I just read a very interesting diatribe entitled Homeschooling Is the Death of Education on the Wat Da Wat? Blog. In this blog, the writer insisted that pulling good kids out of public schools to homeschool damages public schools.
While she acknowledged that homeschooling was definitely good for the individual child, she felt that it was bad for public schools because homeschool flight will have a similar effect of white flight (not her words, but this was inferred). Only children whose parents had no other choice but to have their kids in public schools would be left, and there would be no quality parents to be involved in the schools. There would also be no parents with financial and political resources left in the schools.
This article alone and the choir that left positive comments proves to me that this would never happen. As long as there is a group of parents willing to risk the quality of their kid’s education for the sake of a system that does not take care of the child’s individual needs, public school will never be in danger en masse of homeschool flight.
As far as I can see, homeschoolers help to improve public schools by forcing them to compete with the option of a real quality education. In fact, many school systems have found ways to bring homeschoolers back into their folds with new and improved programs and options for children. Public school virtual academies and homeschool access to public school courses have shown this.
Finally, I would like to address an analogy used to show how damaging homeschooling is to public schools. And I quote:
If your house is burning, will you abandon it or will you put out the fire? Some may argue that it’s not their house that’s burning. That maybe true, but you still live in the same neighborhood and if you allow your neighbor’s house to burn, the fire might spread and engulf your own house. And when this happens, who will be around to help you put out the fire? It certainly won’t be your neighbors because they’re doing the same thing you are doing, either just worrying about their own house or they are on their way out of your neighborhood.
Well, if MY house was burning, I would gather my children and remove them from the building. Then and only then, would I attempt to put out the fire and call the authorities. If MY NEIGHBORS house were burning, I would bang on their door and tell them, and even risk my own life to get them out of the building. When the immediate danger was over, I would then go about repairing the home and even helping my neighbor repair their home. I would never try to put out a fire with my kids, or even my neighbors kids still sleeping soundly within the home.
The problem is my neighbor refuses to see the fire for what it is and is ignoring my cries. Not only is my neighbor telling me I am silly for removing my kids from the fire and attempting to rescue theirs as well, they are telling me I am silly for fleeing the fire. In addition, my neighbor wants me to keep my children in a “building” that is obviously on fire while I swat at the flames with a dishtowel hoping for the best. For this reason I have to move my kids alone from the fire, and when they are safe (done with their schooling), I can then go back and advocate for the children still burning in the flames.
Read:
Extreme Homeschool Objections: Parents with Suspect Motivations
Extreme Homeschool Objections: Severely Unqualified Parents