Rick Santorum Calls Bill Maher Illogical Over Attacks on Homeschooling Children
Rick Santorum responded on Monday to Bill Maher's criticism against homeschooling by arguing that his 12-year-old son would "out-reason" the self-claimed "rationalist."
"Our children will out-reason him (Maher); my 12-year-old will out-reason Bill Maher when it comes to understanding how logic works because he is completely illogical," he said on Fox News.
"There wasn't an interview that went by the last week where I wasn't asked a question about Rush Limbaugh, and yet repeatedly, these folks on the left – whether it's Maher or Letterman or you name it – they're out there trashing everybody who stands up for Christian conservative values, anybody who dares to actually teach their children faith in their home."
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Maher, host of HBO's "Real Time," had levied his attacks on Santorum and his wife Karen for homeschooling their six school-age children.
"Rick Santorum homeschools his children because he does not want them eating that f---king apple," said Maher last Friday. "He wants them locked up in the Christian madrassa that is the family living room not out in public where they could be infected by the virus of reason."
Santorum and his wife have seven children, six of whom are currently in school of some type. The couple's youngest child, Bella, has Trisomy 18, a rare genetic disorder, and is three years old.
The debate over homeschooling versus public schools often inflames liberals, especially those close to teachers unions who protest any recognition of homeschool grades or credentials.
However, studies have found that homeschooled students score 34 to 39 percent higher than the average on standardized achievement tests.
Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptists Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said Maher's comments only added ignorance to his hostility of Christianity.
"As parents, we have both an obligation and a responsibility to nurture our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord," Land told The Christian Post.
"There was a time when we could send our kids to public schools in at least a neutral environment. That's not the case any longer for most Americans in most places. What many public schools teach today cannot be defined as 'inclusive,' but tilts heavily to the side of being anti-Christian."
A 2003 study titled Homeschooling Grows Up highlights the achievements of homeschooled children. For example, 71 percent of homeschooled graduates participate in some type of sports or volunteer community activity, compared with 37 percent of U.S. adults.
Author and speaker Alex Harris and his brother Brent are not only products of homeschooling, but also the sons of homeschool pioneer Greg Harris. Both brothers are comfortable that they didn't miss out on any of the so-called advantages of public schools, but instead their homeschool experience paid high dividends.
"Over the last five years, traveling around the country and interacting with thousands of students every year, I've found that homeschoolers are incredibly engaged in and knowledgable about the world around them," noted Alex Harris in an email to CP. "They're mature, and they're leaders. In my own circle of friends, homeschool kids have started businesses and nonprofits, directed award-winning films, and managed political campaigns, all in high school. Since then, many of them have been accepted into the top universities and most prestigious law schools in the country. I can understand if that concerns Bill Maher, but calling homeschoolers uneducated or brainwashed is more ignorant than anything else."
On the political front, 35 percent of all U.S. adults consider government and politics too complicated to understand. Only 4.2 percent of homeschooled graduates feel the same.
