Posted on 09/25/2016 11:46:40 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King said that he has concerns about children who are homeschooled according to a story published in Politico Pro (paywall) today.
Education Secretary John B. King Jr. said today that he’s concerned that homeschooled students aren’t “getting the range of options that are good for all kids.”
But King also said he’s aware of homeschooling families “doing it incredibly well” and he knew of students in college who had “very tremendous academic success.”
“Obviously, it’s up to families if they want to take a homeschool approach,” King said, when asked about the topic during a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters.
King noted that research shows homeschooling is growing in popularity.
But King said he worries that “students who are homeschooled are not getting kind of the rapid instructional experience they would get in school” – unless parents are “very intentional about it.”
King said the school experience includes building relationships with peers, teachers and mentors – elements which are difficult to achieve in homeschooling, he said, unless parents focus on it.
The Christian Science Monitor didn’t include this in their coverage of their own breakfast which I find odd considering how controversial those remarks are.
Considering many home schooled children take college classes while in high school I find Secretary King’s remarks completely asinine. He doesn’t demonstrate any data to back up his concerns. Studies have shown homeschooling students are out-performing their public school counterparts. He must not also be aware that homeschooling students also led their public school counterparts in SAT results.
Considering his remarks center around a socialization argument leads me to believe he knows very little about homeschooling.
In my opinion his remarks demonstrate frustration over an educational option that is outside of federal control. Considering the mess he made up in New York I don’t think he’s qualified to comment on homeschooling.
Will Estrada, director of federal relations at the Home School Legal Defense Association, made the following remarks on Facebook, “Government bureaucracies always seek more power at the expense of individual liberty. Education policy should be left to the states and localities.”
“The success of homeschooling shows that freedom works. Secretary King would replace that God-given freedom of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children with more government regulation,’ Estrada added.
The fact that the Obama administration has a low opinion of homeschooling should hardly come as a surprise. Back in 2013 former Attorney General Eric Holder when trying to boot the Romeike family out of the United States argued that Germany’s banning homeschooling doesn’t violate fundamental rights.
Homeschooling parents need to be ever vigilant to protect their educational freedom.
Update: Be sure to read Lindsey Burke’s piece about Secretary King’s concerns at The Daily Signal. She made some points that I kick myself for not making.
Would that qualify him as a Concern Troll?
My 3 kids learned at home:
2014 West Point, computer science with honors
2017 Drexel U, biomedical eng. honors program
2019 VA Tech, Corp of Cadets, 4 yr Army, Computer Sci, Deans List
I would worry a little more about Public Schools I think.
I sent him a message that my four homescholled kids that are either in college or already graduated w/ honors from large universities are doing just fine. So are the next two, one that is dual enrolled in a performing arts school and college at 15 and the next youngest not far behind. Perhap he should be more concerned about the students mired in the failing public schools.
Homeschool families meet often to give their kids a chance to socialize. There is also youth groups, church activities, youth sports, and local schools are required to allow homeschool kids to play on their teams.
Exactly! Home schooled will resist indoctrination.
Concerned about homeschooled kids? Yeah, he doesn’t like it that homers make most publics look like dunces. I’ve heard it said that homers miss out on learning social skills. What? Like how to hold a roach, or install a condom? That’s bad./S
A book called “Market Education”, a history of American schooling, stated that either the Bible or the works of Shakespeare were the ones found in homes across the nation. Back when a great many Americans “homeschooled”. Imagine a pioneer home in which the family read outloud from Shakespeare! My grandfather had a 6th grade education when he went to work for Edison in NJ.
I can see an Executive Order coming very soon!!!
He was asked to list the top political, economic and/or cultural trends that would transform the United States over the next 50 years (or something like that).
To my shock, he identified homeschooling as the single biggest development that would shape America's future.
So I have concerns about John B. King. Let us reconcile our concerns.
John.
5.56mm
“But King said he worries that, ‘students who are home schooled are not getting kind of the rapid instructional experience they would get in school...’”
For starters, WTF does THAT even MEAN? Oh, wait! I think he means this:
“But King said he worries that, ‘students who are home schooled are not getting kind of the rapid indoctrination experience they would get in school...’”
Fixed!
I am SO GLAD my ‘kids’ are closing in on their 30’s and I no longer have to de-program them after school every damn day!
> “getting the range of options that are good for all kids.”
Home schooled children have an option not afforded kids going to government schools. They get to learn.
It is a job program for the teachers union.
I'm afraid they will have a problem adjusting to society when they leave home.
When you encounter someone who believes family advocacy means hatred toward those who do not have children...
When you encounter someone who argues that it is hypocritical to say “all lives matter” while at the same time saying “some lives need more discipline”...
When you encounter someone who fervently believes abortion to be a legitimate form of health care...
...you are encountering not only a liberal, but a proud example of the rotten fruits of public education.
He's right. They'll miss out on all the 3rd world holidays like Eid-al-Fiter, Ramadan, Mohammad's wedding anniversary, etc. They won't get the good flavor and nutrition of Moochelle’s wonderful lunches, the possibility of being murdered at their desks or contracting previously eradicated diseases from unvaccinated snot-nosed urchins and a lot of other things I can't say without being banned.
Perspective. He’s worried about 1-2% of the student population. Why not focus on improving the 98% first?
What this anti-American is concerned about is that the children are not being properly indoctrinated to hate America.
Our representatives who voted to approve his appointment are stupid as well.
Imagine - we have a Secretary of Education who was expelled from high school. He must have done something really bad for them to expel a black student.
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