Eligibility Overview
Quaqua
Award recipients are drawn from the diverse segments of the home-education
community. Award
recipients, individually and as a group, may be from any demographic segment
of society, as defined by race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, age, religion,
world view, medical challenge, characteristics, pedagogies, or traditions, except as specifically limited
[1]
by Quaqua Articles of Incorporation
or By-Laws.
Eligibility for Protégé Awards,
Merit Awards, Talent Awards, and Need Grants is limited to students who:
1) Have been educated in the home
[2]
for either–
a) Eight
consecutive years, all accrued after the student's sixth birthday,
OR
b) For
a total of at least five years (only three of which must be consecutive)
during the time period from age four to age eighteen, AND for at least half
of the time-period spanning from age four to age eighteen (or from age
four to the current age of the applicant as of the date of
the applicant's admission to a program of higher learning, if such age
will be younger than eighteen)
(You can find out how this rule applies to you by
clicking here.)
2)
Currently are, or will be within three years of the formal scholarship grant date,
pursuing a college degree or equivalent achievement in an institution
or program of higher learning
3)
Have not yet achieved a bachelor’s degree or final-year undergraduate
class status in a college or university or other institution of higher
learning, unless the Protégé Award winner is receiving a category
of the Award specifically open to graduate-degree students. [This requirement is suspended until further notice; graduate students are currently eligible to apply.]
4)
Have obtained a score placing them in at the 80th percentile
or above on a general exam used on a routine basis for selecting admission
to a recognized program of higher learning.
An
acceptable exam would include one of the following, along with other exams
of comparable reliability:
-
the
American College Test
-
the
Scholastic Aptitude Test
-
the
Graduate Record Examination
-
the
Medical College Aptitude Test
-
the
Law School Admissions Test
-
the
Graduate Management Admissions Test
-
the
Test of English as a Foreign Language
Scholarships for specialized
talents (e.g. music) or for need-based assistance may, by appropriate
Committee vote, be exempted from this requirement.
5) The
Protégé Award recipient and all other recipients of Quaqua financial
assistance should exemplify the following characteristics:
a) A
record of excellence in one’s area of interest
b) An
inquisitive mind and a record of self-initiated learning
c) Self-discipline
and a strong work ethic
d) A
creative mind capable of practical problem-solving and/or enlarging the
human soul or intellect
e) Social
competence and awareness to the degree necessary to work and communicate
with others in order to make a contribution to society, as defined by context,
although the style need not be conventional
f) A
potential and a desire to make a meaningful and unique contribution to society
g) A
respect for and a sense of individuality and an ability to retain distinctiveness
in mind, spirit, and action
h) Civic
awareness, responsibility, and understanding, including a familiarity with
basic issues relevant to alternative education (including private, parochial,
and home education), parental rights, and the United States Constitution
i) A
commitment to one’s family, and respect for one or more of the traditional
forms of the family institution as found in civilizations based
(according to self-assertion) upon Judeo-Christian scripture or Jewish scripture,
the Koran, the Confucian Code, Buddhist tradition, Hindu tradition, Sikh
tradition, Shinto tradition, Taoist tradition, traditional aboriginal and
tribal structures, and/or other traditions, qualifying within the parameters of the Quaqua Bylaws.
j) A
commitment
[3]
to respecting and preserving the legal rights and liberties of
all people with regard to their rights as adults to the following:
-
engage
in the free exercise of religion
-
enjoy
free expression, meaningful petitioning of the government, free association,
and a meaningful opportunity to vote for sovereign governmental representation
-
be
free of unreasonable government searches or seizures of property or
people
-
enjoy
family autonomy in their own homes and in their efforts to meaningfully
and reasonably defend their own custodial children from physical and
non-physical dangers
-
obtain
fair procedural processes for legal proceedings against them
-
be
free from core legal and economic badges and incidents of involuntary
servitude and/or the terrorism of unprincipled, arbitrary and
capricious public mayhem
k) A
grasp of basic skills necessary for functional adulthood and admission to
programs of advanced learning (including an ability to read, write, and
perform basic mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication
and division)
[4]
l) A willingness, in the event that the applicant is chosen to be
a recipient and subsequently progresses in life to have the means and ability
required, to contribute some of their time, money, and/or other resources
to building and promoting the Quaqua programs and operations so that future
applicants can be similarly assisted (except that applicants and recipients
of Quaqua's Financial Assistance Programs shall not, except where explicitly
agreed as part of separate written agreements not required for selection
of the Merit Awards and Talent Awards, be deemed to have any formal legal
or ethical or moral duty to contribute any time, money, or resources to
Quaqua at any time, save for appearances at meetings or public events which
shall not exceed five in number)
NOTE: Eligibility
requirements may, by sufficient vote of discretion by the appropriate
Quaqua officials as it is harmony with the general purposes outlined in the
Articles and By-Laws, be suspended or modified on a short-term or long-term
basis with respect to one or more applicants as individuals or as a group or
geographic region, to the extent required to achieve the intended objectives
of Quaqua and to:
1) conform with applicable local laws or constitute a geographically-limited eligibility
2) address
compelling problems caused by local customs, local conditions, or other considerations
3) prevent
or alleviate rare and compelling individual instances of unfairness or injustice,
and/or
4) protect
the well-being of Quaqua, its programs and operations
[1]
For detailed information regarding the definition of an impermissible tradition, please refer to the By-Laws, section 2.4.8., footnote 8.
[2]
A student's curriculum
may be formal or informal, structured or unstructured, accredited or non-accredited,
or include some participation in public school, private school, parochial,
or community education classes, particularly any which may be mandatorily
imposed by local law, so long as the predominant focus of the educational
track is clearly in a physical educational environment unaffiliated with
an institution other than the family (i.e., it is a home-educated student
attending some non-family institution classes which constitute 40% or less
of the total educational time and subject-matter for each week and year,
not a non-family institution student participating in very limited self-education).
[3]
This requirement
does not require an applicant to 1) acknowledge or endorse the legitimacy
or sovereignty of any international, multi-national, national and/or non-governmental
organization, 2) acknowledge the United States Constitution, however interpreted,
as containing the only or best alternative for viable principles of societal
governance, 3) pledge allegiance to the United States or any other sovereign, 4) renounce any specific flag, symbol, uniform, or general trappings
or themes of political or social or religious heritage, or 5) renounce any
historical or legal claim or assertion. Endorsement of the right to vote may be waived when the applicant
objects to the concept of voting for any person based upon personal religious or philosophical conviction.
Thus,
for example, a Jehovah’s Witness could receive Quaqua assistance without
pledging allegiance to a flag or endorsing the right to vote. As other examples, a person could not
be excluded for personal views concerning the Confederate Flag or symbols
of Islamic unity.
A
Quaqua participant may be an atheist, agnostic, secularist or pagan, and may
not suffer prejudice in Quaqua or its programs or operations as a result, so
long as they have done and commit they will not do anything publicly, with
or without use of Quaqua resources or imprimatur, to ridicule the personal
faith or organized religion of others or to derogate or further disenfranchise
the meaningful cultural and legal role of personal faith and organized religion
in the society of the United States.
It is not permissible, for example, to suggest that qualified persons
should be disallowed participation in public office simply because they
subscribe to a religious world view, or to suggest that a person cannot
work as a credible scientist and still harbor religious beliefs. Similarly, it is not permissible for a high-profile representative of Quaqua to personally advocate laws
or law enforcement practices which have the effect of further curtailing
in a relevant locale the ability of organized religious institutions to
maintain the integrity and distinctiveness of their own internal functions
and identity, to expand their membership in a civil and non-coercive manner,
or to communicate their image and ideas to the public (including the electorate
and governmental officials).
The personal views of Award recipients or Committee members regarding
the above matters shall not be imputed to Quaqua as part of its official set
of tenets.
[4]
This requirement
is defined in context and aspects may be waived by appropriate Committee
vote for outstanding individuals who are limited because of unique personal
challenges arising from imposing medical or economic or cultural constraints.
In a situation
where waiver must be considered, the Committee shall grant a request for
waiver for any eligibility or selection process or requirement only if it is possible to adequately safeguard against manipulation
of the applicant by guardians or others in ways designed to appropriate
Quaqua's resources or imprimatur to further inappropriate objectives.