Education

Knowledge is power.

Francis Bacon, 1561-1626

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826

Child labor laws exist at least in part to promote education for children.  Of course, there are issues of safety, cruelty, health and disparity of pay since the children are unfair competition for adults who do the same job.  Children, you see, were paid less for the same amount of work. 

In 1832, the New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen argued that “Children should not be allowed to labor in the factories from morning till night, without any time for healthy recreation and mental culture,” and because it “endangers their . . . well-being and health”

The first federal laws against child labor were passed in 1916.

It was in making education not only common to all, but in some sense compulsory on all, that the destiny of the free republics of America was practically settled.

James Russell Lowell, 1819-1891

It is hard to say whether individualism (libertarianism), anti-intellectualism or sheer greed is driving the efforts to eliminate public education, or at least reduce it to an ineffective shell of its former glory.  Perhaps all three to different degrees lead conservatives to denigrate public education and simultaneously work to defund it. 

At one time, public schools were held responsible for decreasing competitiveness of American students compared with students from other countries.  Studies were conducted to see how to fix the system, but there have been no initiatives that have significantly improved the public education system.  Rather than attempt to make public schools more effective, many parents and legislators have made the decision that “alternative” education should replace public education, at least for some children.

Simultaneously, two trends in public education have taken hold for apparently similar reasons.  First, many people became enamored of Home Schooling.  Second, private schools were put forth as an example of excellence in education, and some states have promoted transferring public funds to private schools in order to support the education of children who would otherwise have only been able to afford public schools.

Some of the reasons behind these trends reveal something about the motives of the parents and legislators.  Public schools cannot endorse religion.  Public schools were said to be dangerous because of the high percentage of children from backgrounds that some associate with a tendency towards criminal activity (or a lack of morality).  Public schools were decaying physically, and the teachers were not accountable to the public.  Public schools teach evolution and other scientific ideas that may conflict with an interpretation of the Bible. 

(NCES)

Reason for homeschooling	Number of homeschooled students	Percent	s.e.
Can give child better education at home	415,000	48.9	3.79
Religious reason	327,000	38.4	4.44
Poor learning environment at school	218,000	25.6	3.44
Family reasons	143,000	16.8	2.79
To develop character/morality	128,000	15.1	3.39
Object to what school teaches	103,000	12.1	2.11
School does not challenge child	98,000	11.6	2.39
Other problems with available schools	76,000	9.0	2.40
Child has special needs/disability	69,000	8.2	1.89
Transportation/convenience	23,000	2.7	1.48
Child not old enough to enter school	15,000	1.8	1.13
Parent's career	12,000	1.5	0.80
Could not get into desired school	12,000	1.5	0.99
Other reasons*	189,000	22.2	2.90

Advocates of home or private schooling have conducted studies to prove that home or private schooling produced better (or at least similar) outcomes for students, but the results are disputed for various reasons.  Philosophically, public schools are intended to be an equalizing force in society for the economically disadvantaged under the assumption that equal opportunity for advancement is related to equal educational opportunity.  Opposition to home schooling also derives from a potential for social isolationism, child abuse and even religious extremism. 

There are also advocates for a complete lack of any formal teaching at home or elsewhere.  This idea is called “unschooling” or “natural learning” and assumes that children will learn what they need to know on their own without formal instruction.

When I reviewed the studies that examine home schooling, I found an overwhelming number of organizations whose agenda was specifically to promote home schooling.  Organizations with strong “right wing” philosophies from the Cato Institute to the TEA party have endorsed studies, but there is virtually no information from well conducted multicenter mainstream educational organizations.  This may be due in part due to the disorganization of home schooling (by design). 

I can’t say what the ultimate effect of such efforts to dismantle public schooling will be, but clearly home and private schooling are being promoted at the expense of public schools.

My suspicion, based in part on personal experience, is that many children who are home schooled (or “unschooled”) will be unable to be competitive with children who have had opportunities provided by public education.  My experience was that, despite a sincere effort to home school my son (at significant personal expense), my son has become trapped in a job that is relatively low paying with no opportunity for advancement.  Perhaps my son was never destined to compete for high paying jobs or great academic success, or perhaps it is just my personal failure, but how many other home schooled children did not receive scholarships for college, or simply “aimed lower” academically and financially because of their lack of exposure to competitive environments provided by public schools?

One parent’s disappointment with home schooling does not justify a prohibition against home schooling of course.  In fact, I suspect that many highly motivated parents will do better than teachers in public schools, but how many are simply lost to follow up?  How many would we classify as “dropouts”?  Studies of home schooling hopefully include all children that stay at home instead of attending public schools.  If they focus only on SAT scores, ACT scores or college admission testing, they will have missed children like my son.  He never took any of those tests, and he never obtained a college degree.  He would be invisible to any measure of success or failure of home schooling.

I have been wondering about the ultimate fate of these home-schooled children.  How do they fare in society at large?  How many become college educated?  How many enter the teaching profession?  How many obtain advanced degrees?  I have read at least one study that claims these children generally become productive members of society active in their communities.  That certainly sounds better than becoming a drug-addicted prostitute or gangster, but how does their achievement compare with their potential?  Are these children reaching some limited goals their parents are setting, or are they going beyond their parents’ expectations?  Can a genius accomplish as much with home schooling as he or she could have with the support of an educational establishment with resources to bring them to the pinnacle of their abilities?  Perhaps studies may reveal the impact of home schooling on a large scale, but measuring potential and matching that to accomplishment may be impossible. 

Charter, or private, schools are perhaps more capable of providing an environment that is at least similar to public schools in terms of socialization, although many private schools specifically cater to the prejudices of people who oppose public schooling because of sincerely mistaken ideas about science, history or race.  In some cases, indoctrination replaces teaching, and critical thinking is discouraged.

Can a private school that will not teach evolution produce students that are competitive in biological sciences?  Can parents who are themselves uneducated or otherwise ignorant consistently teach their children chemistry and mathematics and “graduate” students that can become chemists and mathematicians?

The diversion of public funds to private educational organizations via voucher programs facilitates a profit-based system less interested in education than profit.  Private enterprise does things only as well as necessary to continue to receive funds.  One must wonder though, what will become of voucher programs and public assistance to charter schools as public funds dry up because of declining revenue.  Won’t their incentive to promote universal education suffer from the same fate as public schools? 

There was recently a charter school in Michigan designed to provide educational opportunities for pregnant underprivileged children.  As part of the state’s austerity program, the school is being closed.  It seems that providing these kinds of services to these kinds of children was not the aim of the charter school program.  What now?  “Home schooling”?

If I were to speculate about the kind of society that we are “designing” for a future without public schools, I envision an agrarian society, or perhaps an industrial society where there are no opportunities for employment other than “unskilled labor” or, at best, skilled trade school graduates.  The rich and their progeny will always be educated, and for the accumulation of wealth, education provides a major advantage.

It is only the ignorant who despise education.

Publilius Syrus, First century B.C.