Editor’s note: This commentary is by Frank Mazur, a former EAI board member and representative from South Burlington, serving as chair of the Transportation Committee.
There’s parental concern that public education outcomes are declining and that diversity, inclusion and climate change are now the focus rather than core subjects of reading, writing and math. One parental option to re-set basic academic emphasis is homeschooling.
There are over 2.3 million homeschooled students. Advocates say homeschooling allows for a more flexible curriculum, facilitates the transfer of religious and/or moral convictions and spares children from liberal indoctrination, bullying and disruptive classrooms prevalent in public schools.
Parents have homeschool tools to help with curriculum. Their children typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public school students on standardize achievement tests. Students I’ve met had excellent social interaction skills, were more in-tuned with current events and very mature for their age.
The National Home Education Research Institute estimates homeschool population will continue to grow at an estimate 2-8 percent per annum. Growth in non-white/non-Hispanic is gaining in popularity among minorities.
Abraham Lincoln said “the philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” Parents are motivated to set values and beliefs in homeschooling since they don’t support today’s public school influence, direction and results.
Reprinted with permission from the Ethan Allen Institute Blog.