Here’s How We Know The Flunking Education Establishment Is Scared

[Kamaji]

Here’s How We Know The Flunking Education Establishment Is Scared

Though attacks against homeschooling and classical education will intensify in the coming years, these education alternatives will keep growing.

BY: CASEY CHALK
JUNE 20, 2023

The entrenched educational powers are scared. We cannot draw any other conclusion from the egregious, full-court press against homeschooling and classical education from corporate media and national public school organizations. 

Yet as much as the increasing number of bitter hit pieces and “reports” unfairly malign and misrepresent both homeschoolers and classical schools, the phenomenon also evinces something hopeful. The overtaking of American public education by racial and sexual ideologues has tremendously backfired. For those parents who have sought more say over their children’s education, the message is clear: We’re winning.

An Aggressive Campaign
Corporate media and various pro-public education organizations have for some time been increasing their rhetoric against homeschooling and classical education. Conservative media, including The Federalist, have recently documented The Washington Post’s smear campaign against homeschooling, which not so subtly hinted that homeschooling parents engage in child abuse. 

“There is little to no regulation of home schooling in much of the country, with no guarantees that kids are learning skills and subjects to prepare them for adulthood — or, for that matter, learning anything at all,” the paper ominously warned in its first of several long pieces on home-schooling.

But The Washington Post’s reporting is just the tip of the iceberg. Salon ran a story on June 10 warning that the deregulation of homeschooling will damage an entire generation of children. “Children in homeschooling environments are uniquely vulnerable to isolation, abuse and humiliation at the hands of their caregivers,” the author claimed, with no actual hard evidence. 

*  *  *

A Threat to the Education Complex
It is unsurprising that the education-industrial complex would set its sights on homeschooling and classical education. Since the beginning of the 2019 school year, homeschooling enrollment in the United States has increased by an estimated 30 percent. Public schools across the nation have lost about 1.2 million students since 2020. In my home state of Virginia, homeschoolers now account for almost 60,000 students, which makes homeschooling the fifth largest school district in the commonwealth, as homeschooling advocate Derrick A. Max recently observed. 

There has been a similar spike for classical education: Since 2016, the number of classical and conservative charter schools has grown by 90 percent. The Classical Learning Test, or CLT, created by my friend Jeremey Tate, has become a popular replacement for the SAT and ACT. 

Commensurate with this shift has been a willingness from state governments to support these alternative education models. As of March, at least 12 states have laws on the books that provide funding for home-education expenses, and several others are considering legislation. 

Naturally, this engenders fear among public educators. Between 2020 and 2021, state funding for higher education declined in 37 states by an average of 6 percent, according to the National Education Association, America’s largest union.

*  *  *

Source:  https://thefederalist.com/2023/06/20/heres-how-we-know-the-flunking-education-establishment-is-scared/

[PeteS in CA]

In real life, the number of parents who "homeschool" to conceal abuse is miniscule. Impinging on the rights of the vast majority to, hypothetically, detect the very few abusers is irrational. Further, anyone who believes PSs would be a broadly effective detector of abuse hasn't been paying attention.

In real life, homeschooling is such a lifestyle change and serious work that, but for the very very few abusers, the parents making that choice deeply love their children and care about their children's education. Also in real life, while there certainly are teachers and educrats who care about students and their education, it is also true that just one or two abusers or incompetents can severely danage a child's education or even their desire to learn It is foolish to pretend public schools are some sort of standard of excellence.

In real life, it is ludicrously stupid to claim that homeschooling parents isolate their children (other than the usual very very few abusers, of course). In real life, homeschooling families attend churches that have Sunday Schools and youth groups. In real life, homeschooled kids participate in Scouting type troops, 4H, orchestras, choirs, sports leagues, and other community (homeschoolers and city-wide) groups. In real life, homeschoolers organize and participate in support groups, co-ops, field trips, park days, etc..

As for imposing burdensome regulations: 1.) Physician heal thyself. Fix the schools for which government is responsible. 2.) Answer why universities such a Stanford recruit homeschool graduates. Answer why, as a group, homeschooled students have for several decades done as or better than PS students in the the SAT and ACT.

[Kamaji]

In real life, the number of parents who "homeschool" to conceal abuse is miniscule. Impinging on the rights of the vast majority to, hypothetically, detect the very few abusers is irrational. Further, anyone who believes PSs would be a broadly effective detector of abuse hasn't been paying attention.

In real life, homeschooling is such a lifestyle change and serious work that, but for the very very few abusers, the parents making that choice deeply love their children and care about their children's education. Also in real life, while there certainly are teachers and educrats who care about students and their education, it is also true that just one or two abusers or incompetents can severely danage a child's education or even their desire to learn It is foolish to pretend public schools are some sort of standard of excellence.

In real life, it is ludicrously stupid to claim that homeschooling parents isolate their children (other than the usual very very few abusers, of course). In real life, homeschooling families attend churches that have Sunday Schools and youth groups. In real life, homeschooled kids participate in Scouting type troops, 4H, orchestras, choirs, sports leagues, and other community (homeschoolers and city-wide) groups. In real life, homeschoolers organize and participate in support groups, co-ops, field trips, park days, etc..

As for imposing burdensome regulations: 1.) Physician heal thyself. Fix the schools for which government is responsible. 2.) Answer why universities such a Stanford recruit homeschool graduates. Answer why, as a group, homeschooled students have for several decades done as or better than PS students in the the SAT and ACT.