Homeschools Grow in Class Size

On March 14, I opened the Monterey Herald to read that a homeschooled 7th grader won the Monterey County 2011 countywide spelling Bee Championship. Even though the boy didn't compete against adults or college students, his win made me think of why a homeschooled student and not a product of public education won the Bee.

Let's face it. Americans, and Californians in particular, don't trust their public education system. In fact, a recent Trinity University study revealed that 48.9 percent of the American parents homeschooling their children believes that they provide better education at home than what their children could get at a public school.

Just as interesting, the same study also showed that 38.9 percent of the parents cited religious motives to be the reason for their children to stay at home. Now I'm thinking; what religion want its performers to stay away from others, perhaps even claiming its people to be of a superior kind? I can only think of Jehovah's Witness. I hope this doesn't mean that a little more than a third of Americans are Jehovah's Witnesses and that all of them are homeschooling their children. I'm confused. And slightly scared.

No matter if they are Jehovah's (Damn hard to spell) Witnesses or not, another study tells us that homeschooled kids outperform those educated by the public system. This must raise worries of the quality of US public education.

Continuous budget cuts resulting higher tuition and larger classes, leading to less attention per student, must have affected the common trust in public education. Anything else would be absurd and ignorant. With other words, I don't blame Americans for not trusting their somewhat morally bankrupt public institutions. Being an international student from a country were homeschooling is not only found frowned upon but is illegal, I have grown up with the belief that living in isolation often leads to a social handicap.

However, while other countries are banishing homeschooling, it is becoming an increasingly popular educational choice among US families. One may wonder why this is; why is it that homeschooling has grown in the US by roughly 20 percent per year over the last decade?

In my view there are an abundance of problems with parents having their offsprings stay at home to become educated, problems that reaches beyond social oddity. Even if the parents in some cases may be competent teachers, which could lead to spelling Bee victories, the main reason children are sent to school is to be educated by professionals over a wide range of topics. These professional educators have in their turn been educated, and have invested time and money to become just what they are: Professional educators, commonly referred to as teachers and professors.

Academic instructors devote their careers to teach one single topic; I find it hard to see how one homeschooling parent find it possible to provide the in depth knowledge over a multitude of subjects often without a teaching background.

But however, what do you do when that public school where you are supposed to send your child is receiving less and less funding, its classes are growing bigger and teachers and administration is getting laid off? Maybe it is time to join Jehovah?