Potshots at home schooling: critics of the home-schooling movement continue to snipe at parents who teach their children at home, portraying them as paranoid radicals and, now, potential terrorists.

If you can't beat 'em, smear 'em. Apparently that is the approach adopted by critics of home schooling. One such disturbing example of a smear on the credibility of home-schoolers came in the form of the February 17, 2004 episode of NBC's Law and Order--Special Victims Unit.

In that episode, the criminal, a home-schooling mother, was shown to be a controlling, paranoid, mentally abusive woman who convinced her older son to kill his younger brother and then attempt suicide so that the boys wouldn't become wards of the state.

Throughout the show, with only one notable exception, insinuations were constantly being made that home schooling is the province of recluses and people who have things to hide. The show went to great lengths to draw parallels between the woman's criminal behavior and her desire to home-school her children. Needless to say, it was a mean-spirited portrayal, obviously meant to demonize home schoolers.

A second such recent smear occurred in the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District, in Michigan. The school district, in conjunction with the Muskegon County Emergency Services, decided to sponsor an "emergency preparedness drill." According to the Muskegon Chronicle, the script of the mock attack called for a school bus to be overturned by a bomb, with students from the school district, especially the theater class, playing roles enthusiastically --banging on the inside of the bus, waiting to be "rescued."

The script stated that the fictitious terrorists were a group of home-schooling radicals labeled "Wackos Against Schools and Education" who believed everyone should be home schooled.

As soon as it learned of the drill, the Michigan Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) called the school district, stating that "[It] is offensive to millions of people who have chosen to exercise their right to homeschool. Homeschoolers have never committed violent acts against public schools or any terrorist acts."

Faced with an outraged HSLDA, the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District Superintendent, Michael Bozym, issued an apology stating, in part: "This exercise was meant to sharpen the skills and response time of our emergency services personnel, but was unfortunately clouded by the choice of this fictional group.... We sincerely regret offending home school educators."

In addition, the script writer, Daniel Stout, stated that the "fictional group and scenario made reference to fictional people who are against schools. This fictional group and scenario was not meant to offend any home school students. It has nothing to do with any home school population."

Although representatives of both the school and the sheriff's department issued apologies for the incident, the mere fact that no one at either establishment insisted upon the removal of this ugly portrayal of home-schoolers from the script before it was used for enactment purposes further illustrates how embedded the bias against home-schoolers remains.

Why is that? Why do media people and government officials at all levels love to hate home-schoolers? It boils down to the bare fact that people who are homeschooling their children are not buying into the direction our country is being pushed. They have their own set of values and are willing to stand against the tide to uphold those values.

Indeed, according to a pamphlet published by the Phoenix, Arizona, office of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (which operates under the auspices of the FBI), "numerous references to the U.S. Constitution" is one of the ways you can spot a potential terrorist. The pamphlet also points out as potential terrorists "defenders of [the] U.S. Constitution against the federal government and the U.N." and "lone individuals." With this definition of what constitutes a potential terrorist, it is not surprising that the script in Michigan targeted home-schoolers.

Unfortunately, in cases such as these, something done cannot be undone. Even though the school district and sheriff's department issued apologies, the damage was done.