The Failure of Government Schooling

Arnold Kling writes (in referring to this op-ed by Virginia's Senator-elect James Webb):

As for blaming America's public education system, I have to plead guilty. Here is an exact quote from the first sentence of a paper that was turned in by a student in my class at George Mason:

Social Security is a huge topic that is quite often read about in the newspaper and discussion about in the news.

I'll wager that this student did not go to private school. I'll also wager that when (if?) this student graduates, she will not be earning a salary that will make Mr. Webb jealous.

This student's command of English was somewhat below the median in my class, but she is not an outlier. Next time someone tries to tell Mr. Webb that the earnings distribution has something to do with differences in human capital, he might consider listening.

Roughly 12% of the students here at Hillsdale College are homeschooled. Internal studies show that these students have much higher GPAs, are more involved in extra-curricular activities, and contribute (in terms of time) to more charitable causes than their average classmate who attended a government secondary school. And no, these homeschoolers are not socially inept, at least not any that I have met. We also have a large percentage of students who attended private secondary schools. (My simple polling in classes reveals that about 1/3 to 1/2 of the students here at Hillsdale College attended public schools.)

What amazes me is that when I've had the opportunity to talk with the parents of a homeshcooled student (I meet a few each semester), they invariably discuss how they had to teach themselves certain subjects before they could teach it to their child(ren). A few weeks ago one was telling me how she had to teach herself trig before she could teach it to her son. Well, of course they do! Trigonometry and calculus and Kreb's cycle are not intuitively gleaned from everyday activities. They teach themselves, then teach their kids, and then these kids outperform their government educated peers in college.

This, however, illustrates a selection bias problem--parents of homeschooled students are obviously more involved in their child's education than are the parents of the average high school student. (There are also other selection issues, such as homeschooled students are likely to have higher IQs than the average student, are more self-motivated, etc.) This parental involvement contributes greatly to their academic success and these parents don't want that motivation diminished by classmates who have no desire to learn or, worse yet, detract from their kid's learning environment. That is exactly the problem of government schooling. The wealthy are not necessarily opting out of government education for private school or homeschool alternatives for elitist reasons, but because government schools a) fail to (refuse to) sort students by their ability and desire to learn from those who can't or have no desire to learn, and b) fail to (again, refuse to) adequately educate the more educable students.

Webb's criticism reinforces the notion that the primary objective of government schooling is to socialize students and to promote an egalitarian agenda. Successfully teaching students how to read, write and do math and science better than the private or homeschooled alternatives are way down the list of priorities. This is exactly why our government schools are failing and why an increasing number of families have chosen to opt out of government schools, with an increasing number of them believing (correctly) that they can do a better job themselves. That's the shame of the public school establishment, not of those who choose to have no part of it.

Addendum: Added the link and edited for clarity.

Comments

[Caliban Darklock]

> the wealthy are not... choosing
> to homeschool for elitist reasons
[...]
> with an increasing number believing
> (correctly) that they can do a
> better job themselves.

So... it's not elitist when you really ARE superior?

Why doesn't that sound right?

I agree, homeschooled children end up better off for lots of reasons, and I intend to homeschool my own children. But I think it's because I honestly want my children to be superior, and therefore to be taught by a superior teacher - me.

That's an arrogant conclusion. It's true, but being the truth doesn't make it any less arrogant.