Why homeschooling should not be placed on a higher standard than public
school
I went into some deep thought about how
homeschooling is thought of by the world as well as in America in various
states. The state governments in the extreme corners of the states do not seem
to be very allowing of any regular homeschool regiment. Speaking from a
perspective of living in the four corners of the United States at some point in
my homeschooling life, I can say that homeschooling is a very efficient process
when properly used and enjoyed, but can be diluted by the system surrounding it
which is regulated by the state government's school board which has mostly
public school oriented administrators. Homeschoolers should not be placed on a
higher standard than public school students and both should have equal
opportunity in all fields, from military to educational, and even to get out of
high school.
Georgia state legislation, according to the Home
School Defense and Law Association, requires that every homeschool student have
at least a single four and a half hour unbroken session of learning each day,
and requires a detailed report on how much the student only seemed to learn.
Though this as a concept isn't bad, the sheer fact that it needs to be an
unbroken session (meaning no breaks and constant "Learning") just
restricts the freedoms of a homeschooler to make them work more to get a proper
education on their schedule. Florida has less of a time frame but still
requires that the session be unbroken and uninterrupted even with family
emergencies. In order for homeschoolers to have a stable curriculum with
effective learning, they need to not be forced to sit and wait and be unable to
work in the manner that works best for them, rendering homeschooling useless.
The forces at work over in the Georgia legislative branch have made it
undesirable to homeschool, and therefore are just adding to the issue of
homeschoolers getting diplomas and college scholarships.
Texas is one of the few states that actually
understands homeschooling and frees it up to where someone just needs to say
they are homeschooling their child to qualify and be able to graduate.
According to the laws in Texas, a homeschooling parent would only need to
submit a letter of intent to homeschool in order to be granted the rights to
homeschool. Granted, this may just add to the false stereotype of "Dumb
Texans"; however, there are plenty of intelligent people who have come out
of those systems because they were able to achieve more by recalling detail of
what they learned versus what a manuscript from a public high school had told
them in interviews. Frank Mattosh, a retired Marine and survivor of Pearl
Harbor, said “Homeschooling helped me develop the problem solving skills and
decision making that helped me get my men to safety on that day.” Several
Commanders and Captains in the Navy in modern day America came out of
homeschooling programs, including: Commander Chad Hennings, Commander Andrew
Wiest, and Captain Douglas Perry.
Though there are instances where homeschoolers and
parents of those homeschoolers end up abusing the system to "Make up"
a diploma so that they're not forced into spending more money or having to send
in the actual reports and various paperwork involved to make sure education is
being given to the child. Though, this mindset still creates a problem of
homeschoolers having to do more to get their diploma and to apply to colleges
and various other organizations, such as the military. Personally, I’ve had
trouble moving about the states and getting the letter of intent to homeschool
into the school boards as they do not agree with homeschooling proper. The
instances of peoples’ own choices into faking homeschooling are part of what
makes it more difficult to advance in most careers in life, and only serves to
worsen the reputation of Homeschoolers. Though, if any school board or
administration had faith in the families and not wanting just more grades into
their system, homeschoolers would have a much easier time living their daily
lives.
The Military applies more harsh standards to
homeschoolers by making them jump through more hoops to try to enlist or even
get on commission to be an officer. They have to make better test scores in
both PT and the ASVAB to enlist in any portion of the military, while public
schoolers have to make much less score points to pass and enlist. These tests
are respectively the physical fitness and training and the actual test, much
like the SAT or ACT, to get into the military. This unfairness results in both
a rejection of the homeschoolers who met the public school standard, and only
brings more competent homeschoolers into the military itself be it Marine,
Navy, Air Force, or Army. A manner to make the military equal opportunity with
filters is to make the scores equal for all walks of life, not making any
mandatory pre-requisites or certifications to attempt to join the military.
After all, the military was designed
Homeschoolers
themselves are not incompetent, or even unfit for college. Many Ivy League
colleges take in a decent amount of homeschoolers yearly. Each year Harvard University takes up to 10
applicants who have had some home schooling. “In general, those kids do just
fine,” says David Illingsworth, senior admissions officer. He adds that the
number of applications and inquiries from home schoolers is “definitely
increasing.” A Havard administrations officer also stated that homeschool
students “have done very well. They usually are very motivated in what they
do.” Where the students still have to do more even to apply. Though any Ivy
League would be cautious about who they allow into the system, so it makes
sense to double check homeschoolers in areas of confirmation. Results of the
SAT and SAT II, an essay, an interview, and a letter of recommendation are the
main requirements for home educated applicants. On top of that, we have Jon
Reider, Stanford’s senior associate director of admissions. “Home-schoolers
bring certain skills – motivation, curiosity, the capacity to be responsible
for their education – that high schools don’t induce very well,” which is
further reinforcing that homeschoolers need to be taken seriously and placed on
the same level of public schoolers.
All
of these facts are important because homeschooling has proven to be an effective
learning system, but a homeschooler as smart as a public schooler is forced to
do more to get into any kind of recognition or job outside of high school. The
truth is skewed by the lack of knowledge and understanding put out by school
boards and various teachers who want more students to acquire a higher pay by
taxes or raise, or even for better chances at tenure. Getting down to the
basics, Homeschoolers are generally accepted by the world in college primarily,
but have trouble in every other area if they have chosen not to get a college
degree, mostly seen in the military and various states. So no, homeschooling
shouldn’t be forced to do more in order to accomplish the same goals of public
schoolers in everyday life and should be given an equal opportunity in every
respect to advance their own education and career goals.
Sources: hslda.org, interview of Retired Marine 1st
Lieutenant Frank Mattosh, review of Texas Legislation (Unmarked)
