No. Public school isn't "a la carte": If you're a parent who doesn't "think the school's math or English program is good enough for your child, but playing on that school's football team is," you're like a kid who wants dessert without dinner, says Zack Plair in the Paragould, Ark., Daily Press. Tebow law advocates say it's about fairness — we pay school taxes, let our kids play — but such "a la carte" public-schooling is unfair to students who participate in the system. I pay taxes for the whole road, but I can't "drive on the left side of the highway" or "pass on the shoulder." There is "a system in place, and the integrity of that system depends on everyone using it a certain way."
"So-called 'Tebow laws' create slippery slope"
What's wrong with treating schools like a buffet? "What's so terrible about one more choice for kids and their families?" asks Lucy Steigerwald at Reason. In fact, why stop with homeschooled kids? We should open public school sports teams to private school students, too. If public schools want taxpayer funding, parents deserve as many choices as possible, and that includes letting in "a thousand homeschooled Christian dorks so that they too can be future football stars."
"'Tebow law'... already lets columnists complain about too much choice"
Homeschoolers should "meet the public schools halfway": Sports bring people together, and "integrating homeschoolers into our public education system advances the goal of commonality," says Andrew Rotherham at TIME. But if they want to integrate, homeschoolers need to play by public school rules, especially regarding academic eligibility. Linking sports to grades is "a hard-won education reform," and for homeschoolers, academic eligibility means accepting "some sensible regulation of homeschooling quality."
"Should homeschoolers be allowed on public-school sports teams?"
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