Homeschooling critics, haven’t they learned anything?
23 04 2008EDIT 4/29/08 - If you clicked through from Greg Laden’s Lame Science Blog, be warned. I don’t suffer fools or Greg lightly. My entry below is in response to someone just like Greg, someone who doesn’t know anything about homeschooling, me, my children, or research. Want to know why (or how) I homeschool? Tough - it’s none of your fucking business. None. My children aren’t chattel - but they are MINE and as their parent, I chose their academic path - not you, not Jack Lessenberry, not Greg Laden, and not the government. But then again, I don’t expect followers of someone like Greg to be able to dissect something as simple as a blog entry (or understand how comment moderation works, or how to click on the about me tab)
HT to DawnThe “Essay” (and I use this term very loosely, since it’s a pure opinion piece with absolutely no credible documentary evidence)
Now honestly, I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks about homeschooling. I homeschooled my four children for reasons that made sense to ME, because they’re MY children, not the governments, not society’s, and not Jack’s. What I decided to teach them is my business, not the governments, not society’s, and not Jack’s. While I don’t necessarily agree that parents should isolate their children and school them in nothing but biblical history and caring for the home, I’ll reserve my angst as an opinion and fight for those parent’s right to teach exactly that.
It hasn’t hurt generations of Amish.
Anyway, I digress. I’m going to flame Jack’s stupid “essay” to make an analogy between his ignorance, and the ignorance he fears some homeschool children are being taught.
There’s a romantic tradition about home schooling. Those who support it like to rhapsodize that George Washington was home schooled, for example. Well, yes, he was.However, he also didn’t need to be computer-literate, owned slaves to do his heavy lifting for him, and died from a throat abscess that one shot of simple antibiotics probably could have cured today.
We live in an increasingly diverse society with an ever-more technologically complex civilization.
Actually, I like to romantically rhapsodize about technologically advanced homeschoolers like Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin, and Albert Einstein. In fact, without these men, Jack wouldn’t be blogging.
Considering that most parents today did not learn their computer skills via public school (Jack included), the example of being literate in this media has little to do with the format of schooling. What homeschool parent doesn’t own a computer? How many preschoolers already come to school computer literate? How many classrooms focus on technology and computer skills when they’re busy teaching to a test (NCLB)? How many underfunded school districts can AFFORD to give every student unlimited access to the kind of technology found in the average American home? (high speed Internet with no usage limit, satellite or cable TV access to literally hundreds of hours of educational programming, and the advantage of classroom size that averages 1:3 teacher to student ratio?)
Hillsdale College is about as conservative a liberal arts school as exists on the planet. But Hillsdale’s honors program director recently told the Detroit Free Press that the home schooled children he sees are typically badly deficient in science education.
That should be enough to tell you that something is wrong with this picture. Home schooling is a growing fad. If the national average holds for this state, as many as 68,000 Michigan kids may be being home schooled.
Actually, Jack doesn’t expound on his fear of a technological deficiency among homeschoolers, he moves right in for the kill about “science education” - by quoting a passing comment from one educrat, not by discussing actual statistics. I guess Jack isn’t aware that American PS students rank only less than average (17 out of 29) among westernized countries in science education. It’s not likely that even the most average of parent-teachers could do worse than that. On a national average, children in public schools do poorly on standardized tests when compared to homeschool students, ESPECIALLY in the subjects of math and science. Something is wrong with this picture, I agree. The author didn’t do any research.
How do those homeschool students stack up against the national average for science? Well, we homeschool parents hate to brag, but we cream the public school students. Jack should have read these articles:
Academic Statistics On Homeschoolers and Positive Homeschool Statistics
The part I find the most troubling about Jack’s science deficiency statement is this: science is a discipline based on evidence. Jack doesn’t provide any evidence that homeschool students are poorly prepared for college in the area of science except for a comment by a member of the board for a small liberal arts college. In fact, no evidence exists. There is no recognized research that provides statistics that say homeschoolers are deficient in any academic area when compared to public school students. None.
There is now a bill before the legislature that would require people home schooling their kids to report this fact to their local school system. Frankly, I thought that was required already.
It certainly should be. Yet the home schoolers are screaming that this would violate their rights.
That’s nuts. This bill is necessary, and they should know better. For one thing, if we don’t know who is home schooling their kids, how can we know who is teaching their kids at home – and who are simply letting their kids run wild?
“How can we know” - as if every homeschooling parent needs to check in with Jack. Is there some evidence that those 68K children are running wild OR not learning? Let’s check:
Michigan Homeschooling Statistics (as compared to those states with lots of regulations)
In 1990, the National Home Education Research Institute issued a report entitled “A Nationwide Study of Home Education: Family Characteristics, Legal Matters, and Student Achievement.” This was a study of over 2,163 homeschooling families.
The study found that the average scores of the homeschool students were at or above the 80th percentile in all categories. The homeschoolers’ national percentile mean was 84th for reading, 80th for language, 81st for math, 84th for science and 83rd for social studies.
The research revealed that there was no positive correlation between state regulation of homeschools and the home-schooled students’ performance. The study compared homeschoolers in three groups of states representing various levels of regulation. Group 1 represented the most restrictive states such as North Dakota; Group 2 represented slightly less restrictive states including California; and Group 3 represented unregulated states such as Texas and Michigan. The Institute concluded:
…no difference was found in the achievement scores of students between the three groups which represent various degrees of state regulation of home education…. It was found that students in all three regulation groups scored on the average at or above the 76th percentile in the three areas examined: total reading, total math, and total language. These findings in conjunction with others described in this section, do not support the idea that state regulation and compliance on the part of home education families assures successful student achievement.Furthermore, this same study demonstrated that only 13.9 percent of the mothers (who are the primary teachers) had ever been certified teachers. The study found that there was no difference in the students’ total reading, total math and total language scores based on the teacher certification status of their parents:
The findings of this study do not support the idea that parents need to be trained and certified teachers to assure successful academic achievement of their children.
Jack should be more concerned with public schooling in Michigan. The statistics aren’t too promising.
The rest of his essay was blah blah blah, parents shouldn’t teach because they aren’t qualified (see above), makes a ridiculous analogy between home doctoring and home schooling, the expected vent about socialization (Homeschool Research - Jack, the evidence shows that homeschoolers are actually BETTER socialized!), and how parents should be involved in the local schools. Jack doesn’t ask that parents with children in private schools make that commitment, yet their taxes support the infrastructure of public education too.
They should also get involved with their school. More and more, we are evolving into a place where two kids the same age have wildly different educational experiences.
I actually laughed out loud when I read this. Jack believes all children should have exactly the same life experience, which in no way mirrors real life. Truly, in an otherwise meaningless rant, this has to be the most ignorant statement of all.
Here’s my conclusion: Jack is pro public school and uninformed about modern homeschooling. In spite of this, he chooses to write an opinion piece about homeschooling, using the out of date notions that all homeschoolers are evangelical fundies, isolated from society AND academia. Jack has no business voicing this opinion, and even less business worrying about how other parents are raising their children.
Jack is what I like to call an “edutard”.
And he is free to check my spelling and grammar.
Mmmm. Thus the reason I love me a little Doc in the morning with my coffee.
[…] April 23rd, 2008 by COD Hey Jack, your ignorance is showing. […]
I think he’s clearly entered hidebound old fart territory. It’s sad to see that happen to someone.
Blowing hot air out your ass like that (Jack) happens sometimes. I’m okay with it so long as it remains amusing and members of society don’t embrace such foul air as a “truth”. I do hope a brick of reality will eventually slam into all those numbskulls heads.
Blowing hot air on a blog is one thing, but this guy has air time on public radio.
Well, at least he gave you something to blog about! Fantastic Grammar and spelling on your essay! Always a great read to be found here!
Hear, Hear. Thanks, Doc.
“edutard”. love it!
[…] of home education that would brings tears to the eye. If nothing else tears of laughter after Doc tears it apart piece by piece. With research and facts even. Oh will those diabolical home educating families never […]
Another fallacy is his belief that all public school children receive the same education. They don’t public schools vary widely from state to state and even from one school district to another. Great post Doc!!!!
Hey, great piece of writing. I couldn’t agree more. I live in Michigan, and I heard Jack’s “essay” on the radio. I literally felt like I had the wind knocked out of me. I was like, “Did he just say that?” I finally regained my composure and posted a comment on his blog, as did a number of other people whom he offended. Interestingly enough, he hasn’t addressed any of the criticism, instead, he pointed out a couple of spelling errors in one comment and said, “see, you proved my point about parents not being qualified to teach their own kids.”
I’m happy to see that people are responding to this from all over, and from all different walks of life. I AM one of those fundie wackos you mentioned, but Jack has managed to offend home educators of ALL stripes.
Great writing.
Nice rebuttal, Doc. Well done!
Great response. If I knew how to type a standing-O, I would.
I don’t think they have learned much. They all seem to retread the same old unsupported myths, almost point for point. It makes for amusingly ironic though repetitive reading, and for great counter-posts like yours. They always get resoundingly refuted in their own com boxes, too (the uninformed homeschool critics, that is).
You Rock, Doc. I can’t stand when ignorant people have public air time and spout the same old tired garbage. Excellent response to the edutard, too bad he probably wouldn’t be able to understand a well written, well supported arguement.
Can we just say poor Jack is limited in his thinking?
It’s not his fault, though. He went to public school (as I am sure most of us did) and is unable to think clearly.
It takes a lot of work to escape a lifetime of conditioning and belief in a system. Most people don’t seem able to do so.
I hope you posted your rebuttal on his blog.
“…this guy has air time on public radio.”
Aack! Please don’t tell me this was on KOPB!
Jack is an “edutard” and a control freak. He thinks we need a homogenized, sanitized society of children who learn and think the same predictable, safe, way. The thought of free thinkers in this society sends some people screaming into their caves!!
I loved the “kids run wild” part. Usually, we are accused of keeping our kids locked in a closet, never letting them be “socialized.” So this was a nice change of pace!
Good work, Doc.
Nance
Thanks for the link to the “edutard”. I usually don’t post comments to people who aren’t gonna be able to “get” it, but this time I couldn’t resist…
[…] Kicks Jack As[s] Representative Homeschool Critic 24 04 2008 “Homeschooling critics, haven’t they learned anything?”: I’m going to flame Jack’s stupid “essay” to make an analogy between his ignorance, and the […]
Hey Doc, just linked this feisty smackdown at Snook with a punny headline I bet you’ll appreciate (go see here) and since this does involve my beloved public radio, maybe adding this to the argument would help — not that anything will help Jack himself, of course, but other better educated and more thoughtful listeners and radio journalists, I mean.
Huzzah!
It is no great surprise that when Mr. Lessenberry perceives a problem, he calls for increased government regulation as the solution. At Hillsdale College, we refuse all federal and state government support, and annually produce hundreds of high-quality graduates, approximately ten percent of whom were homeschooled prior to matriculating.
The Detroit Free Press article (which Mr. Lessenberry calls “recent”) quoting our honors program director was published over six years ago. It substantively misrepresented his sentiments then, and today, two of this gentleman’s children are being home-schooled. Mr. Lessenberry doesn’t mention that the article also quoted this professor as saying that homeschoolers have “typically done a lot more in English and history than other students come in with. They tend to be better writers.”
Rather than relying on one anecdotal comment taken out of context over six years ago, I asked our admissions office to compare last year’s ACT science scores of homeschooled students with their conventionally-educated counterparts. The homeschoolers averaged in the 85th percentile on the science portion of the test, scoring one point below the average of all admitted students. Their scores in non-science areas were generally superior to the conventionally schooled students, and by a much greater margin than the alleged “deficiency” that Mr. Lessenberry suggests would warrant an enormous intrusion into the lives of homeschooling families.
All in all, our experience is that homeschooling is not only more cost effective but can produce results comparable to or better than private, parochial or public schools. For those interested in academic studies, there is a vast amount of literature available to the public supporting this conclusion.
Chris Bachelder
Associate Vice President
Hillsdale College
IN addition to all the great points you made, he suffers from that common malaise of misunderstanding averages. It seems that no matter how often you say “the attainment of this group is at least as good as that group”, someone will say, “but some kids are below average.” Duh. It is in the very nature of an average that some folks are below it and some are above it.
I have written a bit of a long piece myself about other crimes with statistics in education.
For the record, and for those who may not wade down far enough through the responses to Mr. Lessenberry’s blog to find my protest there, I as the Hillsdale Honors Program Director for the past five years resent Mr. Lessenberry’s use of my college’s name, the program I direct, and the position I occupy to demean homeschooling students whom in fact I hold in high respect among the students I teach. The quotation by one of my predecessors (who currently home-schools two of his own children) to which Mr Lessenberry referred was pulled from the Detroit Free Press six years ago, was truncated by Mr Lessenberry to make a point quite different from its original intent, and was inaccurately called “recent” in his blog article and broadcast, as if to imply that I might be the source of such a demeaning opinion. If the degree of fact-checking and honesty that supports this misleading and prejudicial claim is representative of the rest of Mr. Lessenberry’s article, there would be little reason to credit any of his arguments with reliability. Hillsdale College as a whole, and its Honors Program in particular, welcomes home schooled students and values their readiness for its rigorous education in the liberal arts.
/Professor Donald Westblade
Director, Hillsdale College Honors Program
[…] Doc’s Sunrise Rants, I found Jack Lessenberry’s essay on Homeschooling. She does a rather good job of refuting […]
Very well stated Doc. Apparently the education (with qualified teachers) he is so proud of touting neglected to teach him how to properly research a topic and how to write up his findings with any degree of honesty or accuracy. Keep up the good work!
~P
Here through Dawn (Day by Day Homeschooling)
“. . . the same life experience, which in no way mirrors real life.” Exactly. I do not want my children to become sheeple.
Excellent rebuttal.
Um, I agree with everything, except the bit where you said that he couldn’t voice his opinion. I’m going to have to check the Constitution on that one. But everything you have said is right. I am doing a debate on why homeschooling owns right now. I have found great results in HSDLA.
1. I didn’t say he “couldn’t”, I said he had no business doing so.
2. What you’re looking for is in the Bill of Rights. The 1st Amendment protects my right to opinion that Jack is a moron and has no business commenting on homeschooling when he plainly has no factual knowledge of the procedure.
3. In light of your obvious youth and poor reading comprehension skills, please mature a bit if you plan to continue commenting here. I delete comments with great regularity.
4. HSLDA is a piece of shit organization that is less about homeschooling than it is about conservative agenda. I only linked to their statistics because it was easy and I’m basically lazy.
Actually, to get technical, he wouldn’t be blogging if it weren’t for Ada Byron. But she was homeschooled, too.