ShareThisBy JOHN M. CRISP
Roger Moran would like for more of us to withdraw our children from the public schools and teach them at home. A member of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, Moran believes that public schools are places where God is ridiculed, where drugs and alcohol are rampant, and where promiscuous _ even homosexual _ lifestyles are encouraged.
According to a recent Associated Press article by David Crary, Moran complains, "Humanism and evolution can be taught, but everything I believe is disallowed."
Moran is a prominent proponent of a movement made up of groups like Considering Homeschooling Ministry and Exodus Mandate, which want to encourage as many as 1 million students to abandon public schools for homeschooling. If they're successful, 1 million new homeschoolers will approximately double the population of the homeschooled to something over 2 million.
But this idea hasn't achieved much traction with mainstream Baptists, who have rejected resolutions calling for the abandonment of the public schools at least three times at their annual convention. In fact, as it turns out, a Google search of "Roger Moran" reveals a spirited debate among Missouri Baptists in connection with him that carries on some of the most unseemly traditions of religious politics. It's gotten a little ugly, and someone has even taken the trouble to create an online game called "Moranopoly."
So it appears that most Baptists are unconvinced by Moran's marginal arguments and are reluctant to abandon public schooling as yet, resisting the call to jump on the homeschooling bandwagon.
I hope they continue to do so. Homeschooling is an entirely legitimate alternative, but the motivation to homeschool is often driven by the notion that our public schools are in corrupt disarray. This is an overstatement. In an Atlantic Monthly article (October 1997), Peter Schrag argues that part of the public schools' bad reputation stems from the fact that no one is particularly interested in good news about public schools because maintaining a sense of crisis (drugs, crime, low test scores) serves the ends of liberals, who want more money for schools, as well as conservatives, who want vouchers or homeschooling.
In fact, Schrag says, while many people believe that public education is a mess, about 70 percent maintain that their local schools are doing just fine.
Undoubtedly some public schools are awful, but others are excellent. My nephew graduated from high school in a moderately affluent Houston suburb. He received a fine public-school education that included literature, arts, music, sports and sufficient science and math to prepare him to study engineering at a good university. His public school was clean, modern and well equipped. He learned the trumpet in an excellent school band that eventually played in Carnegie Hall. Now he works for NASA.
Unfortunately, not every public school is like his. The great failure of public education is that our society has been unwilling to provide the same access to quality education at all schools that we provide at our best schools. Therefore, our schools appear to stumble from crisis to crisis amid periodic calls for their replacement with voucher programs and more homeschooling.
Abandonment rather than improvement of our public schools would be an unfortunate choice. I'm attracted to the ideas of the late Neil Postman, who argues in his book "The End of Education" that to the extent that our nation enjoys a common shared culture, that culture has been developed and is passed on from generation to generation at least partly by means of the shared knowledge and ideas that we acquire during our common experience in the public schools.
In other words, because our public schools are a place where we develop a set of common stories, myths and experiences _ George Washington crossing the Delaware, Betsy Ross sewing the first flag, even the fear of being sent to the principal _ they encourage a sense of a shared heritage that helps pull our country together.
Homeschooling and vouchers for private schools _ places that allow the teaching of the things that Roger Moran believes _ tend to pull us apart. All in all, our public-school system has served us well; it would be better to repair its faults than to abandon it.
(John M. Crisp teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. E-mail: jcrisp(at)delmar.edu.)
Flawed argumentation
Although my own children attend public school, and we have every intention of keeping them there, I find Mr. (Dr?) Crisp's article to be completely unconvincing.
No doubt there is "some" good news about our public schools that is positive, perhaps even "much" good news, but by Crisp's own admission there are serious problems with our public school systems. His argument is basically, "yes we fell and broke our arm, but we have really pretty artwork on the cast."
The anecdotal evidence that he gives regarding his nephew is just that, anecdotal. It's the ol’, "My grandfather smoked, ate eggs and bacon, and drank a quart of whiskey every day of his life, and he lived to be 90 argument." Anecdotes are usually fallen back upon by those who have a poor argument, and Crisp's argument is not only poor, it is almost non-existent.
Neil Postman is great. However, Crisp does not strengthen his argument by "quoting an authority" because he takes Postman out of context. Postman does indicate that the public schools serve in equipping us with a common set of experiences and values, however he does NOT claim that "ONLY" the public schools can serve in providing this function. My third grader could figure out what is wrong with this argument. A private school or home school can teach American History, American Literature, etc. just as effectively. In fact, research conducted by some of our nation's best research universities have found that private schools and home schools do a better job at teaching the canon from which such common knowledge is attained. Therefore, if Crisp's best argument is for the institution that can best employ such a curriculum, HE MAKES THE CASE FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND HOME SCHOOLS.
Crisp makes no adequate argument for the idea that private schools and public schools "tear us apart." This assertion aimed at the fear of his readers may be a good rhetorical tool, but it will fail with those who actually think about what he is claiming.
Crisp ultimately falls back upon a cliche, "our public-school system has served us well; it would be better to repair its faults than to abandon it." However, he seems to be more concerned with a "system" than with those who are in the system. For decades we have been told by the NEA and the elite that we should repair the system. In that time we have had generations of students that have gone unchallenged and have been turned out into the world unprepared. It is time we stop listening to the fallacious reasoning, cliches and rhetoric of the "let's stick with what once worked" crowd and took action to enrich the lives of our children and equip them to contribute and be positive members of our nation. That is our cultural heritage.
Do unvouchered private schools pull us apart?
Mr. Crisp.... You write well, but I
wonder about this sentence:
"Homeschooling and vouchers for
private schools ... tend to pull
us apart."
You did not include un-vouchered private
schools. Are you of the same opinion
about them?
Marshall Fritz
Chairman
Alliance for the Separation of School & State
http://schoolandstate.org/about.htm
Homeschooling 101
Required reading for anyone feeling an itch to bash homeschooling:
http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/ - the famous "Rudner Study" - 20,760 homeschooled kids across America took the standardized Iowa tests, and median scores fell between the 70th and 80th percentile of students nationwide and between the 60th and 70th percentile of Catholic/Private school students.
http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/files/homeschool.pdf - CATO/Fraser Institute Analysis - Establishes that home schooling is thriving, and empirically demonstrates that the HS kids have superior academic and socialization.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001033.pdf - US Department of Education Study - An interesting look at who homeschools. A similar study is found here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2004115
http://www.hslda.com/laws/default.asp - A state-by-state breakdown of homeschooling laws.
A couple thoughts
I would like to respond to a few of the points John Crisp makes:
"Homeschooling is an entirely legitimate alternative, but the motivation to homeschool is often driven by the notion that our public schools are in corrupt disarray."
There is huge variety in the motivation to homeschool the over two million children currently being taught by there parents. Some homeschool because of "corrupt disarray." Others homeschool because they believe they can give a better education. Still others homeschool for other reasons, including closer family ties, safty issues, and so on.
Please be very careful when saying that most parents homeschooling for just one reason, because there is no one reason. My initial reason was because after twelve years of public schools I had lost my love for learning. It took years to recover it. I did not want my daughters to lose their love for learning.
"In fact, Schrag says, while many people believe that public education is a mess, about 70 percent maintain that their local schools are doing just fine."
One of the fascinating things I've noticed is that as people learn about the current state of public education they become more concerned. Teachers, who have one of the best understandings of the current state of public education are much more likely than the average American to have their children in private schools. Because public school teachers know the problems with public schools they put their children in private schools.
"All in all, our public-school system has served us well; it would be better to repair its faults than to abandon it."
The public school system has been under going reform for decades, and it has gotten worse. The system is broken. I will not sacrifice my children for some hope that eventually it will get fixed.
From my point of view
Most of my homeschooled piers intimidate me with their intelligence.
I've been brought up in a couple of Corpus's suburban public schools and I do feel that I've been educated justly, but I do happen to find the idea of homeschooling fascinating.