The Risks of Homeschooling

[txradioguy]

A RAPIDLY INCREASING number of American families are opting out of sending their children to school, choosing instead to educate them at home. Homeschooled kids now account for roughly 3 percent to 4 percent of school-age children in the United States, a number equivalent to those attending charter schools, and larger than the number currently in parochial schools.

Yet Elizabeth Bartholet, Wasserstein public interest professor of law and faculty director of the Law School’s Child Advocacy Program, sees risks for children—and society—in homeschooling, and recommends a presumptive ban on the practice. Homeschooling, she says, not only violates children’s right to a “meaningful education” and their right to be protected from potential child abuse, but may keep them from contributing positively to a democratic society.

“We have an essentially unregulated regime in the area of homeschooling,” Bartholet asserts. All 50 states have laws that make education compulsory, and state constitutions ensure a right to education, “but if you look at the legal regime governing homeschooling, there are very few requirements that parents do anything.” Even apparent requirements such as submitting curricula, or providing evidence that teaching and learning are taking place, she says, aren’t necessarily enforced. Only about a dozen states have rules about the level of education needed by parents who homeschool, she adds. “That means, effectively, that people can homeschool who’ve never gone to school themselves, who don’t read or write themselves.” In another handful of states, parents are not required to register their children as homeschooled; they can simply keep their kids at home.

This practice, Bartholet says, can isolate children. She argues that one benefit of sending children to school at age four or five is that teachers are “mandated reporters,” required to alert authorities to evidence of child abuse or neglect. “Teachers and other school personnel constitute the largest percentage of people who report to Child Protective Services,” she explains, whereas not one of the 50 states requires that homeschooling parents be checked for prior reports of child abuse. Even those convicted of child abuse, she adds, could “still just decide, ‘I’m going to take my kids out of school and keep them at home.’”


https://harvardmagazine.com/2020/05/right-now-risks-homeschooling

[PeteS in CA]

Homeschooling, she says, not only violates children’s right to a “meaningful education” (1) and their right to be protected from potential child abuse (2), but may keep them from contributing positively to a democratic society (3).

 (1) What a load of male bovine excrement. Homeschoolers have been excelling academically for decades. And Elizabeth Bartholet tacitly assumes public schools are doing well, which is -worthy. If she wanted to learn actual facts about homeschoolers, she might start with Dr. Brian Ray's https://www.nheri.org . He's been doing research and testifying in court as an expert witness for decades.

 (2) What a load of male bovine excrement. Teachers and educrats are not the only mandatory reporters of child abuse in the US. Doctors and nurses are as well. Many clergy readily report possible abuse, voluntarily. And there are neighbors, extended family, friends ...

 (3) What a load of male bovine excrement. Young adults who were homeschooled are all over society, in all kinds of career fields. One of my three homeschooled K-12 children is a preschool teacher. Another of my homeschooled K-12 children has a business degree from our local state university and is working in the software industry (much of the time using skills he started to develop when he was in high school, self-taught). And the third, also homeschooled K-12, is currently studying Chinese Language and Culture, in China, in Mandarin. Among them they have spent significant time in at least a dozen countries (not counting the US). One of them earned Eagle Scout rank, learned drums well enough to play in our church's worship team, advanced several belts in Karate, and became an assistant manager at a fast food place, all while in high school.

[goatprairie]

My mother could not homeschool me and my five siblings. She was smart, but just not able to homeschool five children. Cook, clean, shop, and then have to home school five kids? No way.
Looking back on my grade and high school education, I was usually daydreaming  through grades 1-12. The only thing I really liked about school outside recess was the library. I read quite a few books in the school library.
I don't know how many mothers are able to home school their children. Many women work outside the home now.
However, if some families are able, I'm not against it.
I just doubt the majority of families will not be able to home school their children for a number of reasons.
More power to them if they can.

[mortarman]

They kinda ferget that Abraham Lincoln was home schooled.

 

[Smokin Joe]

They kinda ferget that Abraham Lincoln was home schooled.

 

No, they didn't. Abe was a Republican, and they want little socialist one-world Democrats.

You can't have peer-pressure groupthink without the group.

[txradioguy]

No, they didn't. Abe was a Republican, and they want little socialist one-world Democrats.

You can't have peer-pressure groupthink without the group.

God forbid parents want their kids to actually get an education as opposed to an indoctrination.

The premise of that stupid article is the only people qualified to educate our kids are teachers...that’s crap.  Their mindset is if the schools are closed...kids shouldn’t crack a book without the guiding had of a “qualified” teacher there telling them what to do.  It’s nuts.

[Smokin Joe]

God forbid parents want their kids to actually get an education as opposed to an indoctrination.

The premise of that stupid article is the only people qualified to educate our kids are teachers...that’s crap.  Their mindset is if the schools are closed...kids shouldn’t crack a book without the guiding had of a “qualified” teacher there telling them what to do.  It’s nuts.

I was blessed. We had a library at home, Britannica on the shelves, unabridged dictionary, and walls of books. About the only thing I couldn't learn much bout there was geology, and when I got to college, that's the direction I went in. But medicine, biology, ecology, law, history, English literature, Archaeology, math, and ballistics, were all available to pull down on a rainy day, with a ton of decent fiction ("junk reading"). We could read before we went to school and started with first grade (no Kindergarten). Plus we learned to handle small craft, a canoe, swim, hunt, fish, use most tools, and no small amount of woodcraft. School? Yes, we went, but that was only a part of my education.

[mortarman]

Not only do they have their grannie panties wadded up in a bunch over the fact that they can't indoctrinate homeschooled kids, the Dis-Loyal Opposition is afraid that they won't be able to collect the kickbacks from the teacher's unions. That cuts into their campaign funding by a large margin.

 

[txradioguy]

Not only do they have their grannie panties wadded up in a bunch over the fact that they can't indoctrinate homeschooled kids, the Dis-Loyal Opposition is afraid that they won't be able to collect the kickbacks from the teacher's unions. That cuts into their campaign funding by a large margin.

 

I have friends that are teachers back in Texas. They get pick up extra money in their paychecks staying after school a certain number of nights a week tutoring kids in their respective field and running Saturday school for those that can't seem to get their grades (or their attitude) above an F. 

I imagine that plays into the resentment of the current home schooling phenomenon going on right now as well.

And you're right, whatever the school district normally gets per child from the Feds every day isn't flowing into the coffers either...which means union donations are down as well.

[txradioguy]

I was blessed. We had a library at home, Britannica on the shelves, unabridged dictionary, and walls of books. About the only thing I couldn't learn much bout there was geology, and when I got to college, that's the direction I went in. But medicine, biology, ecology, law, history, English literature, Archaeology, math, and ballistics, were all available to pull down on a rainy day, with a ton of decent fiction ("junk reading"). We could read before we went to school and started with first grade (no Kindergarten). Plus we learned to handle small craft, a canoe, swim, hunt, fish, use most tools, and no small amount of woodcraft. School? Yes, we went, but that was only a part of my education.

I can't tell you how many hours I spent going through my parents encyclopedia set reading all I could about aircraft and the U.S. Air Force and the military in general.  Reading historical entries about famous people and world leaders.

The arrogant failing of most teachers today is not realizing that what they contribute to a person's "education" is a fraction of what that person needs to learn to be successful in life.

[Gefn]

My fiancé /best friend and I did discuss having children at one time. We both agreed that I would home school because we both had miserable experiences from junior high on. We were both told by our teachers we were dumb and over achievers. It wasn’t until I went to college that I was told I’m smart, but I also qualified for Mensa. As for him, he was really smart and well read, but hated school.

The only problem we had is I said there were some things I couldn’t teach, so besides Sunday School, the children would go to outside classes just for a bit of socializing. And he was a musician so that was on him.

Now I’m sad we didn’t have one, but I’d have a ten or eleven year old underfoot. I couldn’t handle it now. If I was 10 years younger it would be ok.

[libertybele]

Risks of homeschooling?  What a bunch of b.s.

I know two families that have homeschooled their children, one with a family of four and another, a single child.  The family of four homeschooled children, produced a college professor, medical specialist, veterinary assistant and a member of the clergy.  The single child went on to be head of a land surveying company.  So ... where was the harm?

When we moved to FL I wanted to home school as I wasn't all that sold on the public school system in FL -- but you had to jump through hoops to get materials, testing, etc., and talked to other parents that were having difficulty with the state. My aunt and uncle who were teachers encouraged sending them to school as they claimed they needed the "socialization". So on to public school they went. They did fine in elementary school; both always making the honor roll and receiving achievement awards.. My son was awarded the Presidential Citation of Academic Achievement. They went on to middle school and that's when problems began to surface; my son was put in the "gifted" classes which were nothing more than classes where they played math and science games, and basically it seemed to us he was being held back from further learning.  We decided to pull both children out of the public school system and put them into private school; costly, but worth it.  In order to "place" them in the private school they had to be tested.  Both of them tested behind and spent the summer in private school classes in order to catch up.  We kept them in the private school till college.

If I had to do it over, I wish I had been more diligent and fought the system to be able to home school them.  I am glad that home schooling right now is mandatory. Socialization?  So that they can interact with all the illegals now around here?  So that they can learn bad habits from children's who parents don't care?  So that they can be indoctrinated with liberal ways? No. 

Homeschooling though isn't what it was years ago; right now every child is issued an ipad to connect to their teacher.  They're just sitting at home rather than in a classroom setting.

[EdinVA]

Amazing.... There appears to be a universal opinion that the public education system is a failure but we refuse to fix it.

Instead, we have decided to create 2 or 3 NEW/Additional (homeschooling and charter schools) systems to compensate.... Very wise used of limited resources...

[goatprairie]

Amazing.... There appears to be a universal opinion that the public education system is a failure but we refuse to fix it.

Instead, we have decided to create 2 or 3 NEW/Additional (homeschooling and charter schools) systems to compensate.... Very wise used of limited resources...

One PDK poll from last year had 76% of parents give the public schools their children went to an A or B grade. That doesn't look like a lot of them view public schools as failures.

[DB]

I can't tell you how many hours I spent going through my parents encyclopedia set reading all I could about aircraft and the U.S. Air Force and the military in general.  Reading historical entries about famous people and world leaders.

The arrogant failing of most teachers today is not realizing that what they contribute to a person's "education" is a fraction of what that person needs to learn to be successful in life.

For me it was books about electronics... Primarily vacuum tube based... I was building tube radios and transmitters by the time I was 11 or 12...

[goatprairie]

I can't tell you how many hours I spent going through my parents encyclopedia set reading all I could about aircraft and the U.S. Air Force and the military in general.  Reading historical entries about famous people and world leaders.

The arrogant failing of most teachers today is not realizing that what they contribute to a person's "education" is a fraction of what that person needs to learn to be successful in life.

I went through the WB encyclopedia cover to cover and read a lot of books in my grade school and high school libraries. Read all my parent's mags as well.  Except for my mother's women's mags.
You're correct....a person can learn a tremendous amount of stuff outside school.
Except my parents didn't have the time or the interest in teaching us, their children, much of anything.
My father's attitude towards things was "nobody showed him anything....why should he do that for us, his children?"
Schools do have their purpose. Half of parents I believe neither have the time nor the ability to teach much of anything.
That's why we have schools.
Our nation's public schools should be eradicated of leftism. But I don't believe they should be abolished.

[PeteS in CA]

Some Twitter posts about the Harvard magazine cover:



By my count, an Oops! and two stereotypes - one demonstrating the author's ignorance, one ludicrous.

Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ... Arithmetic ...

Near what I think was the height of homescooling-for-religious-reasons, the mid-late 90s, Michael Farris of Home School Legal Defense Association estimated that ~7/8 of homeschoolers were doing so "for religious reasons". That phrase included Jews, Muslims, etc., all of whom HSLDA had opportunity to defend or contribute Amicus briefs at one time or other. I think the percentage of secular (= religion not a significant consideration) homeschoolers is higher now, probably in the 65%-75% range. So having the Bible as one of the books forming the homeschoolers' house is an exaggeration/stereotype that demonstrates the author is ignorant of the viewpoint diversity among homeschoolers.

The ludicrous stereotype, however is that of the homeschooled kid trapped inside the house while "normal" kids were playing outside. Reality Part 1, classroom-schooled kids get morning recess, lunchtime, and afternoon recess, with the rest of their school time inside their classrooms. Reality Part 2, and a bit more to the point .... well every area is different, and what homeschooling parents do is different. For our family here in Silicon Valley, we had so many out-of-the-home activities available that we had to limit those activities. We had multiple sports leagues (for homeschooled kids), support group park days, support group organized and individual family field trips, a homeschool choir, art and journalism classes, and a regionally/nationally competitive debate club. Just off the top of my head. That is in addition to community activities such as Little League, soccer leagues, Boy and Girl Scouts (my son earned Eagle rank in a troop that included but was not homeshoolers only), etc..

[240B]

SarahPalin.com
By Lawrence Richard
April 20, 2020

A Harvard Law School professor wants the government to put a ban on homeschooling as she claims it produces racism, sexism, and isolationism.

Prof. Elizabeth Bartholet, who serves as the director of Harvard Law School’s child advocacy legal clinic, argued in a post for the Harvard Magazine that “many” homeschool programs taught lessons antithetical to American democracy.

From the Daily Wire:

(more)
https://www.sarahpalin.com/2020/04/20/harvard-professor-wants-ban-homeschooling-says-promotes-racism-sexism/?fbclid=IwAR2QaFAVNXtJ7w5L7-pFBQajFeWSceWzd27FsQQr78PbWG7KTy-ed52Ydrw

[Free Vulcan]

Poor Statists, they just can't yell 'heretic' and 'apostate' in the age of separation of Church and State, so it's 'racist' and 'sexist'.

Gotta keep people from leaving the cult somehow.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Thank goodness the author's job was protected by $9 million from PPP /sarc

increased Homeschooling is a fantastic silver-lining to the dark cloud of COVID-19

[Smokin Joe]

Thank goodness the author's job was protected by $9 million from PPP /sarc

increased Homeschooling is a fantastic silver-lining to the dark cloud of COVID-19

[240B]

Prof. Elizabeth Bartholet, who serves as the director of Harvard Law School’s child advocacy legal clinic, argued in a post for the Harvard Magazine that “many” homeschool programs taught lessons antithetical to American democracy.

What that statement translates to, is that the Liberals and the State cannot 'control' what the children are being taught.
"Antithetical to American democracy" in her mind equates to, not being indoctrinated with radical Socialist Leftism.

[PeteS in CA]

A Harvard Law School professor wants the government to put a ban on homeschooling as she claims it produces racism ...

I wonder how many homeschoolers this prof knows. I mentioned above that our family homeschooled our kids "K-12" and implied that we were involved in local support groups. Well, we were "worse" that that, from this prof's perspective. We formed a support group in our part of San Jose that in four years grew to over 100 families. In the fourth year we had to subdivide the group into home groups because large group meetings are not conducive to people getting individual support. A year or two later some other Silicon Valley support groups affiliated with our group, so their organizational overhead would be reduced.

Between this large support group, the homeschool choir that ebbed and flowed through the years between 20 and 100 students, a homeschool sports league with 200-300 children, a bowling league we organized of 15-20 members, and (pant, pant, pant) volunteering at statewide and regional homeschoolers' conventions, we were probably acquainted with 1000-1500 homeschooling families and saw many more at conventions. Ethnic diversity was reality and welcome at all levels from the small bowling league to the 5000-attendees statewide convention.

What's pathetic is that this Harvard professor is parroting the same ignorant twaddle thrown at the homeschooling community when we started homeschooling our family in the late 1980s. Some recycling is great or OK, but recycled ignorant bigotry did not improve with age.

[PeteS in CA]

Thank goodness the author's job was protected by $9 million from PPP /sarc

increased Homeschooling is a fantastic silver-lining to the dark cloud of COVID-19

That may be a quarter step farther than what will happen over the next couple of years, not that I'd mind being proven wrong. What I think this prof fears are: homeschooling will seem to many, less weird; some parents will realize that while they would not be able to handle a class of 20-40 students they have known for just a few weeks or months, they know their own children well and are well able to instruct them; some parents will realize that one-on-one instruction tailored to their children's abilities and learning style does more/better than one-size-fits-all herd instruction with occasional individual interaction.

My thinking (which with $10 will get you a venti latte and change at Starchucks) is that:

* Homeschooling will generally be less viewed as mysterious and weird;

* Many parents who were thinking of homeschooling and wondering if they could do it will decide to do it; I don't this these folks are numerous;

* Really good public and private classroom teachers will see an increase in respect from students' parents;

* Some/many parents will want to be more involved in their children's schools in ways kingdom-builder-inclined educrats will find uncomfortable (but educrats and teachers whose focus in educating students will appreciate).

[Smokin Joe]

I wonder how many homeschoolers this prof knows. I mentioned above that our family homeschooled our kids "K-12" and implied that we were involved in local support groups. Well, we were "worse" that that, from this prof's perspective. We formed a support group in our part of San Jose that in four years grew to over 100 families. In the fourth year we had to subdivide the group into home groups because large group meetings are not conducive to people getting individual support. A year or two later some other Silicon Valley support groups affiliated with our group, so their organizational overhead would be reduced.

Between this large support group, the homeschool choir that ebbed and flowed through the years between 20 and 100 students, a homeschool sports league with 200-300 children, a bowling league we organized of 15-20 members, and (pant, pant, pant) volunteering at statewide and regional homeschoolers' conventions, we were probably acquainted with 1000-1500 homeschooling families and saw many more at conventions. Ethnic diversity was reality and welcome at all levels from the small bowling league to the 5000-attendees statewide convention.

What's pathetic is that this Harvard professor is parroting the same ignorant twaddle thrown at the homeschooling community when we started homeschooling our family in the late 1980s. Some recycling is great or OK, but recycled ignorant bigotry did not improve with age.

Recycled ignorant bigotry becomes Dogma.