FORMAL PUBLIC/PRIVATE SCHOOLING vs. HOME-BASED SCHOOLING by Jon N. Gresham 1986.
INTRODUCTION The educational alternative for younger children I wish to address is referred to as "...home schooling or home-based education, in which parents, instead of having their school-aged children in formal schools during 'school hours,' teach them at home and in the world around the home, using the [formal) school as a resource only if and when they wish to" (27:2). Formal school is used here to refer to public or private school institutions using discrete, age-segregated classrooms. Legality of home schooling does not seriously enter into this discussion because the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as state courts, have upheld the legal right of parents to control the education of their children (62-68). My position is that I support the use of formal school for the later years in a child's education, but believe that, for many families, home-based schooling is more appropriate for meeting the real needs of young children to prepare them to make a positive contribution to their society.
FORMAL SCHOOLING Opponents of home-based instruction and delayed formal schooling support justifiably that "the right of parents to control their children's education must be balanced by the right of the people in society to insure that all children are educated, and so to enact and enforce compulsory education laws .... The Supreme Court has upheld this [overarching] right on one ground and one only, namely, that under the police powers reserved to them, the states may protect society against the possibility that children may grow up so ignorant that they will be a burden to the society, unemployable and unable to carry out the minimum duties of citizenship."(27:2). This appears to be the standard against which the education of children must be measured--whether children are being educated to where they are able to contribute to society. Education towards responsible citizenship is most vital in the earlier years of a child's life.
Early childhood is a critical time for social, emotional, and intellectual growth. Supporters of early public schooling advocate "...more formal, academic types of instruction" at an early age (23). They seem to base their position on three types of arguments: "...a) the earlier we start a child on the formal academic path, the earlier he will finish and the cheaper the total educational cost; b) learning comes easily to the young child, and we should take advantage of the [child's] ...learning facility and eagerness to learn; and c) intellectual growth is rapid in the [younger] years and instruction will help to maximize that growth while failure to provide appropriate intellectual stimulation may curtail the child's ultimate level of achievement ...... (17:137). Research indicates that there seems to be a minimum level of stimulation necessary for children to realize their abilities, and if the level of stimulation is beneath that minimum level, then the children do not reach their full potential. An early formal education would seem to ensure that sufficient stimulation would be available to all children. Elkind (ibid) compares this stimulation to physical growth, where poor diet can stunt a child's physical stature, but an over-rich diet will not produce growth beyond certain biological limits. Types of stimulation commonly available in the formal schools are cognitive stimulation and instruction. These are provided through play, individualized instruction, and "discovery learning," such as dramatic plays and make-believe interactions with other children. Piaget (51) stresses the importance of social interchanges with peers as important to the overcoming of selfcenteredness; this promotes a more mature outlook on life.
Proponents of formal education oppose home-based education on the basis that children are deprived of their just development and that society becomes more diverse and less conformed to behavioral norms of sociability, psychomotor skills, and developmental aspects of the child's brain, senses, cognition, or coordination. Typical of the ideologies of organizations supporting early, formal education is that of the California Task Force on Early Childhood Education. The report issued by this task force proposed to achieve the "maximum development of every child" by requiring "school districts to restructure and expand existing programs [of academic schooling down to age four]"(44:615). This would allow the use of competency testing at lower levels of education to determine whether children were achieving age-group norms established by educators at the state level. If children were not meeting the state requirements, they could be given "special help." This would allow the state's professional educators to track the development of children, watching for students who were not fitting into the educational mainstream. Such attention to standardization might be impractical for home educators who cannot easily compare their children with other children learning under the state system.
Teacher qualification is another area where formal schooling systems are able to regulate the academic capability of instructors. While many home educators are college educated, and many have advanced degrees in early childhood education and teaching, others do not have credentials showing an educational background for teaching in formal classroom settings, and skills in conventional classroom management techniques. Some home educators do not have even a high school diploma and yet are teaching their children math and science by correspondence courses, trusting that the materials contained in the correspondence curricula are adequate for providing the education needed by their children when used in a one-to-one tutoring situation.
Professional educators are supposed to be trained in diagnosing psychological and physical problems that parents may not recognize in their day-to-day, hour-by-hour interaction with their children. Many parents may lack confidence in deciding on materials and methods, and may also doubt their ability to teach. This differs from professional teachers who have had formal classes in methods and materials, practice teaching, and training in educational psychology. Parents may be afraid of working with their own children. If they do not have the respect of their children, they will have trouble getting their children's cooperation.
Home teaching does require a major investment of time and energy, in addition to maintaining the normal duties of running a home. Resource availability may limit home-schooled children from experiencing the full range of stimulation available in large-scale programs. Formal schools often have multi-media rooms, with movies, films and filmstrips, computers, and other audio-visual aids which help the teacher to reinforce materials presented by lecture. Large schools often are able to hire professionals in art, computers, etc., to maximize their ability to stimulate the children. The area of socialization is perhaps one of the most heated topics in the comparison of public with home schools. Popular opinion assumes that children need interaction with a large group of age-group peers for long periods of time to acquire social skills. "Positive sociability is an outcome of mutual trust, cooperation, kindness, social responsibility, and altruism. Negative sociability involves ridicule, rivalry, antagonism, alienation, and narcissism"(43:155). The formal classroom provides an atmosphere where socialization takes place, by the children observing and imitating other children, with the more stronger and dominant members of the class often being imitated by the weaker and less dominant members.
HOME-BASED SCHOOLING Families usually adopt home schooling because of certain advantages not easily or commonly available in most formal school settings. Some reported advantages are (8:1). 1. More quality time available to train and influence children in all areas, in an integrated way 2. Opportunity for each child to received individual attention and have unique needs met 3. Parental control over influences such as ...peer pressure 4. Children's respect for their parents as teachers 5. Family unity, closeness, and enjoyment of each other 6. Development of confidence and independent thinking, away from the peer pressure to conform 7. Flexible schedule to accomodate parents' work and vacation times, plus options for many more activities 8. More time for children to explore and think 9. Enhanced communication between age groups due to a heterogeneous environment
10. Superior academic progress. Other factors that appear relevant also point out the need to seriously consider the possible benefits available to those who choose an educational alternative to the formal school program. Elkind (17) suggests, based on research done by Bloom (4) that "the rate of mental growth appears to decline as the rate of formal instruction increases." He goes on to say "There is, in effect, a negative correlation between mental growth and formal instruction!" Elkind also states that formal schools for young children "may have too little material for spontaneous practice in logical and mathematical thinking... (17:139)." Home schooling provides a continuous, day long setting for spontaneous learning of how to solve problems in reading, writing, speaking, and "logical and mathematical thinking." McCurdy (36:33-38) as summarized in Moore (41) "...found that genius derives from those situations in which children 1) spend a great deal of time with loving parents and other adults, 2) spend very little time with their peers, and 3) have the freedom to work out their own fantasies under these conditions. McCurdy concluded that our public school system is a 'vast experiment' that tends to 'suppress the occurrence of genius."' Bronfenbrenner (5:97-101), in comparing childhood in the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., claims that to the extent that young children adopt the values of their agemates, they suffer loss in their sense of self-worth, their optimism, their respect for parents, and their trust in peers. He states that "Central among the institutions which ...have encouraged these socially disruptive developments ['the age-segregated, and thereby often amoral or antisocial, world in which our children live and grow'] have been our schools."
Adams (1:12-14,19) claims that home schooled children average 30% above the national mean on standardized tests and demonstrate above-average behavior and sociability. Moore (41:63), on the basis of reviews of more than 8,000 studies of educational achievement of public, private, and home-schooled children, claims that no replicable research suggests that normal children should be formally schooled before age 8, and that "Whether the focus is on achievement, on behavior, on sociability, or on such other aspects of a child's development as the brain, the senses, cognition, coordination, or socialization, available evidence overwhelmingly suggests that, unless the child is handicapped or acutely deprived (a condition not necessarily linked to socioeconomic status), he or she should be allowed to develop physically and to explore personal fantasies and intuitions until somewhere between 8 and 12." Rohwer (54), as quoted by Moore (41:63) notes that "All of the learning necessary for success in high school can be accomplished in only two or three years of formal skill study ....meaning academic success for millions of school children who are doomed to failure under the traditional education system." Formal qualifications of the parent/teacher do not seem to surface as an important determinant of the quality or quantity of learning obtained by the child taught at home. Moore states that Bloom (3) and Nimnicht (46), early advocates of early formal education, support the view that the home is the best educational setting. There is s wealth of teaching materials available to help educate at home. One source is through accredited correspondence schools. These schools provide all all necessary teaching materials, counselling, guidance, testing and record keeping, as well as diplomas and transcripts. Many formal schools have developed "satellite school" or "home extension" arrangements whereby home schooled or private-schooled kids may use the art, computer, music, athletic, and audio-video facilities of the formal school. They demand accountability as a motivation to the parent/teacher, as well as often-needed counsel and advice. Publishers also provide learning materials to home educators.
An advantage of this is that materials can be used from a mixture of grade levels and publishers. The cost is often lower and individual books may be ordered to supplement other programs or to use for remedial work to catch a child up in a certain subject. The parent may choose different options at different stages of the child's growth, and may also include formal education at various times.
"Parents who provide for their growth will have enthusiastic, outgoing, and creative children. If their children are the reflective type, this will provide a depth which builds quiet confidence. Having been treated as persons, they are secure. This means they've been loved, respected, talked with, listened to, read to. They have shared experiences with the family, and have had freedom to play alone and with friends. Such children will be eager to explore life without a sense of boredom. They will think, and express their thoughts. They are eagerly trying to master new skills. Why does the school institution often blunt this interest? ...Often [the child] has his initiative subordinated to a schedule which has been worked out according to pragmatic factors other than his creativity and needs. He has to try to become interested in hours of listening to talking. There may be no time for him to talk or to express himself. ...If minds are interested, skills are being learned, loving relationships are enjoyed, creativity is encouraged, beauty in nature, art, and music is appreciated, hours are spent in free play, and children learn to climb, swim, ride, canoe, ski, or skate--why, these children will be well on the way to having their sinful natures put in the back seat! Sinful natures expand like a malignancy at any age with loneliness, mental poverty, boredom, passivity, hunger, tiredness, and deprivation of daily contact with the rich source material of goodness--the Word of God"(33:91-147).
SUMMARY I believe, on the basis of literature reviewed and actual home schools personally observed (in addition to my own family's great success with schooling our children at home, is that children placed in formal, institutional educational settings before the age of nine or ten are unduly hampered from reaching their full potential--intellectually, socially, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I found no reputable studies claiming that an early formal education was beneficial to normal children, or that adequate socialization was lacking in home school settings. Education, as it is found in everyday life to a child, is to be appropriate to the needs and mind of that child. Children have a voracious appetite and ability to learn while they are young and work, to children, is part of the game of life. My three year-old loves to be allowed_ to help set the table or vacuum the carpet or wash the windows. The dozens of questions that always occur while we work together lead into explanations of chemistry ("why does Windex get the window clean?"), physics ("how does the vacuum cleaner pick up dirt?"), math ("if we have 3 windows and I wash one, then are there two for you to wash?"), English ("did I lie down or lay down?"), or geography and history ("where did you live when you were little?"). I do support the institutions of public and private formal schools, especially from eleventh grade onwards. Once most (but not all) children reach their mid-teens, they are physically more mature and _then_ able to sit still for long periods of time, in the midst of a crowd, and try to learn from hours upon hours of lecture. Most young children are not ready for such a structured environment. However, formal schooling is a system by which parents who are unable or unwilling to teach their own young children can help their children to attain to some socially acceptable level of education. The resources available, in the hands of "qualified" educators, can help children to learn and grow. However, for parents who are willing, home schooling provides an opportunity to directly "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it"(Proverbs 22:6). In my opinion, children forced to attend formal schools at a young age are being deprived of the optimum learning environment--home-based schooling, learning through work and play, structured and unstructured, from books and from life.
As Alvin Toffler writes in The Third_ Wave, "Families should be encouraged to take a larger--not smaller--role in the education of the young. Parents willing to teach their own children at home should be sided by the schools, not regarded as freaks or law breakers. And parents should have more, not less, influence on the schools"(60:349350). Home, with parents, is the best school.
References and Related Publications 1. Adams, J. "Home Schooling: An Idea Whose Time Has Returned," Human Events 15 September, 1984 (12-14). 2. Bandura, A., Ross, D., and Ross, S.A. "Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models" Journal of Abnormal and Social Psycholoay 52, 1961 (575-582). 3. Bloom, B.S. All Our Children Learning (1980) Washington, DC; McGrawHill. 4. Bloom, B.S. Stability and Change in Human Characteristics (1964) New York: Wiley & Sons. 5. Bronfenbrenner, U. Two Worlds of Childhood: U.S. and USSR (1970) New York: Simon & Schuster. 6. Bronfenbrenner, U. "The Social Ecology of Human Development" Brain and Intelligence: The Ecology of Child Development Richardson, F., Ed. (1973) Hyattsville, MD: National Educational Press. 7. Campbell, R. How _to_ Really Love Your Child (1983) Wheaton, IL: Victor. 8. Christian Home Schools. Questions & Answers Concerning Home Schooling Unpublished paper, Christian Home Schools. 8731 NE Everett St., Portland, OR 97220. 9. Davis, H.M. "Don't Push Your School Beginners" Parent's Magazine October, 1952 (140-141). 10. Dewey, J. "The Primary Education Fetish" Forum 25, 1898 (314-328). 11. Dobson, J. Dare to Discipline (1973) Wheaton, IL: Tyndale. 12. Dobson, J. Hide or Seek; How to Build Self-Esteem in Your Child (1979) Old Tappan, NJ: Revell. 13. Dobson, J. The Strong-Willed Child: Birth Through Adolescence (1980) Wheaton, IL: Tyndale. 14. Doman, G. How To Teach Your Baby To Read_ (1975) Garden City, New York: Dolphin Books, Doubleday & Company. 15. Doman, G. Teach Your Baby Maths (1982) London: Pan Books. 16. Education Commission of the States. _Early Childhood Development, Alternatives _for Program Development _in _the _States (1971) Denver, CO: The Commission. 17. Elkind, D. "The Case for Academic Preschool: Fact or Fiction?" Young Children_ January, 1970 (132-140). 18. Elkind, D. "Development studies of figurative perception". in L.P. Lipsitt & H.W. Reese (Eds.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior (1969) New York: Academic Press. 19. Engel, M. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Golden Hair- Some Thoughts on Early Childhood_ Education_ Unpublished paper, National Demonstration Center in Early Childhood Education, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C. 20. Engel, M. The Care and Feeding of Children for Fun and Profit: Some Thoughts on Day Care Unpublished paper, National Demonstration Center in Early Childhood Education, Washington, DC. 21. Fisher, J.T. and Hawley, L.S. A Few Buttons Missing (1951) Phladelphia: Lippincott. 22. Forester, J.J. "At What Age Should a Child Start School?" The School Executive. March, 1955 (80-81). 23. Fowler, W. "Cognitive Learning in Infancy and Early Childhood". PsycholoRical Bulletin 59, 1962 (116-152). 24. Geber, M. "The Psycho-Motor Development of African Children in the First Year, and the Influence of Maternal Behavior" Journal of Social Psychology 47, 1958 (185-195). 25. Goodlad, J. "A Study of Schooling: Some Findings and Hypotheses" Phi Delta Kappan March, 64, 1983 (7). 26. Hansel, T. What Kids Need Most In A Dad (1984) Old Tappan, NJ: Revell. 27. Holt, John. The Constitutional Basis of Home Schooling Unpublished paper, Holt Associates, Inc. 729 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116. 28. Keniston, K. All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure Report of the Carnegie Council on Children. (1977) New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 29. King, I.B. "Effect of Age of Entrance into Grade 1 Upon Achievement in Elementary School" Elementary School Journal February, 1955 (331336). 30. LaHaye, B. How To Develop Your Child's Temperament (1977) Irvine, Ca: Harvest House. 31. Leach, P. _Baby _& _Child (1981) London: Penguin. 32. Lindsey, S.H. "Educational Freedom" Freeman June, 1986 (210-212). 33. Macaulay, S.S. For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School (1984) Westchester, IL: Crossway Books. 34. Mason, C. Home and School Education_ (1953) London: The Scrivener Press. 35. Mawhinney, P.E. "We Gave Up On Early Entrance" Michigan Educational _Journal 41, 1964 (25). 36. McCurdy, H.G. "The Childhood Pattern of Genius" Horizon 2, 1960 (33-38). 37. McLeod, J., Markowsky, M.D., and Leong, C.K. "A Follow Up of Early Entrants to Elementary Schools" Elementary School Journal 73, 1972 (10-19). 38. Mermelstein, E. and Shulman, L.S. "Lack of Formal Schooling and the Acquisition of Conversation" Child Development 38, 1967 (39-52). 39. Moore R.S. School Can Wait (1979) Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press. 40. Moore, R.5. "The School at Home". Moody March, 1984 (18-20). 41. Moore, R.S. "It Depends on Your Aim". Phi Delta Kappan September, 1985 (62-64). 42. Moore, R. and Moore, D. Home Grown Kids: A Practical Handbook for Teaching Your Children at Home (1983) Waco, TX: Word Books. 43. Moore, R. and Moore, D. Home Style Teaching: A Handbook for Parents and Teachers (1984) Waco, TX: Word Books. 44. Moore, R.S., Moon, R.D., and Moore, D.R. "California Report; Early Schooling for All?" Phi Delta _Kappan June, 1972 (615-677). 45. Murray, A. _How_ To Raise Your Children For Christ (1975) Minneapolis, MN: Bethany Fellowship. 46. Nimnicht, G.P., as quoted in Hoffman, B.H. "Do You Know How to Play with Your Child?" Woman's Day August, 1972 (46,118-120). 47. Painter, G. Teach_ Your Baby (1982) New York: Simon & Schuster. 48. Parsons, C. "Let Children Start School When They're Ready!" Phi Delta Kappan September, 1985 (61-62). 49. Peterson, D.L. "Education: State Coercion or Free Choice" Freeman December, 1984 (709-714). 50. Phillips, M. Building Respect. Responsibility, and Spiritual Values In Your_ Child (1981) Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House. 51. Piaget, J. The Moral Judgment of the Child (1948) Glencoe, IL: Free Press. 52. Piaget, J. The Early Growth of Logic in the Child (1969) New York: Norton. 53. Robinson, R.L. Copensatory Education and Early Adolescence (1973) Menlo Park, CA; Stanford Research Center. 54. Rohwer, W.D. "Prime Time for Education: Early Childhood or Adolescence?". Harvard Educational Review 41, 1971 (316-341). 55. Schaefer, E.S. "Toward a Revolution in Education: A Perspective from Child Development Research" The National Elementary Principal September, 1971 (18). 56. Schaeffer, E. Hidden_ Art (1971) Wheaton, I1: Tyndale House. 57. Schaeffer, E. What Is a Family? (1975) Old Tappan, NJ: Revell. 58. Schaeffer, F. A Christian Manifesto (1981) Westchester, IL: Crossway. 58. Schimmels, C. How to Help Your Child Survive and Thrive in the Public School (1982) Old Tappen, NJ; Revell. 59. Strauss, R.L. How to Raise Confident Children (1984) Grand Rapids, MI; Baker Book House. 60. Toffler, A. The Third Wave (1980) New York: William Morrow & Co. 61. Trelease, J. The Read-Aloud Handbook (1982) New York: Penguin. 62. U.S., SUPREME COURT. "Pierce vs. Society of Sisters" 268 U.S. 510 (1925). 63. "Farmington vs. Tokushige" 273 U.S. 284 (1927). 64. "Fowler vs. Rhode Island" 345 U.S. 67 (1953). 65. "Griswold vs. Connecticut" 381 U.S. 479 (1965). 66. "United States vs. Seeger" 380 U.S. 163, 166 (1965). 67, "Welsh vs. United States" 398 U.S. 333 (1970). 68. "Wisconsin vs. Yoder" 406 U.S. 205 (1972). 69. Ward, T. Values Begin at Home (1979) Wheaton, IL: Victor. 70. Weikart, D.P., Deloria, D.J., and Lawsor, S. "Results of a Preschool Intervention Project" longitudinal Evaluations of Preschool Programs Ryan, S. (Ed.), 1974 (125-133) Washington, DC; Office of Child Development. 71. Welch, Sue, Wells, Ginny, and Wiggin, E.E. "Counting the Cost". Moody March, 1984 (28-30). 72. Whitehead, J.W. "Courting the Right". Moody March, 1984 (22-24). 73. Whitehead, J. and Bird, W. Home Education and Constitutional Liberties (1984) Westchester, IL: Crossway.
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