Harvard Magazine’s May-June issue published an article that warned of the inherent dangers of homeschooling — and featured a photo that contained a spelling error.
Woah.
I just noticed the bizarre cover image used for the Harvard Magazine article.
It shows a sad homeschool child imprisoned in a house while the other kids are outside playing.
Notice the house is made of books, one of them being the Bible ???????? pic.twitter.com/IZfaVuIA0G
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) April 18, 2020
The illustration, by Robert Neubecker, shows a child imprisoned inside a home made entirely of books — one of which is a Bible. The other book titles that appear in the illustration are “Reading,” “Writing” and “Arithmatic [sic].”
Many were quick to point out the fact that, while criticizing homeschoolers, Harvard Magazine went to print with a misspelling of “arithmetic.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: He Cleaned His Handgun On Video During Class. Now This Harvard Law Student From Oklahoma Is Responding To The Backlash)
Imagine dragging home schooling them misspelling “arithmetic”. OOF
— VK (@vjeannek) April 19, 2020
“ARITHMATIC” https://t.co/SNvHISH4iY
— China is lying (@jtLOL) April 19, 2020
Author Erin O’Donnell cited Elizabeth Bartholet, a professor with Harvard Law School’s Child Advocacy Program, to make the case for a “presumptive ban” on homeschooling as a practice, arguing that the burden should be on parents to prove that they could educate their children in a manner approved by the state.
Homeschooling, [Bartholet] says, not only violates children’s right to a “meaningful education” and their right to be protected from potential child abuse, but may keep them from contributing positively to a democratic society.
The article comes as the coronavirus pandemic has closed schools nationwide — thrusting millions of Americans into a world of at least partial homeschooling — and presents warnings against allowing parents to continue down that path once schools have reopened.