Guns N' Fishes
We hung out with the Doty Boys today.
Well, actually, my wife and I took the kids to a fishing derby at Fernan Lake and ended up sharing dock space with a local homeschooling family that has been in the news recently.
The Doty Boys have started carrying guns with them everywhere they go. Not because they're violent or fearful, but to prove a point about the Second Amendment, I suppose. Zach, 18, carries a loaded handgun, while his brother Stephen, 15, carries a .22-caliber rifle slung over his back. That's Stephen and a younger brother in the picture above. See the blue chair behind them? That's mine.
Were we nervous to have a pimply-faced teenager carrying a loaded weapon ten feet away from us? Not really. I was more scared of his sister, who kept trying to clumsily cast a fishing pole right next to me. I kept waiting for a hook to slash through my jugular.
Actually, all of the Doty children were extremely well-behaved and polite. The older kids helped the younger ones with poles and hooks, teaching them as they went, while the mother supervised attentively. It was a pleasant family outing.
So why does the Doty family bother me?
Because they perpetuate the myth of homeschoolers as out-of-step with society.
The story of the gun-toting Idaho boys made nationwide press last week, including Fox News, which made sure to begin their article with the phrase "Two home-schooled teenagers."
As if being home-schooled had anything to do with their decision to buck society's norms. I can't help but think that there are many people in the media who have such a strong bias against home-schooling that they actively play up the stereotype of home-schooled kids as oddballs and outcasts.
You can walk into any public high school and find punks, goths, geeks, nerds, and every other silly description of teens who like to live outside of accepted social behaviors. When those kids make the news, for whatever reason, they are not automatically labeled as "public-schooled."
So, because of the media bias, it bothers me when a family comes along and pushes its kids to be so incredibly nonconforming that it reinforces the unfounded notion that all home-schoolers are anti-social, weird, or worse.
Put down the guns, Doty Boys. Be kids. Be a part of society. Show the world that you love to play, learn, explore, and work hard. Carrying those guns around didn't help you catch any fish. And it certainly won't help your fellow homeschoolers catch a break.
Permalink posted by Idaho Dad at 11:06 PM
11 Comments:
See? That is exactly the kind of stuff I associated with homeschoolers before I found you and ImPerciptablity.
All they are proving is that they are extremists.
I don't see this as much of a homeschooling issue. But... no public school kid was likely to even research and/or know about the laws of Idaho in this way.
Give the kids credit: they're obeying the law(s). Change 'em if they're somehow wrong. Extremists (or, activists, depending on your POV) do crazy things to break laws in order to point out problems with those laws. This isn't that.
I don't see responsible citizens carrying guns in public view as a problem.
I don't see it as a home schooling issue either.
What I do wonder is, if a point is to be made about 2nd amendment rights, are teenage boys the ones to be making it?
I personally think is is inappropriate and I also wonder if it is really necessary. It hadn't been much of an issue until these two turned up. Slinging guns to go fishing? C'mon!
I also don't know if the guns are loaded or not.
If so - that is really inappropriate.
Sad!!
Yes, I think the media wants to make a big deal about this specifically because these kids are homeschooled. There are lots of kids who aren't homeschooled that do far wackier things. Some kids who are homeschooled are weird and do weird things, just as in the public schools. Chances are pretty good their folks are pretty weird themselves. What you can't do it be bothered by what anyone else is doing or any "image" they might be perpetuating about homeschoolers. They have the right to be freaky just like everyone else. Media will focus on what it likes, and will always be biased, no matter how hard they may try not to. It's just human nature. Some day everyone will wake up and see public education for the real nightmare it is, and no one will make fun of homeschooling or homeschoolers anymore.
I agree with the second amendment, I think homeschooling is fine, I just don't see carrying a gun in public as something I'd be letting my kids do. It just doesn't seem safe.
I don't own a gun, and I never will. I have no use for them, and I hope my children will never have a use for them either.
Swords, now, that's a different story altogether. Why can't I carry my broadsword in public? Or can I? I've never tried. Maybe I'll start wearing a baldric and my Scottish replica broadsword on our family outings. I suppose I'll have to get a kilt as well...man... is it about weapons, or fashion?
Of all the teens in this country who carry guns, a couple of homeschooled boys making a political statement are the least of my concerns. They aren't using their weapons to commit crimes unlike many public school students are. Presumably they've been trained in handling guns safely (if not, then IMHO their parents should not allow them to carry the weapons). I wouldn't do it myself or encourage my kids to, but really it doesn't bother me.
The fact that the media is playing up their homeschooled status is the real issue since it shows their bias.
The media will always look for ways to portray homeschooled kids in a bad light. As a teenager, I owned a shotgun and a 22 rifle. No one ever told me not to carry or even not to use them in any way I saw fit. It would never have occurred to me to take one of those weapons into town. I had never even heard of a "gun law".
It's a tough call, but I don't think anyone but local officials should have any say in the matter. If they don't have a problem with it, I don't see why anyone else should either, as long as they are just carrying them - not shooting up the town. IMHO.
As far as "following the norm" as far as homeschooling goes, I think you should think that one over. Following the norm is what got America in such troubled times to begin with. Gun laws in general are meant to control us, not protect us.
Perhaps you should rethink your stance against the boys legally carrying guns. It appears your main beef is the "image" it portrays.
Are homeschoolers different than the "norm"? Well, isn't that pretty much an automatically answered question? Of course we're different... we have chosen an educational opportunity which is not the norm. We analyzed the situation, carefully thought it through and decided the "norm" was not right for us. (Most people do not even stop to analyze this choice... they simply follow the sheeple.) It only stands to reason that homeschoolers tend to analyze all situations in life and are open to different avenues. Regardless of whether they are the "norm".
So, the boys should put down the guns to fish with you. I dunno... reminds me a bit too much of public school pushers telling homeschoolers to put down the books and join us at school. Are you often annoyed when people interject their personal opinions onto you in an effort to persuade you to stop homeschooling? Why then would you do the same?
*cough* pot *cough* kettle *cough* black
Similar to Sheri's comment, this seems to me a case of the chicken and the egg, or, rather, of cause and effect. Are homeschoolers weird *because* they've been homeschooled? Or were they and/or their families outside the norm to begin with?
That said, I do think there needs to be a balance. People who do stupid things to buck the trend are just as bound to that trend as those who bleat and follow it unquestioningly. Why not, instead, just do what you know/think is right, and not worry about the trends? I think that doing unwise things just to "prove a point" is, well, unwise. Ill-considered. Cutting off the nose to spite the face, and all that.
I don't think that senseless rebellion serves anyone well. I mean, if their rebellion had a point -- like if they were actually fighting for the right to legally hunt, or something like that -- I could support their cause. But, if they just wanna carry rifles to cause a stir, well, I find that difficult to support.
I've never been one for trend-following myself, but in my old age (I'm nearly 34), I've come to the understanding that one has to understand that one's image carries weight, and one has to be wise about what one wishes to convey to others. IOW, I see now that when I got my nose pierced when I was 19 -- when it was much less common than it is now -- I bore at least some of the responsibility for others immediately assuming I was some sort of bad egg. Back then, though, I had a sort of righteous indignation over everyone's "judgement" of my nosewear, as I was actually closer to a goody-goody who just happened to have her nose pierced.
There's a thin line there, but it would seem to me that the Doty family has unwisely crossed it.
Wait.
Do you see what you are saying? You yourself are 'bucking society' in your own way, by homeschooling your children and being a homeschool dad. You are chastising the Doty boys for bucking society in their way.
That's exactly what 'traditional' society does to everyone else. It's ok to 'go against the grain' as long as the 'grain' says it is.
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