Perhaps I was wrong. Just a few weeks ago, right after the presidential inauguration, one of my wife’s close friends, another parent in our homeschooling co-op, expressed her fear that homeschooling is likely to come under greater scrutiny with the new administration. I shook my head in dissent. Sure, I acknowledged, there are some, particularly on the Left, who are suspicious and critical of homeschooling. But ours is a strong movement with political clout, I assured her, with millions of American kids currently being taught at home. It would be foolish, and unnecessarily provocative, to target homeschoolers right now.
Then, earlier this month lawyer and prominent author Jill Filipovic — whose articles have appeared in the Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Guardian, among others — launched a polemical frontal assault on what she terms “pro-life, pro-family homeschooling advocates.” These “right-wingers,” to quote Ms. Filipovic, undermine “children’s basic safety and right to an education.” She accuses conservative homeschooling parents — many of whom, she asserts, lack the necessary credentials and training to teach properly — of willfully keeping their children ignorant, as well as shielding their youth from ideas that might threaten their religious beliefs. She even implicitly claims that homeschooling parents are racists.
Granted, even though Ms. Filipovic’s writing is influential — she has won several awards and written a couple of widely-acclaimed books — her opinion on homeschooling is still a minority one. Indeed, a 2020 poll found that a not-insignificant percentage of parents are likely to homeschool even after the COVID-19-related lockdowns come to an end. And while parent satisfaction with the quality of their children’s education significantly declined in 2020, the percentage of K-12 parents who homeschool doubled, according to a Gallup poll.
Nevertheless, those familiar with the “Overton Window” know that the more such arguments are made in the public square, especially by those with cultural clout, the more frequently will there be calls to regulate and curtail homeschooling. Indeed, Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Bartholet was already pushing that window further open last year by making claims similar to those of Filipovic. The more academia criticizes homeschooling, the more the legacy media will report on those critiques, and the more everyday Americans will be inclined to be suspicious of it, for the kinds of reasons Filipovic and Bartholet provide….
The above comes from a Feb. 23 story in Crisis magazine.
A military aircraft is at most risk during “ascent phase”, after it’s left the ground and before it’s reached operational altitude and speed, Home-schooling was safe when its numbers were low because it was no threat to the state school leadership and should its numbers cross (say) 10%, its political clout will make it hard to attack. That’s why the Left is worried now, although I think the current pandemic will make it difficult to do anything about you – especially with the state schools closed. The expansion of home education to unassailable proportions may be God pulling good out of the present evils.
I dunno. The reality is that most kids have been home-schooled in one way or another for the past year, showing great sacrifice on the part of parents. What I can’t quite get my head around is that as far as I know the more conservative among us have been favoring home-schooling for years, but have been the loudest at insisting that schools re-open completely 100% capacity 100% of the time.
I’m certainly not an expert on childhood education, and I have no kids of my own, so it’s difficult for me to weigh these things. Either mixing with other kids is part of growing up, or a specialized isolated education is great for kids. Maybe it depends on the kid? Maybe it depends on the abilities of the parents?
YFC, thanks for the balanced, thought-provoking observations. I agree that what’s best for kids should not be determined on an either/or basis; as you suggest, it depends on the skill set/personality of the individual child and the individual parent. What I would add is this: so-called education “experts” can and should offer guidance. But that guidance should not be imposed upon parents on an across the board basis. Parents should be always remain the ultimate arbiters of what’s best for their children.
Thank you for your kind words. Let’s hope the vaccinations happen quickly so we don’t have to face these difficult choices!
What a laugh! The biggest indoctrinators there are are public school teachers. From gays to transgender ideology to critical race theory, every unscientific woke belief is taught with the fervor of the most ardent religious zealot. Their zealotry is so intense that they inject wokeness into math and have even begun asserting that insisting there is a correct answer in math is racist because certainty is a trait of white culture. We’re heading down the road to perdition and social suicide, courtesy of the Democrat Party.
Defund the public indoctrination mills
Leftists have lots of options: they’re free to send their kids to government schools, private schools (most of which are left leaning) or home school their own children.
Since they claim to be “pro-choice,” why not let each family choose which type of education is best for its children and have others help pay for it?
They demand that we all pay for abortion choice, so why not for school choice? They’re all about education and health care.
If parents could choose, public schools would improve in order to keep students.
Black families are statistically most supportive of school choice because their children are often trapped in substandard schools.
Let’s be “pro-choice” in education!
And, some other things as well.
The truth is they are not pro-choice, but my way or …
Just look at Planned Parenthood. No teaching chastity or promoting adoptions or birth. There is only one choice at PP and it’s abortion and giving you more faulty birth control, so you’ll be back.
I was, was, a public school teacher for many years. I am not opposed to homeschooling. Many parents do it well and their kids come out of the experience pretty well. I am, however, not a fan of homeschooling for several reasons, none of which have to do with the teacher’s union or faith issues. I had credentials to teach high school. There is no way I could have taught my children AP science, math, or engineering. English and social studies, yes, but not all the other subjects. So, I worry about the kids who don’t have well-educated parents who homeschool out of love for their kids, and a desire to protect them from public school biases. There are a lot of anecdotal stories of homeschooled kids going to Harvard, UCLA, Berkeley, Stanford, and other great schools. But, homeschooling should be approached carefully. Not all children are meant for that program.
Anonymous, don’t worry, homeschooling parents always buy curriculum packages with excellent standards, from accredited sources, often far better than the local public or private schools. These families are very close-knit, and very supportive of their children! They also are usually part of a larger group of homeschooling families, in which parents contribute their skills and expertise in teaching certain subjects, or else obtain the desired teachers and materials, in cooperation with area schools, for the one or two subject areas needed. Sometimes extracurricular courses and activities are also arranged, in subjects like sports, art, foreign languages, or music, for their children to participate in. Also, they enroll their children in various local activities, such as Ballet, swimming, martial arts, children’s drama productions, or even Scouting. Homeschooling families following a particular curriculum package, also get together for big regional convocations, where ideas and information are presented and exchanged. A child always has an optimal learning experience, when his or her mom and dad are involved, and help with their overall personal academic needs and development, aided by the curriculum company and parental group of homeschoolers, and local resources sought. Individualized instruction is a dream! Also, these parents are often faith-based, ensuring that their children socialize with and are involved with others of excellent religious and moral standards, shielding their children from the many evils and dangers of today’s world. There are many fine accredited homeschooling educational packages today, from excellent, orthodox Catholic companies. Most of these children, with very supportive families and circles of like-minded families and friends, turn out very well, with very successful futures.
Reason why we homeschool. From a study in 2012:
A concern about the school environment 91%
A desire to provide religious instruction 64%
A desire to provide moral instruction 77%
A dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools 74%
Provide a nontraditional approach to education 44%
Child has special needs 16%
Child has a physical or mental health problem 15%
Other reasons 37%
When I homeschooled, i knew other Catholic homeschoolers, other Christian homeschoolers, homeschoolers with non-traditional religions and homeschoolers with no religion.
Homeschooling may be fine. Perhaps the best thing to do is get back to the three Rs Readin, Ritin, and Rithmetic. then required tests every three grades — third, sixth and ninth to show basic competency appropriate to that grade level.
The woke will never agree to that because test results will show an inequitable distribution of learning. The fact that the “Amish” don’t score as well on tests as the “non-Amish” means the tests are racist. Learning outcomes have been dumbed down so that the “Amish” won’t have inferior scores to the “non-Amish”.
I know of homeschooling families in which parents have Master’s degrees or even Ph.D.’s in subjects such as English, literature, history, music, foreign languages, math, science, etc. These parents enjoy sharing and contributing their knowledge and skills in the homeschooling community. In big regional convocations of homeschooling families, experts from curriculum programs, as well as experts in various fields, and experienced homeschooling parents, present and exchange ideas and resources for teaching various subjects. I know of a younger evangelical Protestant couple, the husband has a good job in a local government dept., and his wife is a talented artist-in-residernce (music) at a fine university. They live out in a rural area, and have various kinds of animals as pets. They are very active in their church, and their children were homeschooled. Their oldest daughter is very smart, and always wanted to be a vet when she grew up. So, arrangements were made, for her to gain some skilks in working with animals, and to prepare for college pre-vet studies. Another homeschooling Eastern Orthodox family I know, has a talented son who sings in a fine boychoir. His mom has a Ph.D. in Math, and his dad, from an Eastern European country, has a Master’s degree in a scientific field. For a long-time, there have been fine groups (several generations, now) of orthodox Catholic homeschooling families, at both St. Margaret Mary’s Church in Oakland, and at Our Lady of Peace in Santa Clara. It doesn’t matter what your children’s talents and interests might be, or your own education– or lack of it. A parent who wants to homeschool, can always get lots of resources and help, to educate their children, who each will have different academic abilities, interests and talents!
There are also online resources.
The best defense is a good offense! It’s time to put full pressure on state legislatures to tie local and federal school tax money to EACH child in the education systems and allow those funds to migrate with the child. Sounds like a big fight but that is what is required. The system is bloated and Union / special interest driven. Being nice and hanging back hoping that the monster will not eatYOUR CHILD is not an option any longer.
Voucher Schools: The final frontier.