As a public-schooled student of 12 years, a home-schooling parent for the past six years and a taxpayer concerned with my increasing lack of freedoms, I strongly disagree with the editorial “Indiana needs standards for home schooling” (Jan. 5).
The opening paragraph states, “The Department of Education has no evidence that home-school parents do an excellent job.” The DOE does have evidence that home-school parents are doing an excellent job. Countless studies have shown that home-schooled students are testing above public-schooled children and are not lacking academically. One of the most recent studies, conducted by Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute titled “Homeschool Progress Report 2009: Academic Achievement and Demographics,” found after studying 11,739 students from all 50 states that on average, home-schoolers scored 37 percentile points above public school students on standardized achievement tests.
However, simply because home-school students test well does not mean that state standards or standardized testing needs to be in place. Unfortunately, there are those home-school parents who don’t do a good job of home-schooling their children, and they do give us all a bad name.
Even in light of that, I do not support home-school regulations in any way. One of the main reasons I don’t support home-schooling regulations is because the state’s standards are not the standards of others. The state certainly won’t test what we deem important in our school: a sound, biblical education, character training, obedience, strong academics, creativity, fine arts and more.
Many public-schooled students certainly wouldn’t pass my standards, and my children shouldn’t have to pass the state’s standards. I don’t have anything to hide; however, the question isn’t whether I and other home-school parents have something to hide or not, but whether we should have to prove something or not. Parents shouldn’t be held accountable to the state. The state – and its educators and educational system – should be held accountable to parents and taxpayers.
The editorial proposed standards for home schooling but did not address what the consequences would be of not passing the standards. What is the editorial board’s proposal for home-schoolers who do not pass possible state standards? Send the children to a public school? Because public schools certainly aren’t succeeding 100 percent. Have the state pay tutors to tutor my children? Many public-schooled students are failing standardized tests every day, and they aren’t being sent to my home school to improve.
The government has overstepped its bounds; children belong to their parents, not the government.
AMY SALEIK Fort Wayne
