The
Informed
Homeschooler
Dr. Brian Ray
Polls and surveys can be soothing, yawn-inspiring, or agitating. Edu- cation Next just produced one that is worth a look by anyone interested in homeschooling, public schooling,
and private schooling. The 2017 EdNext
Poll on School Reform based its results
on a nationally representative sample of
4,214 adults (age 18 and older).
1 It covered
ten main topics, including school choice,
Common Core, federalism, Trump effect,
and parents’ aspirations for their children’s
higher education.
Findings
First, let us deal with reality versus what
the adults think about public/government
schooling. The first conundrum in the
findings, which is not new, has to do with
the public’s view of public schools. When
asked about the public schools in their
community, only 46% of these adults rated
the schools with a C, D, or F grade. When
asked about U.S. public schools in general,
however, 77% rated them C, D, or F. Either
Americans are fooled about the quality of
their local government schools, the ones
far away, or both. It seems that most people
think their own local government schools
are not so bad compared to all the others
“out there.”
On a related note, however, one must
wonder: why do so many parents use even
their local public schools when the large
majority of them think that they are simply
average or worse?
Another reality problem has to do with
the cost of state-run K- 12 schools. When
the researchers asked, “Based on your best
guess, what is the average amount of money
spent each year for a child in public schools
in your local school district?” the general
public’s response was $8,877. The actual
cost (as reported by the study’s sponsor),
however, is $12,899. That is, adults think
their local schools are spending only 69%
of what they actually spend. Furthermore,
the real cost of government schooling is far
more than the figure of $12,899. This figure
does not include capital expenditures (e.g.,
new buildings), research and development
(e.g., all the professors who do research to al-
legedly improve education), and other costs.
Some analysts have figured that the real cost
of K- 12 state schooling is at least 150% of the
“per-pupil expenditure” that public school
districts report to the taxpayers.
That is enough about conflicts between
U.S. adults’ beliefs and reality. Now let us take
a look at things closer to homeschooling.
The researchers reported that “… for the
first time, we asked Americans whether
they supported “allowing parents to edu-
cate their child at home rather than sending
them to school . . .” an option that parents
have chosen for an estimated 2. 4 million
Private education is a valuable commodity that must be
protected with vigilance and truth-based reasoning.
Should You and Policymakers Let
Survey Results Drive Your Thinking?
