Queen of the Jumble

I’ve pretty much always held the assumption that public or private school is superior to homeschooling.  Not based on any kind of facts or personal experience, it just seemed logical to me that any old parent couldn’t be qualified to give a child all of the proper education that they would otherwise receive from trained professionals at facilities designated for learning.  Even when having conversations with others about it I almost boasted about how I would never keep my kids from experiencing a “normal” childhood and being able to play and grow with other children their own age.  It seemed so obvious that homeschooled kids must be less capable of having “normal” social skills and that they would miss out on important activities and events that often come with going to public school.  So, as ashamed as I am to admit it, I was pretty biased and somewhat prejudice.  The strange thing is though that I’ve known a few homeschooled kids in my lifetime and they were all really bright, outgoing, down-to-earth people with a good head on their shoulders.  That should’ve been enough to at least make me question my opinions on the subject but it wasn’t until I got into the chapter in my Sociology book about education that I came across some surprising information about homeschooling and my mind was completely blown.  Now, after being presented with the evidence, I have to say I am a reformed thinker on the matter and am starting to consider homeschooling my own kids.  Maybe not all the way through high school but at least through the elementary years.  Here are just a few reasons why:

“On the average, homeschooled students are involved in 5.2 activities outside the home, with 98% engaged in two or more.”  Meaning that any myths about homeschooled kids being locked up in their homes all day without any social interaction have been busted!

“…homeschooled children are more frequently exposed to a wider variety of people and situations than could be expected in a traditional classroom environment where their exposure is limited to 25-35 people of similar age and socioeconomic background…because homeschooled students are not peer-grouped in school, they learn to get along with a variety of people, making them socially mature and able to adjust to new situations.”

In a nationwide study measuring the central core of personality in homeschooled kids grades 4-12, the results indicated that “these particular homeschooled students have a higher and more positive self-concept than the public school students.”  Other studies have found that “homeschoolers’ academic self-concept was above the national average,” and that “homeschooled students were significantly better socialized and more mature than their public school counterparts.”

When studying self-esteem in adolescent girls, researchers found that, “unlike their public school counterparts, homeschooled girls did not typically lose confidence in themselves when their ideas and opinions were not embraced by their peers.”

“…studies show that [home schoolers] even have fewer behavior problems than children who attend conventional schools.”

“…researchers tested 21,000 home schoolers across the nation.  The results were astounding.  The median scores for every test at every grade were in the 70th to 80th percentiles.  The home schoolers outscored students in both public and Catholic schools.”

“Home schoolers receive an intense, one-on-one education.  Their curriculum - although it includes the subjects that are required by the state - is designed around the student’s interests and needs.”

When admission officers from 55 four-year universities from all over the country were surveyed, “56% of [them] expected homeschool graduates to be as successful as traditional high school graduates, and nearly 22% expected them to be more successful.”

“…only 4.2% of homeschool graduates consider politics and goverment too complicated to understand, compared to 35% of U.S. adults.”

“76% of homeschool graduates surveyed between the ages of 18 and 24 voted in a national or state election within the last five years, compared to only 29% of the relevent U.S. population.”

“None (homeschool graduates) were unemployed or on welfare.  Nearly 2/3rds were self-employed.  In addition, 94% of those surveyed stated that their home education prepared them to be independent persons, while 79% said it helped them interact with individuals from different levels of society.”

There is A LOT MORE information out there than what I’ve posted here today but these were just some of the facts and statistics that stood out to me the most, hope this was helpful or at least shed some new light on the topic!

Henslin, James M. Sociology A Down-To-Earth Approach.  Boston: Pearson, 2007. Print.

Jones, Paul, and Gene Gloeckner. “Perception of And Attitudes Toward Homeschool Students.” Journal Of College Admission 185 (2004): 12-21. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 July 2012.

Romanowski, Michael H. “Revisiting The Common Myths About Homeschooling.” Clearing House 79.3 (2006): 125. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 27 July 2012.

I just wrote an article for my sociology class explaining how religion has become a source of social control and what happens to the people who deviate from it.  One of the most intriguing pieces of information I came across was pertaining to economic inequality and religiosity.  The findings of one study say that individuals in the median on up to the highest incomes are 60-90% more likely to consider themselves religious than lower income individuals.  I feel perplexed by this and I’m trying to understand it. 

One theory I’ve been playing with is this: it’s not that the wealthier are innately more religious people but that they have the financial means to build places of worship, fund religious activities and organizations, and pay high salaries to skilled teachers and leaders.  They are able to create their own little worlds and communities where other like-minded and socially equal persons can congregate.  For some very affluent and wealthy church congregations, these communities are almost like a Disneyland of religious activities and culture.  So perhaps it isn’t that money makes people more religious or that being religious causes people to have money but rather the wealthy have the financial backup to make practicing their religion more accessible and sustainable.  If you live in a poor community and everyone who attends your church is poor, how will you pay for the repairs that need to be done on the building?  How will you afford to fix the A/C when it breaks down?  Who will provide supplies to the children for Sunday school?  Where will the money come from to pay for vacation bible school?

I think it’s safe to say religious institutions are a rich person’s game and like the bureaucracies that gained them their wealth in the first place, their places of worship have become more formal and more impersonal.  This isn’t to say that everyone who attends a church or even a large church has dollar signs in their eyes, it just means that there are some who are more privileged and therefore are more likely to become members of a privileged religious social class.  Meanwhile, the less economically powerful part of society must either do their faith alone or practice their faith in less than ideal circumstances.  If you knew that going to church meant that there would be no children’s ministry because there is not enough space for it or if you knew that you were going to have to use the porta potty outside because there’s no money to fix the plumbing…would you go?  If not, then are you still religious?

This brings me to my next question: Does regular attendance at a religious facility make individuals more likely to identify themselves as religious?  Regardless of whether or not they practice religious rituals at home (i.e. reading the bible, celebrating religious holidays)???  Something I’ll have to do a followup on!