subscribe written by a homeschooling parent. At least 14 spelling and grammatical errors in a post defending homeschooling do little to advance the author's agenda.
Two years later, the point of my post remains that, in the Merryman case, homeschooling fostered an environment in which a child of school age could be hidden from those in a position to help and allowed to deteriorate.
Would Dennis Merryman be alive today if he were attending public school? He certainly wouldn't have been allowed to starve to death.
(posted 10/5/08)
<< Home
Subscribe to my feed