How Then Shall We School?
Oliver S. Thomas November/December 1999
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Home schooling is all the rage nowadays. Thousands of parents are pulling their children out of public schools to try their own hand at teaching. In a spirit of self-reliance they become do-it-yourself professors.
Some evangelical leaders are jumping on the home-schooling bandwagon. Exodus 2000 and Rescue 2010 are the most dramatic manifestations of a growing movement to dump public schools in exchange for home schooling or private religious academies.
Of course, not all of this is bad for the children. Some of the best-behaved children I know are schooled at home. And personal anecdotes aside, the empirical data is at least mixed. For example, the highest SAT scores in some states have been turned in by home schoolers.
So what's the problem? Why the big question mark for home schooling?
For those students trapped in failing schools, home schooling may be the way out. Parents who care enough to roll up their sleeves and tackle their kids' educational problems head-on get nothing but respect from me. But I only hold that for the majority of America's schoolchildren, home schooling is a mistake. The good intentions of the movement notwithstanding, home schooling gets a failing grade for a variety of reasons--some academic, some social, and some civic. By joining the home-school movement, people of faith may be shortchanging their children's academic success, neglecting their responsibility to those whom Jesus called "the least of these," and loosening the ties that bind us together as a nation.
The Underlying Problem
Home schooling is on the rise for a good reason. In addition to the very real problem of poor academic performance associated with some schools, many parents are turning to home schooling because they feel--rightly or wrongly- that public schools have become hostile to their religion and to their values. And, truth be known, enough schools have demonstrated such a callous indifference to religion and traditional values that evangelical circles are abuzz with horror stories. There's the school district in which students were arrested for voluntarily praying around the flagpole before school began. Then there's the years-long fight by the San Diego district to keep a small Bible club from meeting during lunch period. A Massachusetts school district's mandatory AIDS awareness program included a condom demonstration as well as jokes about anal sex. Finally, there was the district in my home state of Tennessee in which a student was told she could not do a research paper on Jesus of Nazareth because that was too "religious."
Yes, with nearly 90,000 public schools in the U.S., it's no wonder some get it wrong. But the fact is, we've made enough foolish mistakes to account for a lot of conservative parents bailing out.
The truth is, things are improving. A new consensus has emerged between religious leaders (including evangelicals) and education groups about the proper role of religion in schools. The key to this new approach is a posture of genuine neutrality toward religion on the part of government. Neutrality does not mean ignoring religion--as textbooks tended to do for years. Ignoring a subject sends a message that it is either irrelevant or unimportant. In reality, religion is both relevant and important in a variety of subject areas, including art, history, music and literature.
Neutrality cannot mean censorship, either. Religious viewpoints are entitled to the same hearing as all others in a public school. Students should be free to pray, study their Scriptures, and discuss their beliefs with others, as long as they do not disrupt the school or infringe upon the rights of others. Similarly, students should be free to do research and writing on religious topics as long as the students have met the academic criteria for the assignment. Finally, neutrality on religion should not be confused with neutrality on values. Schools can and should teach good citizenship and moral character throughout the school culture. In addition to the basic civic virtues set forth in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, schools should promote honesty, compassion, the work ethic, and other values desired by the community. In most communities, this will include teaching abstinence in the sex education curriculum. And while public schools may not invoke religious authority, they must work to ensure that the religious commitments of parents and students are respected. At no time should schools suggest that values are merely a matter of personal preference without reference to absolute truths.
In short, neutrality toward religion should involve fairness. It is a matter of letting the voices be heard, so that religion is neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by the school.
A recent coalition of public school leaders and critics of public schools said it best: "Public schools may not inculcate nor inhibit religion. They must be places where religion and religious conviction are treated with fairness and respect." These words take on special significance when one realizes they were spoken simultaneously by the National Education Association, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Christian Coalition, People for the American Way, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Christian Legal Society.
And this new consensus movement about the proper role of religion in public education is not limited to high-sounding rhetoric. Using the above referenced statement of principles, Charles Haynes of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center has statewide training projects finished or under way in California, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Utah. Together communities are proving that it is still possible to find a common vision for the common good in public education.
The Shortcomings of Home Schooling
The shortcomings of home schooling are evident in at least three areas. The first is academic performance. Although the most comprehensive study (conducted by Lawrence Rudner of the University of Maryland) reveals that home schoolers perform well above the national average for their counterparts in both public and private schools, other factors, such as family income and parents' educational backgrounds, may account for much of this success. For example, the average home schoolers have a family income of $52,000 compared to a national average of only $36,000. At the other end of the spectrum, 35 percent of American families have incomes below $25,000 compared to only 8 percent of home schoolers. Similar differences exist in the educational level of parents. Significantly, 65 percent of home-schooler parents are college graduates compared to only 22 percent of the general adult population. Other differences also jump out: 97 percent of home-schooled children live in two-parent families; 94 percent of home-school families are non-Hispanic White; and fewer than 1 percent of home schoolers are African-American. In short, home schoolers fit a statistical profile that makes them more likely to excel academically, regardless of where they are taught. A more significant statistical picture would come from comparing home-school results with similar ethnic, income, and educational backgrounds for public school children.
In fact, a strong argument can be made that home schooling is a risky academic proposition for many, if not most, students. Most parents lack the patience and the skills to teach their children all they need to know about history, literature, science, and math. Certified teachers generally spend four or five years perfecting their craft. Even if all the education and methods courses were a waste--which they aren't--training in the teacher's core subject areas, such as math or language arts, gives the certified teacher a leg up on the vast majority of laypersons. Outside the core academic areas, laypeople are at an even greater disadvantage. How many parents are prepared to teach art, music, and foreign languages--not to mention calculus and trigonometry? It has been years since I have been able to help my 17-year-old with her math homework, and I have three graduate degrees!
For those who think attaining basic competence in a subject area is as simple as reading one of the textbooks available to home schoolers, try to remember your favorite elementary or high school teacher and how he or she made learning come alive. Now remember your least favorite teacher--the one who read to you from a book. Can anyone deny that a competent classroom instructor is critical to the learning process?
One of the key elements of quality education today involves mastering the tools of technology. How many parents are sufficiently competent in the latest computer hardware and software to give their children the foundation they need to succeed in college or the workplace? Teaching children how to learn, not what to learn, is the gateway to their success. It was William Butler Yeats who taught us that education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire. Never has this been more true. If we are to equip our children to be lifelong learners, we must ensure their competence in Internet research as well as in the latest computer technology.
Socialization and Diversity
Reams have been written on the role of the common school in teaching children the social skills they need in a complex, diverse society. Yes, socialization can occur in a number of alternative venues, including the Little League, Boy Scouts, or a local church, but no institution brings all Americans together quite like the public school. More important, no other institution is engaged in the task of nation building. Yes, there are important things going on at my home and church, but no one outside the school is teaching children what it means to be an "American."
Consider for a moment that when the republic was founded more than 200 years ago, there were only a dozen or so religious groups in the United States--most of them Christian. Today experts identify several thousand. A priest told me recently that his church performs the mass in 75 languages in Los Angeles, and that's just the Roman Catholics! We live in the most diverse nation on earth, where every world religion is represented in large numbers, and new religious movements are created at an astounding rate. Conservative Christians--such as the Christian Coalition--are more politically active than ever, yet among the fastest-growing groups are those who claim no religious affiliation at all. How will we live together with such deep differences, and who--pray tell--will tell us how to do it? More important, who is going to teach the 40-plus million school-age children how to get along in this pluralistic democracy we call America?
Of course the real task for this falls to public schools, that's who. And if all of us pull our kids out of the common schools, the task simply won't be done. It's one thing to study about our diversity. It's quite another to experience it. Only by living and learning in a diverse academic community can students acquire the necessary skills for living in our multicultural society.
Too many Americans are walking around with vestiges of what it once meant to be fully American: White, male, property owner, Anglican. Today's America has no room for such a narrow definition. Being fully American is about principles and ideals--not my skin color or where I go to church. It is about the mutual rights and responsibilities we assume when we are born into--or choose--this great nation as our own. It is about freedom of religion, speech, and press. It's about due process and equal protection of the laws. It is also about my responsibility to guard those rights for all others, including those with whom I deeply disagree. This task of nation building may be the most important thing schools do. To neglect it is to imperil the nation.
Our Calling as Christians
Even if we were convinced that the public schools were failing us, would that justify Christians abandoning the schools? Jesus, after all, showed extraordinary care and concern for children at a time when they were considered little more than property. Consider His chilling words for those who would place stumbling blocks in the paths of children. "It would be better if a millstone were tied around your neck!" (See Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2). In modern society, to fail to provide a child with the best education available is to put an almost insurmountable stumbling block in that child's path.
Nor can we ignore Jesus' most sobering warning to His followers: "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." Can there be any weaker, more vulnerable members of society than our children? The weakest, most vulnerable of those children are likely be found in a public school.
In short, it matters not about our relative age or station in life, or whether we even have school-age children. If we are Christian adults, we have an obligation to support the common schools.
The tragedy of Columbine should be understood as a wake-up call--not to abandon the schools, but to roll up our sleeves and get involved. The National Council of Churches is calling on its 35 member communions and the 213,000 parishes it represents to do precisely that. In a policy statement entitled "The Churches and the Public Schools at the Close of the 20th Century," the NCC implores Christians to do at least three things.
First, support equitable funding for poorer school districts. Schools in the predominantly African-American Philadelphia schools, for example, receive $1,500 less per pupil than surrounding systems. As long as such inequities persist, thousands of America's children will receive substandard educations.
Second, the NCC warns Christians against the siren song of tuition vouchers and similar schemes to divert tax dollars to private and parochial schools. You don't improve the public water supply by investing in Perrier, and you don't improve schools by siphoning off resources. Those who complain that religious schools operate with less per-pupil spending, thereby giving taxpayers more bang for their buck, are comparing apples and oranges. Simply put, public schools are public--open to every child, regardless of race, religion, or economic status. While it is not uncommon for public schools to spend in excess of $50,000 per year for students with serious disabilities, private schools can be as elitist as they choose to be.
Finally, the NCC urges local congregations to partner with their neighborhood schools. Through mentoring programs, literacy classes, tutoring, before- and after-school care, and the like, religious organizations can provide critical assistance to both schools and their communities. A new set of guidelines cosponsored by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, American Jewish Congress, Christian Legal Society, and National Council of Churches outlines how this can be done. (You may obtain a free copy of the new guidelines by logging on to www.freedomforum.org.)
In conclusion, I must affirm that home schooling is a quintessential parental right that should be preserved and protected. But before parents exercise this right they should ask themselves, "Is it right for my child?" And don't stop there. Ask, "Is it good for America?" And finally, "Is it what God would have me to do?" Except in the rarest of cases, I believe an honest response will lead parents back to the public schools.
I hope so. The future of our life together depends on it.
Oliver Thomas is special counsel to the National Council of Churches and serves as chair of his local board of education.