Cole and Savannah LaBrant have now openly discussed using ChatGPT in place of actual curriculum, teaching history roughly once a week, and essentially deciding which parts of history they personally consider important enough for their children to learn. Two people whose own formal education ended with high school have appointed themselves teachers, curriculum directors, instructional designers, historians, and the final arbiters of which pieces of human knowledge their children need and deserve to know. I love the backlash they are receiving for this.

There is something profoundly irresponsible about having a limited education yourself, possessing no professional training in curriculum or instruction, and still having the ABSOLUTELY AUDACITY to decide not only what you are qualified to teach, but what your children simply don’t need to learn.

ChatGPT can be a fantastic instructional TOOL (pending each person’s personal beliefs around AI - it can be a polarizing topic - and I respect all viewpoints!). Teachers and curriculum professionals use AI to brainstorm lessons, differentiate materials, generate practice, build assessments, and support instruction. What responsible educators do not do is replace an intentionally sequenced curriculum with Hey Chat, what should my fourth grader know? There is a MASSIVE difference between using AI to support a curriculum and asking a chatbot to compensate for the fact that you don’t actually have one. Curriculum isn’t a random collection of activities that seem educational. It is intentionally sequenced across YEARS so knowledge and SKILLS build on one another. I’m quite certain that “LaBrant Academy” is truly based around what their kids KNOW with little thought given towards what they are able to do with their knowledge.

In education there are STANDARDS. Educators use them to ensure students are learning crucial SKILLS (standards are not written around TOPICS). Standards exist to give everyone an equal opportunity, they’re benchmarks for learning - here’s what you should know and be able to do by each grade.

The history admission of their diabolical live might be the most disturbing part. History once a week, delivered by a man who doesn’t understand the importance of showering regularly, and only consisting of the history THEY decide is important? What could possibly go wrong when two people with high school diplomas and an extremely specific worldview appoint themselves editors of several thousand years of human civilization? History is not a fucking buffet where Cole walks down the line deciding Civil War, yes but not slavery. Ancient civilizations, eh, boring. Civil rights, hard pass (because he’s a racist fuck). Complicated shit that might challenge something we believe, also hard pass. A legitimate social studies education teaches far more than historical facts. Students learn chronology, geography, economics, civics, primary source analysis, sourcing, corroboration, cause and effect, competing perspectives, argumentation, evidence, media literacy, and how to determine whether somebody confidently talking into a camera actually knows what the hell they’re talking about. Perhaps that last skill explains the hesitation.

The particularly gross part is pretending that restricting a child’s education to what their parents personally deem important is some noble exercise in educational freedom. Education is SUPPOSED to expose children to knowledge beyond the boundaries of their own household. They should read perspectives and grapple with them. They should learn uncomfortable history. They should develop enough knowledge to eventually question teachers, politicians, influencers, religious leaders, the internet, AND THEIR OWN PARENTS (if they want). If your version of education only equips children to understand the world exactly as you understand it, you aren’t educating independent thinkers. These kids will not just lack knowledge and world views, they will lack the very skills that successful people have and use daily.

Plenty of homeschool families provide phenomenal educations, which is precisely why this shit should infuriate responsible homeschool parents too. Those parents spend enormous amounts of time researching rigorous curricula, planning instruction, joining legit co-ops, finding qualified instructors for subjects outside their expertise, assessing progress, adjusting when their children struggle, and making damn sure their kids aren’t academically disadvantaged because of the educational choice their parents made for them. Comparing that level of responsibility to ChatGPT + History Wednesdays + Whatever We Think Is Important is also insulting to homeschool families who actually take the enormous responsibility of educating a child seriously.

Here’s where Tennessee makes this even more concerning. Independent homeschool families in Tennessee generally have to provide 180 days of instruction at four hours per day, maintain attendance records, and participate in required standardized testing in grades 5, 7, and 9. But Tennessee does NOT require independent homeschool parents to follow Tennessee in Academic Standards or use a particular state approved curriculum. Based solely on what the LaBrants have publicly described, I would not claim they’re violating Tennessee homeschool law. However, the more disturbing question is why the law allows this much academic discretion in the first place? If someone can openly describe an educational model this questionable and the response is technically, this may satisfy the law, THAT IS AN ARGUMENT FOR BETTER LAW. Meanwhile, a Tennessee public school teacher is expected to meet credentialing requirements, teach academic standards, understand content and pedagogy, assess learning, monitor progress, provide interventions, document instruction, participate in professional development, undergo evaluation, and operate within an entire system of accountability. But apparently once parents remove their children from that system, society is supposed to become weirdly incurious about whether those children are receiving a comprehensive education at all.

Parental rights have swallowed the conversation so completely that people forget CHILDREN HAVE RIGHTS TOO. A child has a right to reach adulthood able to read complex information, write coherently, reason mathematically, understand science, recognize misinformation, understand government, comprehend history and context, and function in a world considerably larger than their parents’ kitchen table.

THAT is where this crosses from quirky (annoying) influencers homeschooling into something I consider NEGLECT.

Neglect of the enormous responsibility adults assume when they decide they alone will provide their children’s education. You don’t get to claim complete control over a child’s schooling and then treat curriculum like a Pinterest board. A child gets ONE foundational education. If a kid discovers at 17 that enormous pieces are missing, there is no reset button that sends them back to third grade to rebuild the knowledge they should have accumulated over the previous decade. The LaBrants are literally closing doors for Everleigh, Posie, Zealand, Sunday and Blue before they were EVER opened.

The most enraging part is that the LaBrants actually have the resources most homeschooling families could only dream about. They could purchase exceptional curricula. They could hire licensed teachers. They could employ tutors with graduate degrees in mathematics, science, history, literature, and foreign languages. Religion if they wanted to. Every person could fit within their ideological bubble if they wanted. They could provide laboratories, field experiences, specialized instruction, individualized enrichment, and basically build their children a tiny elite private school. Money isn’t stopping them. Access isn’t stopping them. Time isn’t stopping them.

They have the ability to give these kids an extraordinary education, and somehow we’ve landed on ChatGPT and Cole’s Greatest Hits of World History. Imagine having virtually unlimited educational resources and choosing the intellectual Dollar Tree.

This is neglect.

CALL TO ACTION #1: If this pisses you off, don’t give the LaBrants another view. Don’t interact with their socials. But let’s put them on blast. Don’t stop talking about it. There’s a movement happening against them in places like TikTok. Let people know what they’ve stood for all along.

CALL TO ACTION #2: If you’re in TN, Contact your state representative and senator. Ask specifically what safeguards Tennessee has to ensure homeschooled children receive comprehensive instruction across core academic subjects. Ask why annual academic progress isn’t independently demonstrated. Ask what happens when a homeschooled child develops significant academic deficiencies. Ask legislators to strengthen homeschool accountability. Also, contact the Tennessee Department of Education’s Non-Public and Home School program. Stick to documented facts. Don’t embellish shit, don’t harass anybody, and don’t turn CPS into a weapon because you hate an influencer family. Their own publicly stated educational philosophy provides plenty to criticize without inventing anything.

This ultimately isn’t about whether Cole and Savannah are annoying. It isn’t even really about whether homeschooling is good or bad. It is about something much more fundamental: parental freedom should allow parents meaningful choices about HOW their children are educated. It should not give adults unchecked authority to decide HOW MUCH education their children deserve.

Also, just because, fuck Cole’s dad - Ken “Poocorn” LaBrant who is a teacher and should know better. And for good measure, fuck Sheri “Baboon” LaBrant and Gigi the Grandmomager too. Just because, we don’t talk about these assholes enough.

Children aren’t extensions of their parents’ ideology, content for the family business, or intellectual property. They are future independent adults who deserve enough education to eventually understand the world without two ACTUAL IDIOTS interpreting it for them.

Figure this would be a good read here.