Here's a nice little article from NewScientist.com, leading off with a description (completely unbiased, of course) of Patrick Henry College as a doctrinaire breeding ground for scientific illiterates. Writes intrepid investigator Amanda Gefter (after all, she courageously invaded a den of Evangelical Christianism):
"New Scientist investigated how home-schooling, with its considerable legal support, is quietly transforming the landscape of science education in the US, subverting and possibly threatening the public school system that has fought hard against imposing a Christian viewpoint on science teaching." [Emphases mine]
As opposed to the thoroughly godless viewpoint currently imposed on Christians in the public school system, of course. It's their state-given duty to brainwash us.
I don't know about y'all, but I'm getting a bit weary of the "homeschooling as theocon conspiracy" meme. It's been running here in the local papers lately as well.
Were you aware that we homeschoolers are "well organised from the top down, led by groups with strong political ties" and mind-controlled by the likes of "the Discovery Institute, Exodus Mandate, HSLDA and Patrick Henry College"? Now, thanks to Ms. Gefter, you know the truth.
Not that she's bigoted towards Christians, or anything, or would ever try to construct a bogeyman out of homeschooled six-year-olds.
However, we might do well to question Ms. Gefter's investigatory prowess when it's apparent she doesn't even know how to Google. Here are some facts that are just a tad more accurate, and freely available online, from the National Center for Education Statistics [emphases mine]:
Question:
How many children are homeschooled in the United States?
Response:
In 2003, the number of homeschooled students was 1.1 million, an increase from 850,000 in 1999. The percentage of the school-age population who were homeschooled increased from 1.7 percent in 1999 to 2.2 percent in 2003. The majority of homeschooled students received all of their education at home (82 percent), but some attended school up to 25 hours per week. Twelve percent of homeschooled students were enrolled in school less than 9 hours per week, and 6 percent were enrolled between 9 and 25 hours....
...Parents give many different reasons for homeschooling their children. In 2003, the reasons most frequently reported by parents as being applicable were concerns about the school environment (e.g., safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure) (85 percent of parents); a desire to provide religious or moral instruction (72 percent); and dissatisfaction with academic instruction (68 percent). As their most important reason, parents most often cited concerns about the school environment and a desire to provide religious or moral instruction.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2005). The Condition of Education 2005 (NCES 2005-094) Indicator 3.
Ms. Gefter would have us believe that a mere 2.2 percent of all U.S. school-age children are a huge threat to the stranglehold secular humanism exerts over our public schools. That's not even taking into account that parents often homeschool not primarily for religious reasons, but because their local schools are dismal failures at teaching science--or even reading, writing, and arithmetic, for that matter. Either that, or the unsafe school environment would threaten the welfare of their children. (I mean, for gosh sakes, school kids in the U.S. are being taught how to duck potential shooters nowadays!)
Not all U.S. homeschoolers are Christians, and not all Christian homeschoolers are evangelical. It's safe to say a decent percentage of that oh-so-scary 2.2 percent is not even being taught creationism.
Not that there is a single thing wrong with passing on one's faith to one's children, mind you. It's not yet criminal in the U.S. to believe that God created the heavens and the earth. Frankly, I don't see why it's any of Amanda Gefter's business what our family believes or where my children choose to go to college. There's that old American principle of freedom of association, you know. It must be out of fashion in the U.K. and across Europe. Oh yes, that's right...German homeschoolers are told to put their kids in school or go to jail. That's infinitely preferable to the American way of doing things.
In the interests of full disclosure, I'm going to out myself as a PHC faculty wife. Yep, PHC is where hubby has worked since August. And I must say that it's not surprising at all that PHC students are well-received within the Beltway, especially by a purportedly conservative White House. These kids are brilliant. I guarantee you they could out-reason any ivy league student, given the PC hogwash that's taught on college campuses these days. And in fact, they have.
No wonder Ms. Gefter finds them so intimidating.
(Big hat-tip to my 'Shed buddy who posted this link. ;-) )
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Nov. 13, 2006 - Untitled Comment
"This lack of regulation may be skewing science education in US homes, says Alters. "Poll after poll shows that approximately one out of two people in America reject evolution. They think the scientists, teachers and textbooks are wrong," he says. An even higher proportion of home-schooling parents may reject evolution, Alters thinks. "And they're going to be teaching science?"
Didn't Alters just say 1 in 2 people rejects evolution? Hello???? Doesn't that fact in itself say something about the truth of evolution?
And I thought it was interesting that the only "wonderful homeschool parents" were the evolutionary biologists!
brother... shaking my head. We homeschoolers are so threatening right?