Motoko Rich is my favorite education reporter. She never disappoints. Her latest article, “Home Schooling: More Pupils, Less Regulation,” is solid as usual.
Though I don’t think about home schooling too often, it’s still a topic in education that gets me going. There are some cases where home schooling is probably the best move. But it’s not often, in my opinion.
From Ms. Rich’s reporting, I can infer that home schooling, for the most part, is (1) loosely regulated, and becoming less so, (2) becoming more popular with the ascent of the Common Core, (3) a Christian parents’ response to the dangerous anti-religious teachings of public schools, (4) a white parents’ response to sending their children to schools with too many kids of color. (To be fair, Ms. Rich does not discuss race directly in her article.)
Please read the article — particularly the Minecraft anecdote! — and let me know what you think, particularly if you are an advocate of home schooling. It’s important that I’m open to opposing views.
Excerpt
“Unlike so much of education in this country, teaching at home is broadly unregulated. Along with steady growth in home schooling has come a spirited debate and lobbying war over how much oversight such education requires.”
Source: http://j.mp/1DspEzZ (via Pocket). You can also find this article at Iserotope Extras, a curated list of my favorite articles about teaching, reading, and technology.
Oh wow. This is a tough one.
I’ve always dismissed homeschooling as right wing silliness, to be honest. Which isn’t fair. On one hand, no one can deny that the education system does not meet the needs of much of our youth. If people want to educate their own children at home, why shouldn’t they? And why should they be monitored by the people who are part of the very system they have opted out of?
On the other hand: how can we, as a society, spend so much time and energy on our education system and then turn our backs on the kids who are being home schooled, trusting that everything will turn out all right, that their parents will be able to provide a good education, regardless of their own education level or training? How can we move toward less regulation? That doesn’t make sense.
And the Minecraft anecdote – ugh. But that is not at all unique to homeschooling.
To summarize:
The Texas part of me says, “Git outta my livin’ room, Govermint.”
The San Francisco part of me says, “Keep the regulations, and pass the kale chips.”