John Oliver Grudgingly Accepts Homeschooling

Published

2 years ago

October 12, 2023

admin

TV host John Oliver is essentially a court jester for people who consider themselves political and cultural elites; the topics he addresses reflect their concerns. So when he does an extended take on homeschooling, you can assume that, after years of innovation and growth, DIY education is on the radar of the tut-tutting class. And when he accepts homeschooling as a potentially beneficial practice, but one that needs more oversight from the right people, you know anti-homeschoolers are in retreat, fighting a rearguard action to maintain a degree of control because it’s too late to abolish a practice they dislike.

The Rattler is a weekly newsletter from J.D. Tuccille. If you care about government overreach and tangible threats to everyday liberty, this is for you. Email(Required) NameThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Submit

Δ “Getting To Be Homeschooled Can Be Transformative”

“By one estimate, there are now around 2 million children being homeschooled in this country, and parents can choose that for all sorts of reasons,” the host allowed on the October 8 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. “Maybe their kids have social or health problems, or disabilities that aren’t being accommodated. Maybe they’re families with legitimate fears about school safety, or who are in the military and move around a lot. And there’s also a growing number of black parents opting to homeschool due to whitewashed curriculums and zero-tolerance policies in schools that disproportionately criminalize their kids at an early age. So, there are a lot of reasons to do it. And the fact is, for some kids, getting to be homeschooled can be transformative.”

That’s quite a shift from a few years ago when Harvard Law School’s Elizabeth Bartholet penned a sniffy Arizona Law Review piece favoring a “presumptive ban” on homeschooling.

Oliver showed a brief clip of Victoria, a Detroit girl who described switching to homeschooling as “just like a kind of like a sunshine, like the clouds opening a little bit.”

But then we get the cautionary note. Who Is In Charge Here?

“The ceiling of how good homeschooling can be is admittedly very high,” Oliver added. “But the floor of how bad it can get is basically nonexistent. Because to an extent you may not realize, in many parts of the country, homeschooling is essentially unregulated.”

“Let’s start with the fact there’s a lot we don’t know about homeschooled kidsfrom exactly how many there are, to what they’re learning,” he added ominously.

Who is this “we” who doesn’t know how many homeschooled kids there are or what they’re learning? Because I’m pretty sure those kids’ parents have a handle on things. I don’t know where John Oliver sends his kids to school, but that doesn’t keep me up at night. Of course, I may not be part of “we.”

“In most states, there is no oversight, and no evaluation by anyone of the academic program and of students’ progress,” Oliver further frets. To show that’s bad, he points to a clip of Michael Donnelly of the Home School Legal Defense Association describing his kids dissecting specimens in the kitchen.

“Are kitchens the best lab for this kind of thing?” Oliver asks in horror.

Hard counter surfaces that are easy to cleansounds pretty sensible. Would he prefer to use the living room coffee table? This is silly. My homeschooled son used the kitchen counter for dissection, too, as well as for chemistry and other science lessons. Lots of families do, as evidenced by an industry selling homeschoolers lab equipment and dissection specimens.

Oliver continues from there, though the discourse never rises above the level of some people I don’t like are choosing homeschooling for reasons with which I disagree. He points to the religious nature of some publishers of crappy textbooks (as well as a tiny group of Nazi parents who self-published teaching materials because there was so little demand for Hitler-themed readers), but families can take them or leave them, unlike the spun texts assigned in public schools.

“The books have the same publisher. They credit the same authors. But they are customized for students in different states, and their contents sometimes diverge in ways that reflect the nation’s deepest partisan divides,” The New York Times’ Dana Goldstein wrote in 2020 of history textbooks produced for state-level buyers in California and Texas, “customized to satisfy policymakers with different priorities.”

Then, Oliver huffs: “In many states parents don’t ultimately have to teach their kids anything at all.” Apparently, Nobody Is in Charge of Public Schools, Either

Uh huh. A RAND Corporation survey of public school teachers finds that “since 20192020 it’s become more common for math teachers to skip math content that’s covered by their state’s math standards.” Test scores fell off a cliff in recent years, accelerated by public schools’ failures during pandemic shutdowns (“a majority of states saw scores decline for fourth- and eighth-graders in mathematics and reading between 2019 and 2022,” according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics). Many schools (we’re looking at you, Los Angeles Unified School District) promote underperforming kids anyway, with a nothing-to-see-here attitude. Who isn’t teaching “anything at all?”

That public schools can be terrible is obvious from Oliver’s joking allusion to his own misery in school, as well as the clip of Victoria, who was so delighted to find “sunshine” in exiting government offerings for DIY education. Victoria is in good company. Families Stepped Up When the Pros Fumbled

“In the first full school year after the onset of the pandemic, K-12 public school enrollment in the U.S. fell by more than a million students,” according to an Urban Institute report published in February of this year. “And these enrollment losses persisted through the 2021-22 school year.” By contrast, private school enrollment increased by 4.3 percent and homeschool enrollment increased by 30 percent.

“To put this in perspective,” adds the Urban Institute report, “in the 22 locations with homeschool data, K-12 public school enrollment fell by 710,513 students while private school enrollment increased by 102,847 students. The corresponding increase in homeschool enrollment was 184,047 students.”

Who regulates education? Parents yanking kids from failing public schools and choosing alternatives, like homeschooling, have taken on that regulatory role. They clearly care more about the responsibility than “professional” educators neglecting standards and promoting kids they haven’t taught.

The flood of families looking for something better is why John Oliver put on his concerned face over homeschooling. But the flood is also why he has to acknowledge the legitimate concerns of homeschoolers, because the ranks of DIY-educating families have grown beyond early adopters to include people of all sorts of backgrounds and motivations, including some who might watch his show.

That a court jester for self-appointed elites is reduced to fretting over worst-case scenarios among homeschoolers while glossing over public school failures shows just how far battle lines have shifted between families and control freaks who, just recently, pushed to ban the practice.

For an (admittedly aging until I update it) list of homeschooling resources, check here.

Business

Farming community responds to rumours of an inheritance tax U-turn

Published

3 hours ago

October 13, 2025

admin

Farming community responds to rumours of an inheritance tax U-turn

The budget may still be more than six weeks away, but rumours of U-turns and changes are already in full swing.

Over the last few days, there have been multiple reports that those inside Whitehall are considering tweaks to the controversial inheritance tax (IHT) reforms on farms announced this time last year.

Plans to introduce a 20% tax on estates worth more than £1m drew tens of thousands to protest in London, many fearing huge tax bills that would force small farms to sell up for good.

Now there are reports the tax threshold could be increased from £1m to £5m (£10m for a married couple) – a shift that would remove smaller farms from being liable to pay.

Senior figures in farming have long believed a rise could be the solution to save the smaller farms and it would satisfy most.

However under the proposals, the 50% relief on IHT would be removed for farms above the new threshold.

That means bigger farms, responsible for producing a large amount of produce in our supermarkets, could bear the brunt of the tax burden with the Treasury potentially increasing revenues.

Two senior farming figures told me today that while a threshold increase is welcome, it does nothing to solve an “insolvable” problem.

Big farms have more land to sell, but then they become smaller farms and either produce less, or even divide up, to avoid the tax entirely.

Richard Cornock runs a small dairy farm in south Gloucestershire, which has been in his family since 1822.

He hopes to pass it on to his son Harry, who is now 14 and training to become a farm manager.

“I’ve been under so much stress like most farmers worrying about this tax,” he said. “And I really hope they do push the boundaries on the thresholds, because the million pounds they propose at the moment is ridiculous.

“It’s been on my mind the whole time to be honest. I even looked into getting life insurance to insure my life and I can’t get it because I had a heart condition. And that was one way I thought I might be able to cover my kids…”

We paused our chat as he was too upset to continue – an illustration of the stress farmers like him have been under over the last 12 months.

The government says it won’t comment on “speculation” about any possible changes, but it has previously defended the IHT reform, saying most estates would not pay and that those who will be liable can spread payments over a decade.

Labour is under pressure to do something to appease the angry farmers, a rural vote that turned from the Conservatives at the last election.

I ask Richard whether any tweak or row back on IHT will restore faith in Labour?

“The damage has been done,” he says.

World

Israel says first hostages handed to Red Cross as Palestinian prisoners also expected to be released

Published

3 hours ago

October 13, 2025

admin

Israel says first hostages handed to Red Cross as Palestinian prisoners also expected to be released

Israel says Hamas has handed over the first seven hostages to the Red Cross to be released as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The remaining Israeli hostages are being released by Hamas after being held in Gaza for more than two years, in exchange for over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The Red Cross will drive the hostages to Israeli security forces, who will take them into Israel, where they will be reunited with family and flown by helicopter to hospitals.

Follow the latest updates here

Tens of thousands of Israelis watched the transfers at public screenings across the country.

The families and friends of hostages broke out into cheers as Israeli TV channels announced the hostages were in the hands of the Red Cross.

Israel previously said that of the 251 initially taken captive in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, 20 of the hostages that remained in Gaza were thought to be alive, 26 were presumed dead, and the fate of two was unknown.

The 20 hostages are all men aged between 20 and 48, who have spent more than two years in captivity.

As part of the first phase of US President Donald Trump‘s ceasefire agreement, Hamas was given 72 hours to release all the Israeli hostages, alive and dead.

The agreed ceasefire started at midday local time (10am UK time) on Friday, with tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians moving back towards northern Gaza, which was mostly destroyed by Israel.

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

Who are the hostages to be freed?

Hamas has released a list of the 20 living hostages it will free. Tap on their pictures to read more about them:

Once all the hostages are released, Israel is expected to free 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Gazans detained after the 7 October attacks.

A second phase of the plan, which all sides have yet to agree on, could see Israeli troops further withdrawing from Gaza.

Trump says ‘war is over’

Mr Trump boarded Air Force One in Washington on Sunday to fly to Israel.

“The war is over,” he said. Asked about prospects for the region, he added: “I think it’s going to normalise.”

The US president will receive a hero’s welcome when he addresses Israel’s parliament on Monday. He will be awarded Israel’s highest civilian honour later this year, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.

Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation, with airstrikes and ground assaults devastating much of the enclave, killing more than 67,000, according to its Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of those killed were women and children.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

US

Britain has been playing a role behind the scenes of Trump’s deal between Israel and Hamas | Beth Rigby

Published

3 hours ago

October 13, 2025

admin

Britain has been playing a role behind the scenes of Trump's deal between Israel and Hamas | Beth Rigby

Sir Keir Starmer will join world leaders at a historic summit in Egypt today – to witness the signing of the Gaza peace plan to end two years of conflict, bloodshed and suffering that has cost tens of thousands of lives and turned Gaza into a wasteland.

Travelling over to Egypt, flanked by his national security adviser Jonathan Powell, the prime minister told me it was a “massive moment” and one that is genuinely historic.

US President Donald Trump moved decisively last week to end this bloody war, pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas into a ceasefire as part of his 20-point peace plan.

In the flurry of the following 48 hours, Sir Keir and another 20 or so leaders were invited to Egypt to bear witness to the signing of this deal, with many of them deserving some credit for the effort they made to bring this deal around – not least the leaders of Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, who pressed Hamas to sign up to this deal.

Today, the remaining 20 living hostages are finally set to be released, along with the bodies of another 28 who were either killed or died in captivity, and aid is due to flow back into a starving Gaza.

Some 1,200 Israelis were killed on 7 October 2023, with another 250 taken hostage. In the subsequent war, most of Gaza’s two million population has been displaced. More than 67,000 Gazans have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.

Then, the signing ceremony is due to take place this afternoon in Sharm el Sheikh. It will be a momentous moment after a long and bloody war.

But it is only just the beginning of a long process to rebuild Gaza and try to secure a lasting peace in the region.

The immediate focus for the UK and other nations will be to get aid into Gaza, with the UK committing £20m for water, sanitation and hygiene services for Gazans.

But the focus for the UK and other European allies is what happens after the hostages are released and Israel withdraws its troops.

What happens next is a much bigger and more complicated task: rebuilding Gaza; turning it into a terrorist-free zone; governing Gaza – the current plan is for a temporary apolitical committee; creating an international stabilisation force and all the tensions that could bring about – which troops each side would allow in; a commitment for Israel not to occupy or annex Gaza, even as Netanyahu makes plain his opposition to that plan.

The scale of the challenge is matched by the scale of devastation caused by this brutal war.

The prime minister will set out his ambition for the UK to play a leading role in the next phase of the peace plan.

Back home, the UK is hosting a three-day conference on Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction.

Last week, France hosted European diplomats and key figures from Middle Eastern countries, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – and later this week, the German chancellor is hoping to organise a conference on the reconstruction of Gaza with the Egyptians.

But in reality, European leaders know the key to phase two remains the key to phase one, and that’s Donald Trump.

As one UK figure put it to me over the weekend: “There is lots of praise, rightly, for the US president, who got this over the line, but the big challenge for us post-war is implementing the plan. Clearly, Arab partners are concerned the US will lose focus.”

The prime minister knows this and has made a point, at every point, to praise Mr Trump.

His cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson learned that diplomatic lesson the hard way yesterday when she was publicly lambasted by the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee for suggesting to my colleague Trevor Phillips that the UK “had played a key role behind the scenes” and failed to mention Mr Trump by name.

“I assure you she is delusional,” tweeted Governor Huckabee. “She can thank @realDonaldTrump anytime just to set the record straight”.

Today, leaders will rightly be praising Mr Trump for securing the breakthrough to stop the fighting and get the remaining hostages home.

But this is only the beginning of a very long journey ahead to push through the rest of the 19-point plan and stop the region from falling back into conflict.

Britain has, I am told, been playing a role behind the scenes. The PM’s national security adviser Mr Powell was in Egypt last week and has been in daily touch with his US counterpart Steve Witkoff, according to government sources. Next week the King of Jordan will come to the UK.

Part of the UK’s task will be to get more involved, with the government and European partners keen to get further European representation on Trump’s temporary governance committee for Gaza, which Tony Blair (who was not recommended or endorsed by the UK) is on and Mr Trump will chair.

The committee will include other heads of states and members, including qualified Palestinians and international experts.

As for the former prime minister’s involvement, there hasn’t been an overt ringing endorsement from the UK government.

It’s helpful to have Mr Blair at the table because he can communicate back to the current government, but equally, as one diplomatic source put it to me: “While a lot of people in the Middle East acknowledge his experience, expertise and contact book, they don’t like him and we need – sooner rather than later – other names included that Gulf partners can get behind.”

Today it will be the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that sign off on the peace plan they directly negotiated, as other Middle Eastern and European leaders, who have flown into Sharm el Sheikh to bear witness, look on.

But in the coming days and weeks, there will need to be a big international effort, led by Mr Trump, not just to secure the peace, but to keep it.