Home Schooling Growth Draws New Attention, Concern From Establishment
Written By Fran Eaton (Reading Time: 4 minutes)
According to a series in the Washington Post, parents choosing to teach their children reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic at home rather than sending them to the school down the street is a phenomenon that is worthy of in-depth research and front-page coverage.
After all, within the past six years, the number of home-taught children spiked by 51% in states with comparable enrollments. In the 390 school districts included in the Washington Post’s 2023 analysis, nationwide there is now at least one homeschooled student for every ten students in government schools.
In Illinois, overall government school enrollment continues to steadily decline. Over 1.8 million students were enrolled in Illinois public schools in 2022-23, more than 11,500 students less than the previous school year. According to WaPo’s stats, that would mean 180,000 children are taught today in Illinois homeschools.
And that’s where the rub with traditional powers-that-be begins.
For every child not enrolled in an Illinois government school district, that district loses an average of $21,000 in state and local funding. Multiply that amount by ten students taught elsewhere, and a school budget deficit quickly climbs to $210,000.
Add yet another zero to the numbers, and well, you hear the alarm.
As home schooling grows, government school resources shrink. That negatively affects administration and staff salaries, available positions, building construction and maintenance, and school-related opportunities.
That red ink draws the attention of an influential media that is a critical tool (or shall we say weapon?) of America’s Left. More often than not, they are led by angry politicians, miserable education elitists, and frustrated social activists – all of which have tried and failed for decades to eradicate America of independent, free-thinking, as well as religious, Americans that dare to homeschool their children.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler addressed the hot topic recently in his podcast “The Briefing” with a segment entitled “The Numbers Are Staggering: The Tidal Wave of Homeschooling Surges Throughout the U.S.”
Mohler said that for homeschooling to be featured on the Washington Post’s front page, it announces
“‘This is an absolutely massive story,’ and quite frankly, it represents a clear and present threat to the entire edifice of the public schools in the United States.”
He continues,
“And as this article makes clear, homeschooling is part of a larger set of challenges and competitors that may mean a much-reduced enrollment in public schools, and that’s going to raise huge cultural and economic issues in the United States.”
Indeed.
Illinois miraculously remains one of the most tolerant homeschooling states, based on a 1953 Illinois Supreme Court decision that declared home schools to be private schools.
The Illinois School Code states,
“the primary purpose of schooling is the transmission of knowledge and culture through which children learn in areas necessary to their continuing development and entry into the world of work. Such areas include the language arts, mathematics, the biological, physical, and social sciences, the fine arts, and physical development and health.”
The School Code defines Illinois’ “compulsory school age” as being from 6 to 17 years of age.
So, as private schools, home schools in Illinois must teach areas such as language arts, math, the sciences, fine arts, health, and so on to children ages 6 through 17 for at least 180 days a year. Currently, there is no state requirement for standardized testing, curriculum approval, or reporting to local school officials.
And that is a system worth keeping just as it is.
If, indeed, the primary purpose of schooling is transmitting knowledge and culture through which children learn in areas to continue developing and eventually enter into sustaining careers, basing that expertise on a philosophical foundation reflecting the parents’ worldview is crucial.
The idea that knowledge or culture can be neutral or without an influencing philosophical basis is naïve and foolish. There is no such thing in 2023.
The government school system transmits knowledge and culture which the government approves and supports – perpetuating its belief system and worldview. While the powers that be may declare that system to be objective, secular, and unbiased, in reality, education of any type is based on a religion. In the case of public schools, the religion is secularism.
Parents who grasp and desire to pass along to their children a belief system that is atheistic, agnostic, or antagonistic towards God have a right and responsibility to send their children to secular, non-religious learning centers. Just as Christian mothers and fathers have the right and responsibility to see that their children’s education reflects a God-acknowledging, Biblical or church doctrine-based curriculum.
The days of “secular” or “non-religious” publicly funded education passed long ago, and Christian faith parents must acknowledge that sending their children to government schools confirms they believe taxpayer-funded schools will teach their children via a worldview they can support.
If they cannot support the schools’ worldview and basis for education, Christians must devise another way to pass along the knowledge and culture they embrace to the next generation.
That way is homeschooling for many, and a growing number more each year.
As more and more parents pursue careers from their home offices and dining room tables, the less unusual, adverse, and “fringe” it will be to consider teaching their children on those same tables and desks – right next to their parents.
Dramatic cultural changes are likely to take place if this develops. As Dr. Mohler suggests, such a change represents a clear and present threat to the entire edifice of the public schools in the United States.
And that will not happen without a predictable backlash from those who stand to lose power, jobs, and economic stability with a continued growth of independent homeschooling families.
Those who demand their “secular” worldview be fully accepted by the next generation will exercise their demands and power through the media, entertainment, the economy, and politics in order to squelch a system of education and religious freedom.
The battle for America’s children’s minds will be real, and it will be necessary for Christian parents to engage.
The time to prepare is now.
