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From “Exploring Homeschooling” … a site that asks “Will your children believe in Jesus when they graduate from high school? According to this site, the answer is, likely no, with 94% of homeschooled graduates believing in Jesus as compared to a measly 15% of public school graduates. The citation for this comparison appears to be to a source that is only available for purchace, from the National Home Education Research institute. It is easy to confirm with other sources, however, that nearly 100% of homeschoolers self identify as some form of Christian. |
The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) has maintained a “platform” which is “a summary of all resolutions adopted by business meetings and, since 1974, by Delegate Assemblies.” This document is revised now and then.
This document is available here.
This PDF file is not dated, but I have reason to believe that it was last updated about May 2007.
The following is a direct quote of the entire section on “Home Schooling” from this document:
4. Home Schooling
NAESP is concerned with the increasing number of individuals and groups who are avoiding public education in favor of at-home schooling. When alternative options such as home schooling have been authorized by state legislation, resources and authority should be provided to make certain that those who exercise these options are held strictly accountable for the academic achievement and social/emotional growth of children. When home schooling options are exercised, NAESP strongly recommends that state
governments establish safeguards to ensure each child:1. participates in appropriate social experiences;
2. interacts with students from other social/racial/ethnic groups;
3. receives the full range of curricular experiences and materials aligned with state standards;
4. is guaranteed instruction by certified and highly qualified persons;
5. is required to participate in state-mandated assessments; and
6. learns in a healthy and safe environment.
NAESP strongly urges states to require home schools to comply with state and federal laws addressing children with special needs.
NAESP strongly urges local and state associations to address these issues as critical to the education of children. (’93, ’03, 04)
As you can see, the last time this section was updated was in 2004.
Now, have a look at this:
NAESP asks parents to consider that homeschooling may:
1. Deprive the child of important social experiences.
2. Isolate the student from other social/ethnic groups.
3. Deny students the full range of curriculum experiences and materials.
4. Education may be provided by non-certified and unqualified persons.
5. Create an additional burden on school administrators whose duties include the enforcement of compulsory school attendance laws.
6. Not permit effective assessment of academic standards of quality.
7. Violate health and safety standards, and
8. Not provide accurate diagnosis and planning for meeting the needs of children of special talents, learning difficulties, and other conditions requiring atypical educational programs.
This eight-point list is from a 1999 web site of the Houston Unschoolers group. It is not clear to me that this is a direct quote from the NAESP document or a rephrasing. It could not be a direct quote from the above cited document becauese it did not exist yet, but this could be an earlier document with 8 instead of 6 points, and a somewhat more oppressive tone in the wording. Or, it could be a chracterization of the NAESP position by homeschooling sympathizers angry at the NAESP for sticking their noses into such areas as children’s education.
Now for the fun part. If you look around the Internet now, you will find a flock of wet hens, home schoolers absolutely livid about this:
NAESP ASKS PARENTS TO CONSIDER THAT HOMESCHOOLING MIGHT:
1. Deprive the child of important social experiences2. Isolate the student from other social/ethnic groups
3. Deny students the full range of curriculum experiences and materials
4. Provide education by non-certified and unqualified persons
5. Create an additional burden on school administrators whose duties include the enforcement of compulsory school attendance laws
6. Not permit effective assessment of academic standards of quality
7. Violate health and safety standards
8. Not provide accurate diagnosis and planning for meeting the needs of children of special talents, learning difficulties and other conditions requiring atypical educational programs
This is an unattributed (other than that it is the NAESP … i.e., no actual source is cited) list in a longer post about homeschooling written by Anne Sterling for Disney.com’s web site “Familyfun.com”
This Disney.com post is undated. If you just happened to come across it on the internet you would not necessariliy know how old it is. But if you look in the HTML code you can figure out that it dates to August 22 of this year. In other words, current.
This post was picked up by one homeschooling blog, and then by a few others that read that, and then by others, and it is now all over the place. And amazingly enough, not one homeschooler seems to have a positive attitude about it!
I find it interesting that several of these homeschooling blogs have posted comments on the piece without actually having read the original (they are only citing later homeschooling blog posts) … had they gone to the original document they would have seen something different … not substantively, but in terms of attitude, very different. Also, had they looked at other NAESP documents about home schooling, they may have discovered that the NAESP is busily working towards improving relationships with the homeschooling community.
But for many radical homeschoolers, this would be a) too much like scholarship; b) too honest; and c) would deprive them of the chance to bitch about The Establishment being against them all the time. How boring life would be then. Oh, and it would have been too much work. It took me a full 15 minutes to find the original document (to which the Disney.com post does not actually refer, but the current Platform) and to send off an email to Disney asking them for an attribution.
And, of course, the reaction among the radical homeschoolers is absurd, as expected. For instance, one of the more vocal bloggers responds to point one (about socialization) with this comment:
“I assure you homeschooled children aren’t deprived of social experiences. Some homeschool groups even have their own proms.”
Ohmygodgimmeabreak! Proms are not what is meant by social experiences. The deprivation that professional educators and others are worried about is not about going to the prom, or even going bowling. Or even going bowling after the prom …. Socialization is not “social events.” This is a common but inexcusable mistake, similar to people thinking that “culture” is the opera.
The same commenter responds to the second point, that homeschooling may “isolate the student from other social/ethnic groups” with this:
I’ll repeat myself yet again as it seems educators that criticize homeschooling are incredibly slow learners. Homeschoolers are a very diverse bunch. Homeschoolers come from all social/ethnic groups.
The point of the original criticism is not that homeschooled children as a whole are not diverse. (Although that is probably true.) This criticism does not even address that issue. It is about exposure to diversity and interaction with a wide range of different kinds of people, day to day. This homeschooler has entirely missed the point, even though the point is utterly obvious. This is worrisome.
I will not catalogue the range and breadth of the reactions that the radical homechooling community has spewed forth as a response to this non-attributed reference to an old and out of date document. All you need to do is google “NAESP” and “homeschooling” and you can see it there.
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| Mickey Mouse prowls the night like a vampire in search of homeschooled children. When he finds them he scared them half to death and then sucks their blood. If only these children had been in Public School. Then they would have been fine. |
I do have one suggestion for the radical homeschoolers. None of them read by blog, or so they claim, so if you know one please pass this on to them. The critique you are complaining about has a corporate sponsor. The NAESP list (from the old report) was embedded in a longer post, and that post is what is really to blame for even daring to criticize you and your practices. If you want to pummel the enemy with your savvy comments, send emails to Disney.com. If you want to hurt your enemy so that they don’t bother you any more, stop buying Disney products and throw out the Mickey Mouse ears. Better yet, burn the Mickey Mouse ears. In a big bonfire. At night. In the town square. Now, that would be fun.
But I digress. The real point I wanted to make in this post is not about homeschooling at all. It’s about the way information flows around the internet, or in some cases, fails to do so. This is not really a meme. It’s really more like a rock. The NAESP list of critiques (the old one, not the current one) is like a rock that lies 3 feet below the surface of the lake most of the time, but when lake levels are low, looms dangerously close to the level at which the props run, and suddenly becomes a hazard … a thing that does some damage to one or two vessels and then becomes the source of extensive chatter and consternation. Then it rains and the lake level goes up and everybody forgets about it for a while.
Many homeschoolers probably realize that the NAESP is not the bogeyman, but rather, a partner in education. Radical homeschoolers will never get that, to the determent of their children’s education. What a shame.
//The citation for this comparison appears to be to a source that is only available for purchace, from the National Home Education Research Institute. It is easy to confirm with other sources, however, that nearly 100% of homeschoolers self identify as some form of Christian.//
Actually, NHERI is closely aligned with HSLDA and other fundamentalist Christian homeschooling organizations. Don’t know about the other sources you reference; but I, for one, don’t trust hs stats because they often seem to come from fundamentalist Christian groups polling their own. Also, 100% sounds a little… high
//According to (Exploring Homeschooling), 94% of homeschooled graduates believe in Jesus as compared to 15% of public school graduates.//
EH also cites the oft-recited homeschool battlecry: Deut 6:6-7 (And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.) It’s why so many hs grads “believe in Jesus.” It’s all they hear, when they sit, when they walk by the way, when they lie down, when they rise up. They “Learn not the way of the heathen ” (Jer 10:2) and associate with “fools” (Prov 13:20)…. It seems that this is what the NAESP is talking about. I think it’s also what the German government is talking about when they express concern about homeschooling creating parallel societies.
The confusion comes when people seem to define socialization as merely “learning how to get along with others” best accomplished through conventional schooling, which is an argument that’s easily refuted (IMHO). Many of us feel that conventional schooling doesn’t bring out the best in kids socially - or academically due to the social environment.
A short quote by Marvin Minski linked by Rolfe just yesterday:
The evidence is that many of our foremost achievers developed under conditions that are not much like those of present-day mass education. Robert Lawler just showed me a paper by Harold Macurdy on the child pattern of genius. Macurdy reviews the early education of many eminent people from the last couple of centuries and concludes (1) that most of them had an enormous amount of attention paid to them by one or both parents and (2) that generally they were relatively isolated from other children. This is very different from what most people today consider an ideal school. www.rru.com/~meo/hs/minski.html
So, the way I’ve come to see it: “Socialization” is either the best OR worst argument for homeschooling, depending on how you define it - and, yes, it’s sometimes frustrating to hear apples and oranges comparisons. Though I don’t think it’s deliberate.
PS I noticed that you’re also refining other terms! (smile) Going a step beyond “radical homeschoolers”? How about “radical homeschoolers, who self-identify as radical homeschoolers, who “teach evolution,” who think the socio-political aspects of homeschooling are actually interesting enough to write about, who blog/make time to blog/even know what a blog is,… ” Who knows how representative any of us are in speaking for others….
Sorry this is so long
Yes, the difference in attitude between the two lists is apparent, but the first list you quote still raises the specter of homeschooling being forced into state-defined recipes for success. “…[S]tate governments establish safeguards to ensure…” sure sounds like “create and enforce standards” to me. If the average homeschooling parent thought the state’s plan for their child was so good, they wouldn’t bother homeschooling. Surely it requires less effort to drop the child off at the state-approved education center than to handle the entire job by oneself. They left the current system for a reason; it should not be particularly remarkable that they are averse to having the system pursue them into their own homes.
Also the first list implies some things that are not only offensive, but applied one-sidedly to homeschoolers. Example: “learns in a healthy and safe environment.” First, why should the state assume that a homeschooler’s kitchen table is any less safe and sanitary than anyone else’s? Public-schooled children come home every night and face the exact same, ahem, risks from their home environment that homeschoolers do. Does the state feel the need to go inspect the kitchen tables of public-schooled students to make sure that they all meet state health and safety standards? Unless the state intends to intrude into ALL homes to verify this safeguard, they have no business doing it just to homeschooling families.
The other thing about both lists that I find remarkable is the presumption that the state, in the form of the public school system, is the superior choice for handling the socialization of a family’s children. You, the parents may not be qualified to socialize your own children; you had better hand them over to the authorities for this important function. On what basis is such an astounding assertion made? On nearly every other front, the state bends over backwards to defer to the prerogatives of the parents, but when it comes to socialization, they are practically presumed to be incompetent, and need at very least constant checkins to be sure they are adhering to state standards.
Also, I’m curious what socializing experiences you, Greg, think are necessary. Clearly “proms” are not what you are looking for, so can you what you are talking about?
Regarding Alasandra’s responses to the eight points, and your reaction to her responses:
Surely someone in the homeschooling community has enumerated for you the multitiude of activities that homeschooling families participate in. It’s a little unreasonable to have to restate the entire argument in all its verbose glory every time it is made. This is important because it clarifies both of the responses that you disliked.
Homeschoolers even have proms. (this being perhaps the most extreme example out of an enormous list of other social activities, which surely you must have seen by now. )
Homeschoolers come from a hugely diverse backgrounds. (and since they participate together in an enormous list of social activities, which surely you must have seen by now, they obviously are exposed to each other, and thereby have plenty of exposure to diversity.)
Do you still object to these ideas when presented in their slightly less abridged form?
Tom:
Homeschoolers often want it both ways. One can go down this list and say “we actually do all these things” OR you one can go down this list and say “these things are what the state wants, not what we want” but not both.
I don’t think that most homeschoolers are doing that, but I do find much of the rhetoric ingenuous at best. I think some (a minority, I hope) homeschoolers are using their kids as pawns in their own fairly extremist political expressions.
My ideas about social experiences? I have not given that much thought. I’m merely commenting on the error in communication … educators, when they say “social” do not mean “socials.”
Tom, I have been told by homeschoolers that many homeschoolers engage in “social” activities and thus possibly to some extent achieve exposure to diversity (two separate issues brought up by the professional educators). But I get told a lot of things by a lot of people.
But none of that is related to the points I was making. Being told “Oh, we have lots of socialization … we even have proms” is not convincing. That tells me that the problem is not understood or acknowledged at all (whether it is a problem or not, notwithstanding). Hearing “home schoolers get exposed to lots of diversity … we are a demonstrably diverse group” does not address that issue either.
Yes, I’ve heard these issues addressed, and I’m very well aware of that, and I guess lots of home schooled kids are having great experiences. But everything, absolutely everything about this is a guess. If I had only that kind of anecdotal and often self-serving and biased information from any quarter … my daughter’s school, any agency or institution of import, I would not be very satisfied. What I have yet to understand is why should homeschoolers get buy with self-generated, clearly self-serving rhetoric when others (other people, other institutions) are generally asked to be accountable?
The reason for that is because many radical homeschoolers are really about one thing, only or mainly, and that is accountability itself . To be perfectly honest with you, I think that avoiding and rejecting accountability is more important to some radical homeschoolers than the education of their own children.
Am I right?
I hear ”radical homeschoolers” and I think of a term like radical feminists which these days essentially means any woman who gets a little too loud.
I think you’ve often got valid points Greg, I find the labels you’ve come up with distracting though.
“To be perfectly honest with you, I think that avoiding and rejecting accountability is more important to some radical homeschoolers than the education of their own children.”
Yup…you have an amen. Not only to standards, and other proofs, but also of accontability to the wider society as well. Matter fo fact, just last year in Toronto I met a who’ bunch of grownup homeschoolers panhandling in the streets, and hatin’ on the”man”,
man.
And not less than a few of them were actually intelligent, well spoken, hardly offensive or abrasive, or merely ignoramus like
lesbian militant feminists, who confuse loud and obnoxious,aggressive and violence prone female behaviors with civil discourse.
I skimmed through the NAESP paper you posted, looking for their thoughts on socialization. There’s nothing specific. All it says is that we should be sure that they are being provided appropriate social experiences…whatever that means.
So apparently both you and the NAESP don’t really know exactly what appropriate and necessary social experiences look like, but you are seriously worried that they can only get them in the public school.
I, on the other hand, am aware of some very specific negative socialization that happens in the public schools — which doesn’t occur anywhere else, by the way — which I would prefer not to inflict on my children.
I don’t follow your argument about “having it both ways.” If we start with the assumption that both the schools and the parents want what they think is best for the students, it is not surprising that the two lists of requirements should overlap considerably. Why would the parents not provide what they think is necessary, even though that same requirement is being suggested by the schools? Conversely, why would the parents not reject those specific items they think are wrong?
It’s as if I came to you with a list and said “I’m seriously concerned that you may not be providing your children with enough of the following nutrients: Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Thiamine, Niacin, Calcium, Iron, Plutonium.” Your response regarding the first six would be “Of course I’m providing a balanced diet. Get out of my face,” and the last one would be “Plutonium, are you nuts? Over my dead body.” How is that having it both ways?
Tom:
First of all, it is distinctly possible that I’m not providing my children with essential nutrients. Thanks for checking.
I’ve not stated a position on socialization. I’m not saying that homeschoolers are not providing whatever it is that the NAESP is talking about. This is why I’ve not put any energy into trying to define socialization.
I am saying that it is a common error to mix up the concepts of “social” and “socials” as well as “culture” and “culture.” I’m also suggesting that yer average (fill in the word that you like as long as it means what I mean and not what anyone else says I mean!) homeschooler seems to spend more energy defending the idea of homeschooling against mostly (but not entirely) imagined onslaughts than on discussing learning, education, and so on, or strategies for bringing up, rather than down, the image of homeschooling.
Fighting the battle this way serves mainly to alienate potential allies.
Before this conversation started months ago, I was a potential ally of homeschooling. Now, I’m not. I’m not against it, but there is some craziness out there that I simply do not want to be linked to in any way.
I did read the full NAESP platform, and I personally find it more scary than the version at Disney.com. Aside from the parts about teacher certification, state standards, and state-mandated assessments I don’t really have a problem with the latter list. Of course, *ALL* children (homeschooled *AND* traditionally schooled) should have access to a safe & healthy learning environment, a full range of curriculum, a diverse group of peers with which to interact, *POSITIVE* socialization, etc. Who’s going to argue with that?
The problem comes with the NAESP calling for government interference with homeschooling to achieve those goals. Particularly since there are no such requirements for private schools. Why should I have to prove to some bureaucrat that my child has “adequate social experiences” with a “diverse” group of peers (whatever that means) when my wealthier neighbor who can afford the $22k/yr per child for private schools does not? Private schools are not required to stick to the “one size fits all” state standards or take standardized tests either, so why should my child? It’s a matter of fairness
FWIW, my daughter is involved in 3 different homeschool support groups (inclusive, church-affiliated, and TAG), the town soccer league, dance through our town’s parks & rec program, Sunday School at our church, and we’re considering doing a new science club depending on cost & scheduling. Plus free play with neighborhood kids (all of whom are traditionally schooled).
Chrimson: In fact, the NAESP concerns listed for homeschooling, all of which are pretty much reasonable or important, are not explicitly referenced in relation to public schools either, or at least not comprehensively. As a few commenters have pointed out here and on other threads, it is a little annoying for professional mainstream educators to be checking on homeschoolers regarding “socialization” given the nature of the social environment in actual brick and mortar schools.
I would rather see this done more on a problem-oriented basis than a context-oriented basis, with a more uniform across the board approach than a somewhat reactionary list directed specifically at homeschool environments.
I’m not satisfied with the “I promise you, I’m doing it right” pledge approach for either home schoolers or private/public schools! Trust but verify, and all that. But I can see where you would be annoyed as a homeschooler.
But, as is the case with most of the comments on this post, that really isn’t the point of the post. But your point is well taken.
Greg,
It’s funny that you should frame this in terms of memes, because there is this terribly persistent one to the effect that Homeschoolers Don’t Socialize Their Children. Also, any number of “Homeschoolers Don’t [Fill In the Blank]” but we’ll try to stick to one for now, for *cough* brevity’s sake.
You in your way contribute to these memes. You roll your eyes at statements like “of course we have socialization…we even have proms,” as if that constituted the whole of the argument. You have been given lists of things that homeschoolers do where socialization occurs, and you choose to dismiss them as merely anecdotal, as somehow insufficient, or as “self-serving rhetoric.” I don’t remember you leveling the charge of self-serving rhetoric at the public schools. Gee, it’s not like public schools get MONEY for enrolling more kids or anything.
You take homeschoolers to task for not doing their due diligence by going out and finding the version of the list of their supposed failings with the slightly more conciliatory wording. (On a relatively ancient web page, btw.) And yet the more inflammatory version is the one getting current airplay, by virtue of it being published once again by Family Fun magazine. If anybody needs to do their homework, it’s the major publisher. Surely the folks at Family Fun could have contacted the NAESP and gotten hold of the more current, less confrontational version before going to press? Maybe they know perfectly well that a little controversy sells? You mention that homeschoolers should boycott Disney. How about a little even-handed condemnation of their sloppy journalistic practices from you?
Tom: The perception that I have not “taken to task” the public school system is not a valid critique of any critique I have made of homeschooling. It is often mentioned, but it is not relevant.
I’m pretty sure that there are homeschoolers who do a great job at the socialization end of things, and of every other aspect of home schooling.
But which ones, how many, how do we know?
I did critique Disney.com. That was one of the major points of my post. By the way, I never did hear back from them pursuant to my inquiry. (Thanks for bringing that up, I had meant to add that as an update.)
Your distinction that (I hope I paraphrase reasonably closely) a social event is not the same thing as a social skill is a reasonable one. In order to have a productive discussion on socialization, we have to understand what the relevant social skills actually are, and where and how they are acquired. That may be a longer discussion than you want to attach to this particular post (being about information flow, rather than specific perceived shortcomings of homeschooling).
Good point. I was more or less assuming that some amount of actual social interaction in a “normal” setting is better than either very little social interaction (the stereotypical homeschooler) or social interaction in the crowded competitive edgy environment of … I almost said conspecifics … other of the same age (the stereotypical highschooler)
What is a “normal” setting? I propose that the definition of “normal” varies by situation (subway platform versus birthday party). The range of expected social interactions varies by setting, as do the social skills that can be learned and practiced in each. I further propose that homeschooled children have as much opportunity as (perhaps more than) public schooled children to practice their social skills out in the real world. (There is also the question of what social skills can be learned in the home, but I’ll save that for another time.)
There is this part of the “Homeschoolers Don’t [Fill in the Blank]” meme that says that homeschoolers keep their children locked in the basement with nothing but a Bible and a Prof. Foster’s Horn Book grammar primer from 1885 for company. There may be a few (a very, very few, I hope) out there that do that, of course; there are pathological cases in any group. I don’t happen to know any, but I run in a pretty secular homeschool crowd. I can’t claim to speak for any family but my own in outlining what we actually do for social activities, but I can at least list some of what is available. Here are a few examples.
– Park days (same as school recess, only several hours long, and with much better supervision)
– Play dates (same as going to a friend’s house after school.)
– Classes (same as, well, classes.)
– Field trips (same as field trips. Except homeschoolers typically get a lot more of them.)
– Community theater, band, orchestra, et cetera
– Little Leaque, soccer, swim team, et cetera
– Astronomy Club at the local observatory, et cetera
– Scouts (as long as you’re not an atheist homeschooler)
– Birthday parties, beach trips, camping, and all those other things done on the weekends by “normal people.”
– And, yes…proms.
In other words, everything that is available to any normal family during the hours not spent at a desk. And homeschoolers typically spend fewer hours covering the same curriculum, so if anything they have more time to, well, “socialize.”
Tom: I very carefully selected the term “normal” because I did not want to specify what it would mean … I think humans having been a social species for a long time and having evolved from social species, etc. just more or less do it automatically.
There may be a few (a very, very few, I hope) out there that do that, of course; there are pathological cases in any group…
I hope so. Who knows?
Hi, Thanks for your Informative post. You take homeschoolers to task for not doing their due diligence by going out and finding the version of the list of their supposed failings with the slightly more conciliatory wording