Addressing Diversity and Inequality through Homeschooling

Addressing Diversity and Inequality through Homeschooling

Homeschooling is considered to be an alternative system of education to the conventional education system in the United States. Since the 1970s, the move towards homeschooling has experienced a significant resurgence in the United States, mainly because of issues associated with our school or education system such as academic quality and content, bullying and mistreatment, religious reasons, racism, and other special needs.

The primary issue in the United States school system that could contribute to homeschooling is low academic performance. Although the U.S. is ranked seventh all over the globe regarding the population share that is literate, it does less “well in terms of measures of student performance” (Macionis 14.14.2). According to recent research which compared the academic performance in 65 countries, the United States was ranked 24th in science and reading, and 38th in maths, meaning that most developed, high-income countries appear to be schooling their children better and achieve excellent academic performance compared to the United States (Macionis 14.14.2). Also, for many years, academic performance has remained steady, with little changes. Scholars use college entrance examinations that most high school students in the United States take to measure academic achievements. A recent study suggests that the slight differences in SAT scores, which measures both mathematical and verbal results, display how steady the overall academic performance of our education system has been for the last 50 years (Macionis 14.14.2).

Another issue with the United States education system is the high rate of dropouts, who quit school before achieving high school diplomas. According to official government data, it was discovered that approximately 6.1% of the “U.S. population ages sixteen to twenty-four (about 2.3 million people) had left school without graduating” (Macionis 14.14.2). Student’s decision to quit school can be due to various issues such as unexpected pregnancy, boredom with school, or financial challenges requiring students to work. School dropout is higher on socially disadvantaged students compared to native students (Macionis 14.14.2.). Therefore, to avoid their children from dropping out of school, especially for those students who do not like daily schooling or traditional school system, parents opt to educate them at home.

The inequality and diversity quality of schooling in the United States also plays a significant role when it comes to decisions of educating children at home. Although many people consider formal education as a way of acquiring relevant skills and part of daily life, some argue that it is in “a state of crisis” mainly because of low-quality content/curriculum (Macionis 14.14.1). The quality of schooling in the country is not equal for everyone. For instance, the academic performance and skills of socially disadvantaged students and minorities are relatively low compared to other native students (Macionis 14.14.2). As a result, inequality and diversity based on gender, race, sexuality, family, and religion are some of the social problems that contribute to homeschooling issues. Chapter 3 provides a detailed analysis of prejudice. Some parents also see institutional racism, mainly under racial profiling, to guide public schools to the demerits of the minority groups. Racial profiling of minority students makes their parents favor homeschooling, primarily to avoid ethnicity and racial discrimination involved in various public schools (Macionis 3.3.4.4).

Chapter 13 analyzes various challenges experienced by different types of families and family life. According to research, one of the familial inequality and issue that contribute to homeschooling is one-parent families. Although both mother and father make distinctive contributions to the social development of children, approximately 27% of families with kids under the age of 18 years had one parent (Macionis 13.13.2.3). The primary challenge confronting one-parent families includes poverty, where about 36% of children in these families are poor and “end up with less education and lower incomes when they become adults” (Macionis 13.13.2.). Therefore, low-income families, mainly in one-parent or divorced families, do not have adequate resources to educate their children, and in most cases, children help their parents working to meet their daily needs. It is also easy for one parent to decide homeschooling his/her child instead of going through the formal educational system than to both parents. According to recent research, although parent with adequate money and resources afford to send their kids to various care programs emphasizing early childhood development and learning, lower-income parent depend on friends and relatives or send “their children to less costly care centers where staff does not have much training and give less attention to every child” when going to work (Macionis 13.13.2).

However, homeschooling may not offer appropriate academic content or learning environment for children that most parents are trying to address within the current educational system. First, the approach lacks competition, and students may not achieve high performance and quality skills. Schools prepare children to face intense competition in real-life exposure, but the homeschooling approach does not provide them with opportunities to compete with others when learning. Students become unaware of their performance standing among their peers in a formal education system. The competitive spirit that is developed in traditional schooling is more or less absent in a homeschooling environment. Another severe disadvantage of homeschooling is the lack of socialization with peers among children. Students who undergo through homeschooling system are separated from society, which creates diversity and inequality sense among them based on race, gender, sexuality, religion, and families. They develop a specific level of negative prejudice that makes them see those who undergo under formal education system as “less worthy.intelligent, less hard-working, and less worthy” (Macionis 3.3.4). The only solution for the issues of homeschooling is taking their students through the formal education system so that they can compete with others and socialize to avoid prejudice.