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In 2002, more than 850,000 parents nationwide opted to
remove their children from local public school systems for what is known as home-schooling. The reasons for such decisions are multiple. Some
parents feel that contemporary curricula have minimized the basics, while
others hesitate to send their children into environments that in their
judgment are unsafe. Still others consider the public school approach to
education overly humanistic and thus keep their children home for religious
reasons. Yet, while those who favor home-schooling quite
reasonably point to the successes of such programs and to the geniuses who
have emerged from them, the fact is
that parental guidance is not always what it should be and that laxity has,
in many cases, produced less than spectacular results. Like most states, Virginia has
rather loosely codified the parameters for parents who choose to do their own
teaching. They may do so if they 1) have a BA degree; 2) are teachers; or 3) provide
a program of study which includes SOL objectives for language arts and
math. Furthermore, they must provide
evidence that their child has attained a composite score above the 40th
percentile on a battery of achievement tests approved by the Board of
Education, or (and this is a big “or”) an evaluation or assessment which
indicates that the child is achieving an “adequate level of educational
growth.” Obviously the burden of
home-schooling is on the shoulders of the parents, and it is they who must
establish a rigorous course of study for their children. In many cases,
however - and this seems to be especially true of students on the high school
level - pupils are left to their own devices with rather catastrophic
results. Matthew, a James City student,
went through his high school years as a home-schooler. Virtually self-taught
and without much parental guidance, he managed to get through his first three
years with a minimal amount of work. In what would have been his senior year,
however, his educational fabric started to unravel completely when he decided
he wanted a car, and so got a job. That year he studied only sporadically,
took no tests, and hence had no grades. So weak was his knowledge of
history that he had no idea who Franklin D. Roosevelt was, nor had he heard
of the war in Vietnam. In addition, he failed miserably at algebra, had
severe writing and reading problems and studied no foreign language. As a result, he got no
home-school diploma from the WJC school system and is now taking remedial
courses in history, English and math at a community college in order to get
his GED. For Lori, another local
student, the decision to try home-schooling was based on religious grounds.
In her case , the state is not nearly so rigorous in its requirements, but
rather will excuse from attendance at school any student who “by reason of
bona fide religious training or belief is conscientiously opposed to
attendance at school.” Once parents signify their conscientious objection,
they are left completely on their own and are beholden to no School Board
regulations or guidelines. Unlike Matthew, Lori turned out
to be a brilliant student. Not only were her math and language skills highly
developed, but she even delved into such esoterica as ancient Greek and
Latin. As a result, she was admitted to William & Mary with no difficulty
and thought she that she would sail on to a degree with no problem. Yet,
there were problems. To begin with, Lori was bereft
of social skills and found it extremely difficult to function within the
classroom structure. Since she was used to being the only student in her
class at home, she found herself constantly interrupting the class, demanding
attention by asking rather inane questions and breaking into tears when she
made mistakes in front of her peers or received grades that were less than
perfect. In the end, she spent more time with the psychological counseling
service than she did in class. In her sophomore year, she had a nervous
breakdown and was forced to leave school for a semester. According to the Virginia Home
Education Association, an advocate for home-schooling, the ease with which
parents may remove their children from school on religious grounds is the
greatest threat to home-schooling. Home-schoolers, says the VHEA, are not
becoming more religious, just more opportunistic. As a result, they endanger
the special legal avenue for those who really need it. Clearly there are loopholes in
the law that need to be tightened both in the cases of regular home-schoolers
and religious exemptions. Students like Matthew should not be permitted to
slip through the cracks. If parents cannot or will not provide the proper
guidance, local school boards should have some mechanism whereby they can
intercede and require the student to return to the public school classroom.
Simply refusing to grant a diploma doesn’t solve the problem. And certainly in the case of
religious exemptions, local school boards or certified educational
psychologists should have the ability to ensure that students are making
reasonable academic progress and that the socialization process is not being
detrimentally suppressed. Both Matthew and Lori are fine
young people who deserved better from what is now, at least, the wobbly world
of home-schooling. |
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lewleadbeater.com Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved
email: LWL@lewleadbeater.com |
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