Analyzing "The Case Against Homeschooling"

               Analytic Blog Post

The blog post that I am criticizing was actually removed by the author due to backlash some time ago, but still exists through re-posts on multiple sites.  The link to this post directs to an apology note that the author wrote after they removed the original piece of writing.  It is a personal opinion blog written by someone named Jesse, who is apparently a teacher.  This author gives his reasons why parents who homeschool their children are making a mistake.  As someone who was homeschooled all through school, I see many holes in this argument.  It comes off as being written by someone uneducated, which is ironic since it's coming from a teacher.  With each of the claims that Jesse made I will interject with my personal thoughts on the comments.  My responses to each of the 10 claims is italicized for easy reading.

The Case Against Homeschooling By JESSE SCACCIA  (posted on http://teacherrevised.org/2009/05/30/the-case-against-homeschooling/)

Homeschooling: great for self-aggrandizing, society-phobic mother…… but not quite so good for the kid. Here are my top ten reasons why homeschooling parents are doing the wrong thing:

10. “You were totally home schooled” is an insult college kids use when mocking the geeky kid in the dorm (whether or not the offender was home schooled or not). And… say what you will… but it doesn’t feel nice to be considered an outsider, a natural outcropping of being homeschooled.

If you pick the right friends in college, you won't be around people immature enough to mock you for your school background.  The author says that it doesn't feel nice to be an outsider.  Isn't that something that happens everywhere?!  There are cliques, there are people left out of groups, there are minorities.  Everyone feels left out at some point of their life.

9. Call me old-fashioned, but a students’ classroom shouldn’t also be where they eat Fruit Loops and meat loaf (not at the same time I hope). It also shouldn’t be where the family gathers to watch American Idol or to play Wii. Students–from little ones to teens–deserve a learning-focused place to study. In modern society, we call them schools.

Ha!  I can't think of a place less conducive to learning than a traditional classroom.  I attended a small Lutheran school for just a couple months this during middle school, and found that the surrounding was incredibly distracting.  Instead of focusing on my studies, I was listening to the teacher talk to other students, watching outbursts from the more attention-craving kids, and making small talk with my buddies.  The experience of studying at home is so much more relaxing.  You can chose the setting that works best for your personality and control the amount of stimulation around you.

8. Homeschooling is selfish. According to this article in USA Today, students who get homeschooled are increasingly from wealthy and well-educated families. To take these (I’m assuming) high achieving students out of our schools is a disservice to our less fortunate public school kids. Poorer students with less literate parents are more reliant on peer support and motivation, and they  greatly benefit from the focus and commitment of their richer and higher achieving classmates.

Everyone has their reasons to homeschool.  Maybe some would be considered selfish.  In my case, the major factor was my dad's career.  As a military and airline pilot, my dad was gone for days, weeks, even months at a time.  It was important for my family's relationship to be able to spend quality time with my dad when he was actually home.  If I was in school during traditional hours, I may have never seen him.  

I'm glad that in this comment, the author did recognize that homeschooled students are often higher achieving.  Who wouldn't want that for their kid??

7. God hates homeschooling. The study, done by the National Center for Education Statistics, notes that the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. To the homeschooling Believers out there, didn’t God say “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”? Didn’t he command, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me”? From my side, to take your faithful children out of schools is to miss an opportunity to spread the grace, power and beauty of the Lord to the common people. (Personally I’m agnostic, but I’m just saying…)

This statement literally made me laugh out loud.  The author tried to look credible by citing a source, but I'm pretty sure that the source would not back up the claim that God hates homeschooling.  Yes, a lot of people do choose homeschooling for religious reasons.  This was not the case with my family, but I do understand how more conservative families would want more control over what kinds of influences their children are exposed to.

6. Homeschooling parent/teachers are arrogant to the point of lunacy. For real! My qualifications to teach English include a double major in English and education, two master’s degrees (education and journalism), a student teaching semester and multiple internship terms, real world experience as a writer, and years in the classroom dealing with different learning styles. So, first of all, homeschooling parent, you think you can teach English as well as me? Well, maybe you can. I’ll give you that. But there’s no way that you can teach English as well as me, and biology as well as a trained professional, and history… and Spanish… and art… and counsel for college as well as a school’s guidance counselor… and… and…

Saying that homeschool parents are arrogant really offends me.  I believe that just because a person is well-educated doesn't mean that they are capable of teaching others.  I have had my share of college instructors who were lousy teachers.  My parents both have college degrees and a wealth of worldly knowledge and experiences.  Besides, homeschool parents acknowledge that they aren't the best at everything.  That's what parent co-ops and community members are for--filling in the gaps.

5. As a teacher, homeschooling kind of ticks me off. (That’s good enough for #5.)

Funny... I've had many teachers in my life as friends, members of community organizations, and coworkers at part time jobs.  All of them have shown nothing but respect for me and the choices my family made. Also, that is a weak statement to make for this argument.

4. Homeschooling could breed intolerance, and maybe even racism. Unless the student is being homeschooled at the  MTV Real World house, there’s probably only one race/sexuality/background in the room. How can a young person learn to appreciate other cultures if he or she doesn’t live among them?

Oh geez, this is when I want to start ranting.  Tell me how sitting in a room full of kids your own age all day, every day, exposes you to a cultured world.  Growing up, I traveled extensively and interacted with of all ages, and in different countries.  I spent time with families in Switzerland and Germany, went out to dinner with my dad and his military coworkers at the Air Force base, and went with my mom to all of her community and volunteer activities.  I learned how to talk to adults and answer questions about myself without my parents prompting me.

3. And don’t give me this “they still participate in activities with public school kids” garbage. Socialization in our grand multi-cultural experiment we call America is a process that takes more than an hour a day, a few times a week. Homeschooling, undoubtedly, leaves the child unprepared socially.

One hour a day, a few times a week?  Not even close.  I had a jam-packed schedule that included activities like art classes, music lessons, orchestra concerts, play practices, volunteering, playtime with friends, paid jobs (starting at age 13), and countless more "socialization" experiences.  To say that homeschooling leaves a child unprepared is a gross generalization.  Yes, there are some families who spend most of their time at home and do not expose their children to a wide variety of interactions, but that has to do more with the family dynamics and less with the kind of schooling they've chosen.

2. Homeschooling parents are arrogant, Part 2. According to Henry Cate, who runs the Why Homeschool blog, many highly educated, high-income parents are “probably people who are a little bit more comfortable in taking risks” in choosing a college or line of work. “The attributes that facilitate that might also facilitate them being more comfortable with home-schooling.” More comfortable taking risks with their child’s education? Gamble on, I don’t know, the Superbowl, not your child’s future.

Okay, I'll try to ignore the fact that the author uses arrogance as two of their 10 reasons.  That's cheating isn't it?  I can't for the life of me figure out how this statement (referencing a homeschool blog) even factors into this person's argument.  It's just stating the fact that homeschool parents may have more education, income, and comfort in taking risks.  Uhh, okay...  How does this this equate to arrogance?

1.  And finally… have you met someone homeschooled? Not to hate, but they do tend to be pretty geeky***.

*** Please see the comments for thoughts on the word ‘geeky.’ But, in general, to be geeky connotes a certain inability to integrate and communicate in diverse social situations. Which, I would argue, is a likely result of being educated in an environment without peers. It’s hard to get by in such a diverse world as ours! And the more people you can hang out with the more likely you are to succeed, both in work life and real life.

Wow. This person is a teacher, and the best they can come up with is "homeschoolers are pretty geeky"? I sure hope they never have to teach debate or persuasion in their classroom. There are tons of "geeky" kids in public school. Isn't that what science clubs and Mathletes prove? Okay now I'm the one who's generalizing...but you get my point. I've never felt like a geek in my life, but I've certainly felt like I have a broader, more rounded education than that of some of my peers.

These responses are just tidbits from the insight you would gain from me if you ask me how I feel about having been homeschooled. Hopefully my analyzation wasn't too speculative and I was actually able to convince you that I have solid knowledge on the topic.