It's absolutely clear that homeschool kid's are producing great results. That is something I won't question. The statistic is very true.....
homeschool kids score on average in the 80th percentile
private school kids score on average in the 70th percentile
public school kids score on average in the 50th percentile
I don't question the validity of the above numbers. What I take aim is that you never hear in those studies just how many kids are in the above systems. Which are......
2.5 million kids are involved in some type of homeschool
7 million kids in private school
50 million kids in public school
How can we accurately compare numbers like that in regards to percentiles? Public schools have 50,000,000 million kiddo's. Who come from all sorts of backrounds. From homes of neglect or abuse. To genuinely purposeful and loving homes. With kids who have learning disabilities, special needs, and emotional problems. The control factors are much less. Public schools by law have to take everyone. Private schools can deny or accept whom they want and control population size. Homeschoolers have even more control over the factors. There is no doubt that private or home school systems CAN have an advantage on teacher to student ratio as well.
For example when we compare kids on the same test inside those 3 systems....naturally public school numbers will always be lower.I really want to find a specific study on how students who come from purposeful Christian homes who place a strong emphasis on education do on those same test. To me that would tell me more than generalized comparisons.
Again I am not questioning the results of home or private schooled kids. I am just questioning the validity of how we compare the academic percentiles of students among the 3 systems.
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I think academics are not as important as building kids with character. Society places way too much emphasis on academics. Where in the Bible does it say you have to be smart or you have to be athletic? It doesn't. It just says "do all to the best of your ability". so the fact that emphasis is placed on this at all as a guideline, dumb. How about coming back 10 years after they graduated high school and seeing what kind of people they are instead of just using academics and test scores as the final ruling.
ReplyDelete"I really want to find a specific study on how students who come from purposeful Christian homes who place a strong emphasis on education do on those same test."
ReplyDeleteIt isn't exactly what you are looking for, but you might check out Brian Ray's Home Educated and Now Adults. The book is a 128 page report of a survey he did back in 2003.
Thanks Henry! I'll take a look. It doesn't appear like it answers the specific question like you mentioned but I am sure it is very informative.
ReplyDeleteI just grow weary over fellow Christians slamming their Christian sibling who for one reason or another has chosen public school.