An Open Letter to Harvard Magazine: Homeschooling is Here to Stay
And it deserves to be.
Dear Harvard Magazine,
On May 2nd, I will graduate with a double B.A. in English and History. I plan on continuing my education into graduate work soon with the hopes of one day becoming a professor.
In the recent May-June issue of your magazine, Harvard professor Elizabeth Bartholet called for a “presumptive ban” on the practice of homeschooling, asserting that it is a “dangerous” and irresponsible form of education.
How do these two things connect? Well, myself and millions of others like me were home-educated for most, if not all, of our lives. Seeing as I have something of a dog in the fight, I’d like to add my voice in setting the record straight on what, quite frankly, is one of the most poorly-researched and misguided articles I have ever seen come out of a well-respected publication.
Let’s start with my story
As a child, my parents gave me the opportunity of a non-traditional education. What were the advantages to this? For one, I was able to start school early — I began reading at three and could test out of college-level spelling by the age of eight.
What allowed me to flourish as a child was the ability to have my education tailored to me. My parents knew me better than anyone else, so they knew what I responded to well. This resulted in a love of learning that I can only credit to homeschooling. By the time I was ten, the only way my parents could effectively punish me was by taking away my books.
When I got to high school, the benefits became exponentially more obvious.
Personally, I can’t imagine anything preparing me for college more. For the majority of my course work, I attended a liberal arts co-op once a week, got extensive tutoring, and received enough homework for the rest of the week. In between my times at co-op, I worked over 20 hours a week, played sports, and competed in debate, all with time left over to do my homework.
At sixteen-years-old, I learned invaluable time management skills because I was free to make my own schedule as I saw fit. Because of this, I was able to work a job, purchase a car, and graduate a year early. I don’t say any of this to brag; I can’t take credit for much of it.
Instead, I say all that to say this: homeschooling worked for me, and I’m not alone. When Dr. Bartholet suggests banning homeschooling, she is suggesting that we ban an alternative form of learning that not only is proven to work, it’s proven to work better than public education.
The data doesn’t lie
Here are three claims Bartholet makes that are not only unsupported by evidence, but completely untrue:
1. Homeschooling leads to abuse
One of Bartholet’s leading claims is that homeschooling could potentially lead to abuse. Her solution to this is the fact that school teachers and administrators are “mandatory reporters.” Now, this would make total sense if the argument could be made that teachers always curb abuse, but this simply isn’t the case. In fact, teacher abuse, along with bullying and suicide, run rampant in the public school systems.
In lieu of evidence for her claim, Bartholet cites a single example of a memoir detailing one experience of homeschooled abuse and extrapolates from there, saying that “that’s what can happen under the system in effect in most of the nation.” Put simply, she has no evidence aside from conjecture to back her claim. In fact, the evidence is quite stacked against her.
2. Homeschoolers lack diversity
The core of Bartholet’s argument boils down to this issue. Up to 90% of homeschoolers, the article claims, are driven by white, conservative Christian beliefs. This lack of diversity, she argues, is a threat to the democratic values of our nation.
Where these numbers came from, I’m unsure. Perhaps an estimate from the mid-90s? While homeschooling did become popular in Christian circles, it has since been adopted by a diverse group of people
In the modern day, people homeschool for a variety of reasons. For example, look at these statistics: The U.S. Department of Education found in 2012 that 64% of parents chose to homeschool for religious reasons, while 91% chose to homeschool because a concern about the environment of other schools and 74% because of dissatisfaction with academic instruction from public schools.
Additionally, homeschooling has become increasingly racially diverse; recent data tells us that African-Americans make up 8% of the homeschooling population while Hispanics make up 26%, and these numbers continue to rise.
3. Homeschoolers might not receive a meaningful education
Finally, Bartholet suggests that homeschoolers might not be receiving a meaningful education due to lack of restrictions. For that, again, she provides no evidence but argues that “an overwhelming majority of legislators and American people . . . would conclude that something ought to be done.”
Ignoring the fact that homeschoolers tend to score higher on achievement tests and graduate college at higher rates while still being well-socialized, Bartholet is arguing that we should put them in a system that continues to prove itself to be broken.
So, like Bartholet, I would argue the same. Something ought to be done.
Something ought to be done about a system that spends 93% more than the average country per student in post-secondary education (a number that continues to rise), yet has flatlined on test scores for over a decade.
Something ought to be done about a system that ignores the needs of its underprivileged students, leading to a school-to-prison pipeline that has become alarmingly evident in recent years.
Something ought to be done about a system in which bullying, abuse, and suicide runs rampant.
Homeschooling isn’t perfect. It’s not a fix to everything, and it doesn’t work for everyone. However, if it’s a game of pointing fingers, then Bartholet should be prepared for fingers to be pointed right back.
In summary
I’m disappointed that this conversation still has to be had. I’m disappointed that there are people out there who believe my education was inferior because I had it at home. Finally, I’m disappointed that those people can’t come up with a single piece of credible evidence to back their claims.
Without evidence, this feels like an out-of-touch, tone-deaf hit job on a form of education that has proven its mettle over decades of use.
If you are going to propose banning the lifestyle of millions of people, you should have good reason for it. The simple truth of the matter is this: there isn’t good reason. The public school system has absolutely no advantages on homeschooling.
In essence, Bartholet is arguing that what ought to be a personal parental decision — a liberty fundamental to our nation — be moved to the jurisdiction of an already bloated, under-performing federal government. This just can’t be a position that can be taken seriously — especially not without evidence.
I’m not against public-schooling. I’m not against private-schooling. All I’m asking is that we give homeschooling the credit it deserves. It worked for me. It worked for others. It might work for you, too.
Sincerely,
A homeschool graduate
