The Liberty Papers

…is brought to you by the letter “E”

“E” for education, that is. While education isn’t one of my hot-topic items, two interesting articles arrived in my inbox around the same time this morning. First of all, Garry Reed identifies a key problem:

Last September the state of Maine gave their kiddos a lasting lesson. They tossed out the test results of a writing exam because 78 percent of the nearly 15,000 eighth-graders who took it blew it.

The state educrats decided that the test was flawed. They couldn’t blame the kids for being little know-nothings since that might permanently damage the darling’s tender little psyches and completely obliterate their self-esteem. And they obviously couldn’t blame the state’s public teaching corps since the teachers union could get the state’s professional public education administrative corps kicked out of their jobs.

So the problem had to be the test itself. And when the test is bad, you toss the results.

Jim Lesczynski discusses one solution over at the Daily News: homeschooling. Specifically, he dispels some common misperceptions about home-educated children:

I am always surprised when people ask me whether home-schooling is legal. Yes, I tell them, home-based education is permitted in all 50 states (although the degree of regulation varies greatly).

The most prevalent misconception is that home-schooled children lack socialization and are inadequately prepared for “the real world.” Not only is this untrue, but I contend that home-schoolers receive a far richer and more varied socialization than other students. This is especially true in a city like New York, with its museums, theater and multicultural population serving as the best training ground for healthy social behavior. And thanks to home-schooling support networks, home-schoolers participate in their own sports leagues, clubs and theatrical troupes.

The socialization myth is followed in popularity by the notion that all home-schoolers are religious fanatics. I do not know if that is true in other parts of the country – although I doubt it – but it is certainly not the case in New York City. My children are friends with other home-schoolers who are Christian, Jewish, Muslim and atheist. Their parents have myriad reasons for home-schooling – some have kids who are medically fragile, some want to build close bonds with their children, and others are libertarians who philosophically oppose government education. The fact that it is much easier to teach children at home is also boosting the number of people choosing to do so. There are more helpful apps, forums, and educational youtube songs than ever before that can help support the parents curriculum.

One of my friends has recently made the decision to home school her children. Apparently, the golden rule of homeschooling involves setting up a room in your house to become a dedicated classroom. Otherwise, the lines between study and leisure time can quickly become blurred. With this in mind, my friend told me that she has set up a classroom in her home office using some old furniture. Fortunately, she already had a desk and a few chairs but she did have to buy a whiteboard. She found an amazing new whiteboard on the Office Monster website so that she can write down important things for her children to remember, just like in a school classroom. Having seen her home office in person, I was so impressed with how it all came together and her children seem incredibly happy too.

Homeschooling does raise some important questions though. If home-schooled children routinely perform better than government-educated children, why do parents of home-schooled children have to pay for both the education of their kids and the education of the kids who go to government schools, too?