Posted on 08/06/2006 3:22:26 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat
Socialization is no longer an “issue” for homeschoolers, according to some researchers on the long-running debate over public and independent schooling.
Susan McDowell, author of "But What About Socialization? Answering the Perpetual Home Schooling Question: A Review of the Literature,” has researched 24 studies on the socialization of homeschoolers, according to Bristol Herald Courier.
"It’s a non-issue today," said McDowell, who earned Ph.D. in educational leadership from Vanderbilt University. "All the research shows children are doing well."
On one occasion, she was challenged by one of her publishers to find evidence that homeschoolers were socially deficient compared to their publically educated counterparts.
However, she claims finding no one in the academic field with such view supported by research.
Other researchers, such as Larry Shyers, who holds Ph.D. in counseling, support McDowell’s findings. Shyers’ dissertation, "Comparison of Social Adjustment Between Home and Traditionally Schooled Children," won a national award in excellence in research from the Educational Research Information Clearinghouse in 1992.
His studies found that homeschooled children are not disadvantaged when it comes to socialization. He said that those taught at home were more likely to invite others to play with them, they were not as competitive but more cooperative, and they kept their noise levels lower. Homeschooled children also played with peers of both genders rather than with those of the same gender, he added.
Fourteen-year-old Kayla Freeman from Bristol, Tenn. says she knows more people than she did while in traditional school, and she has discovered better friends in the homeschool community.
“Most homeschooled kids I know are outgoing and friendly," Kayla said. "They are the truest friends I have."
Whether it is for religious, social, or educational reason, American parents are, albeit small in number, increasingly withdrawing their children out of public schools and instructing them at home, despite the criticisms laid out by homeschool critics.
The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) estimated that 1.1 Million students were homeschooled in the United States in 2003, an increase from 850,000 from the 1999 NHES data.
"A better way to approach it in my view is to simply charge tuition at the government schools. Give parents a generous child tax credit that just happens to equal the tuition charged by the government schools. Parents can spend their tax credit as they please: on the government schools, private schools, or homeschool and use the difference for groceries."
Accounting differences aside, your proposal is identical to vouchers. Really, a tax credit, if it 100% funded even for those who dont pay income taxes, *is* a voucher (and it would have to be so, or the program would only help middle-class not working class taxpayers). IMHO, it would be treated similarly by the courts.
Fortunately, the courts have already given the green light to vouchers that includes religious-based schools, so long as non-sectarian and non-religious school choices are available (viz. the Cleveland court ruling.)
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/06/27/scotus.school.vouchers/index.html
"In what President Bush hailed as a "landmark ruling" and a victory for the American family, the Supreme Court Thursday ruled that a school voucher program in Cleveland does not infringe upon the constitutional separation of church and state. ... Clint Bolick, a long-time leader of the school voucher movement, hailed the ruling as the "most important education decision since Brown v. Board of Education." That's the 1954 ruling that led to the desegregation of public schools.
"This was the Super Bowl for school choice, and the kids won," he declared. "
Vouchers are Constitutional and will remain so, unless ACLU-type liberal Judges become a majority on the USSC.
"That gets around the separation of church and state baloney that the radical left and it's fellow travelers in the judiciary have used to kill vouchers."
Since they lost that battle, we can move on to crafting the best program using the principles of school choice.
"Um, I take from that statement that you aren't married...."
Only for the last 48 years, guess that's not long enough to qualify.
I think that the national average government schools pay per student is around $10,000, plus or minus.
Take a class with 25 kids, and that is a quarter of a million dollars per year. Think about that. And they are turning out idiots.
I'll teach a class, any class, any subject, for $125 a year. And I guarantee they will all be a lot smarter after.
Do they live on a farm in Montana 100 miles from the nearest neighbors? Do they lock the kids in the barn and never let them go out to sports, church, music, social events, etc.?
I run into a BUNCH of homeschoolers because they are in our neighborhood Scout troop, on the community swim team, and in our church. They are uniformly well-spoken, courteous, intelligent, and just good decent kids. They make the public school kids look sick - or at least sloppy, surly, and monosyllabic. Of course, our local public high school is where two kids brought a .357 magnum to school for 2 weeks before anybody noticed . . . )
Full disclosure: I home-schooled my LD/ADD son for a couple of months waiting for a private school placement. I wouldn't send a dog I liked to our local public schools (and they're supposed to be good.) My kids are in private schools.
"Let me guess. You are a teacher in a public school, right?"
LOL.
I'm not familiar with this specific poster, but there are a surprising number of government school teachers posting FR. Some are quite thoughtful and have some very good points to add. And then there are others whom you can pick out by their shrill attacks on homeschooling.
We home schooled our youngest daughter, and I teach college. I've had several home-schooled kids come through my program. No problems. They're generally better academically. After high school, I haven't found a pack mentality to be that much of an advantage for students or anyone else going through life.
Do you really consider that a statistically significant sampling?
(Insert snide remark about mathematics and logic skills of public-school educated people here.)
I am a public school teacher and I have encountered multiple homeschooled children in one way or another. Some have entered public school after home schooling--there are 2 homeschooled kids on my daughter's softball team--there are 5 or more at our church. Based on my experiences with these kids and many others over time, I find that some homeschoolers are wonderful kids with gracious manners and social ease and others are down right obnoxious.
At church today, I did not think it was cute today when a child (who is homeschooled) walked up to me and TOLD me in a loud demanding voice with his face pinched and his hands to his side in fists to "get out of my way, I want a cookie now." His mother was right there and laughed at him--she thought it was funny. I did not. Other kids avoid him as much as they can as he is rude, refuses to wait his turn in Sunday School and screams if he is not the first one called on every time.
...and yes, I've seen success and failures from public schools. It runs the entire gamut on both sides.
Parents have more control than they think in every situation. Just because a child attends public school, that does not mean they will grow up to be some drug and sex crazed addict. Just because a child is homeschooled, that does not mean they will grow up to be a stellar adult.
for your ping lists
So, the problem is the children? We just have to eliminate the children from the education equation and it'll work out!
I'm not an attorney so I'm not qualified to comment on the case. My inclination would be to avoid voucher systems in any case because of a fundamental truism of government funding: there are ALWAYS strings attached. I'd also note that I haven't seen a voucher program yet that proposed funding for homeschooling (perhaps you're aware of one?). Nor do I think we will, if for no other reason than the homeschoolers themselves would oppose it.
The difference between tax credits and a voucher are, as you suggest, a matter of form versus substance. But I think it's an important matter of form.
Lastly, I do think that parents should have to scratch the check. People often don't value something that they receive for "free."
Children learn behaviors. He learned that obnoxious behavior from somewhere--but not the public schools.
Children learn behaviors. He learned that obnoxious behavior from somewhere--but not the public schools.
Kids learn very early how to terrorize their parents.
Truer words were never spoken...tyrannical children are everywhere.
"Take a class with 25 kids, and that is a quarter of a million dollars per year. Think about that. And they are turning out idiots."
Y'know, in all honesty I never thought of it that way.
Thanks for the post.
As a teacher, er, educator, you might be interested in a phenom I've witnessed recently. That is that of immigrant kids in the NYC public schools. Much has been made of the bad kids, but I have never seen anything like the latest batch of immigrant kids.
These kids are driven to succeed beyond all reason. They are absolutely focused and the most competitive bunch of young people I've ever witnessed.
I believe a lot of folks are gonna be in for a shock when this group hits the job market.
And I'm smart enough to recognize a rare good message hidden in such a puerile medium when I hear it rather than dismiss everything from that source on the basis of it's overall waste of time. While most of my viewing is made up of documentaries and (arguably) historic overviews I find some entertainment offerings hold nuggets of wisdom concerning the human condition that my ascetic personal life would never have yielded.
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