Replies

Even if the creationists of the Kansas Board of Education decide their schools will teach Kansan kids how to be stupid,...

Thanks for showing all of us early on that you elitist evo's really don't get it!

Please explain your enlightened theory on why religious home schooled kids usually rank high above the avg than most kids in publik school?

Please explain your enlightened theory on why religious home schooled kids usually rank high above the avg than most kids in publik school?

Probably because the public school standardized test score averages are dragged down by abysmal inner city schools and immigrant students whose primary language is not English, whereas homeschooled children are almost entirely from an unrepresentative population of comparatively wealthy and established homes.

I would also posit that these factors play a role: (1) home school parents have often had a great amount of leeway in choosing whether to test and which tests to administer; it's only in recent years that states have moved to require equivalent testing, and unevenly at that; (2) as states have begun requiring equivalent testing, most also require that poorly scoring home school students enroll in school (public or private), which obviously removes them from future home school testing averages; (3) private/parochial schools also skew toward students with greater aptitude,* and so that amplifies the performance gap between home school students and public school students alone even more so.

* This beyond the socioeconomic and demographic advantages, due to selective enrollment and selective retention.

"Please explain your enlightened theory on why religious home schooled kids usually rank high above the avg than most kids in publik school?"

Before even beginning to answer your question, I would like to see support for your assertion that, not home schooled kids, but specifically kids home schooled according to religious principles, have higher average test score rankings. Please provide a citation that identifies the study done, as well as the specific tests whose scores are being compared, as well as whether these home schooled kids are being taught the ToE or some creationist screed.

Thanks.

Please explain your enlightened theory on why religious home schooled kids usually rank high above the avg than most kids in publik school?

Well, your basic premise is wrong.

Home schooled kids are not taught creationism and ID as a rule. Indeed, you cannot possibly have evidence that they are uniformly indoctrinated in these beliefs.

But I have a lot of evidence that they are not. For example, fully 14% of the incoming freshman class at MIT has been homeschooled. This is an extraordinary statistic because no where near 14% of the high school population is home schooled. The simple fact is that the homeschoolers do better. Arguably, much better. But, in addition, we know that they are not schooled in ID or creationism. In order to be accepted into MIT you have to have a strong high school science background. And, this background is tested, usually by the AP exams. No creationist or ID educated kid is going to pass the AP biology exam. And, they are not going to MIT.

Another example is anecdotal; but in this case it is valid because all I have to prove is the exception to your assertion. In my town, which is a town of scientists working for a national lab, there are many home schooled children. And again, based on their numbers, they do very well. But they are home schooled in science. They are also home schooled in religion. However, they are not home schooled in creationism or ID. Arguably creationism is part of religion, although you never see it. But nobody believes in ID; it is neither science or religion.