www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
children, families, neighborhoods,
or the collective good.
2
Dr.;Dennis;Evans,;a;professor;at;a;state
university, claimed that homeschooled
children and teens would not learn:
“.;.;.;values;such;as;respect;for;others,
the ability to communicate and col-
laborate and an openness to diver-
sity;and;new;ideas;.;.;.”;Further,;he
wrote;the;following:;“The;isolation
implicit in home teaching is anath-
ema;[accursed,;strongly;disliked];to
socialization;and;citizenship.”
3
Many people have wondered whether
these academics’ worries have any basis
in reality. Another researcher has now
addressed their concerns.
Findings
Scholar;Albert;Cheng’s;recent;fascinating
and provocative study provides one of
the first solid portions of empirical evidence about whether the homeschooled
become more or less politically intolerant
than others.
4 The researcher’s purpose
was to compare college students from
different school types—public school,
private school, and homeschool—by
analyzing political tolerance outcomes.
That;is,;are;students;from;any;particular
school background more or less politically tolerant than others? Political toler-ance;is;“.;.;.;defined;as;the;willingness;to
extend basic civil liberties to political or
social groups that hold views with which
one;disagrees”;(p.;49).
Cheng used a measuring instrument called the “content-controlled
political tolerance scale.” In its first
of two parts, the “. . . scale provides
the respondent with a list of popular social and political groups, such
as Republicans, gay-rights activists,
or fundamentalist Christians. The respondent is asked to select the group
with beliefs that he opposes the most
. . . The second part of the political tolerance scale measures the respondent’s
willingness to extend basic civil liberties
to;members;of;his;least-liked;group”;(p.
55). Participants were asked to respond
to items such as the following:
1. “The;government;should;be;able;to
tap the phones of [the least-liked
group].”
2. “Books;that;are;written;by;members
of the [the least-liked group] should
be;banned;from;the;public;library.”
With;this;scale,;he;studied;students;at
a private university in the western Unit-
ed States. These students came from a
variety of schooling and racial/ethnic
backgrounds.
Researcher Cheng clearly and in
well-written style explains his meticu-
lous methods. It is one of the best-de-
signed and well-reported studies ever
in the field of research on homeschool-
ing.;His;findings;are;quite;simple,;as;he
brings two main contributions to the
existing research on schooling type and
political;tolerance,;as;follows:
•;First,;the;finding;that;increased;expo-
sure to private schooling does not de-
crease political tolerance comports with
and adds to the empirical evidence that
students who attend private schools are
at least as tolerant as students who at-
tend;public;schools;.;.;.”;(p.;63)
•;Second,;this;study;adds;new;insight
into the political tolerance outcomes
of homeschooled children—a topic
that, to the best of my knowledge,
has not been empirically investigated
until now. Specifically . . . those [col-lege students] with more exposure
to homeschooling relative to public
schooling tend to be more politically
tolerant. (p. 63-64)
Conclusions
These findings are clearly in opposition
to the worries and claims that the home
educated will somehow be damaged by
homeschooling,;and;be;worse;off;than
those who attend state/public schools.
“Specifically;.;.;.;those;[college;students];with;more;exposure;to;homeschooling
relative;to;public;schooling;tend;to;be;more;politically;tolerant.”
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