Position Essay

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 1^st Lieutenant Frank Mattosh, review of Texas Legislation (Unmarked)