Simmah Homeschool Chipless Community
The chipless district in the northern part of the Great City of Simmah is the largest chipless community in Talithan Harbor. The chipless in the Great City of Anunitum and the Great City of Pangu don’t have their own district. Instead, they have housing as a part of the city districts.
Simmah was the second of the Great Cities to be built. Putting all the chipless in one location was part experiment, but also something that was practical for city planning. The new environment attracted artisans and resource gathers, looking for something different from what Anunitum had. Resources found more commonly in the northern part of the great island. Many artisans and gathers have identity pads. But of those who choose to live without them that is the field of work they commonly move into. It was a matter of putting them near the resources they were more likely to work with.
Over the generations, the chipless community split into two. The coastal side wasn’t much different from the communities in the other great cities. People who didn’t want to carry identity chips and sought their own ways to contribute to the community. But they were still an active part of the greater society.
A small group of chipless individuals rebelled roughly fifty sols after the founding of Simmah. Specifically, they hated the idea of their children attending the mandated vocation ran educational system. They got together and started homeschooling their children.
Most Talithans believe that equal education is a fundamental human right. Everyone gets it and parents may not deny their children. Aside from a place of learning, schools also act as a safety-net. Abuse isn’t common, but still happens. Sometimes parents or children need a break from each other and the schoolhouses allow for that as well. They also teach empathy, cooperation, and make sure everyone knows their rights and choices in life.
The group choosing to homeschool feared indoctrination. They also wanted their children to wait until they were older before choosing a vocation specific schoolhouse. Most Talithan children choose sometime between the ages of ten and thirteen sols depending on their maturity levels. They may change their mind after the first three sols. But some feel it’s better to delay the choice.
The homeschoolers would teach their children all the basic skills they needed. If one of their kids truly wanted to work in a vocation, then they would let them, but when they felt their child was old enough to make that decision.
Simmah held to the same standards as Anunitum at first. They made children attend school, sending members of Child Advocacy to escort them. The parents retaliated by not giving birth to their children at Health Services. The children couldn’t be told to attend school if Child Advocacy didn't know they even existed.
After a few deaths from preventable pregnancy complication and childhood illness, Simmah made the controversial decision to back off. They told the families they could homeschool their children provided the children received a basic education, to include knowing what rights they had as a Talithan. They, of course, would still be under the same axioms as the rest of society in terms of neglect and abuse. Simmah didn’t want the children to go without care from Health Services or be in an abusive situation because the right people didn’t know they were there.
The homeschool chipless community has grown since that small group. Anunitum and Pangu still enforce the universal education rules, Pangu being especially stringent. Families from those cities who have firm beliefs about homeschooling will move to Simmah.
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