Week 4: Assignment - Summary, Paraphrase, and Quote

    In Dori Staehle's piece, Taking a Different Path, she highlights some of the radical improvements homeschooling made for her children, both of whom were having problems in public school.  Ms. Staehle, and her husband, ultimately concluded that traditional school was not going to address their children's needs, and that they would need to home school them.  Ms. Staehle "assumed the role of Head Teacher and Director" (270) and developed a very unorthodox methodology to teaching.  She designed the curriculum to focus around a certain topic at a time, and then used "drama, manipulatives and props, art, experiments and our imaginations" (270) to teach the subject.  Ms. Staehle also went on to discover that her children learned, and retained, information better on their unstructured learning days as compared to the days when they did very structured learning. Staehle concludes that parents do not need to assume that their children must be in a formal education environment for them to thrive academically (270).
    Michael Romanowski presents both sides of the home school debate in his article Common arguments about the strengths and limitations of home schooling.  Mr. Romanowski begins by grouping home schooling parents into two categories.  The ideologues are those whom he identifies as having a religious justification for homeschooling.  The pedagogues are those that feel the public school system is inherently inept at properly educating their children.  Mr. Romanowski then proceeds to highlight five major strengths of home schooling.  First, home schooling follows along the well understood pattern that children of parents who are actively involved in their education "become academically successful and reach their potential" (80).  Second, home schooling can serve to strengthen the child parent relationship.  Third, that the "positive socialization" (80) that home school students get is vastly better than the "negative socialization" (80) that tends to happen within public schools.  Fourth, "education is not exclusively about a child's intellect; it also includes character" (81).  Finally, every student's individual academic needs are difficult to address through a set schedule and curriculum.  After this Mr. Romanowski proceeds with the five major limitations of home schooling.  First, is the issue of socialization, and importantly that home schooled students are not exposed to a diverse array of cultures and lifestyles.  Second, that the lack of "peer interaction in the classroom is detrimental to a home school student's education" (82).  Third, it is difficult to have the necessary resources in the home for a well rounded curriculum.  Fourth, that home schools have too much freedom, and not enough accountability, in the instructor's ability, the course's worthiness, and the child's educational success.  Finally, Mr. Romanowski ends this section by stating that most parents do not possess enough education to effectively teach upper level courses such as math and biology.  Mr. Romanowski concludes that there is no simple answer to the home school debate, and the parental interaction is the critical component regardless of where a child is educated.  He goes on to say that in certain circumstances home schooling can definitely be a viable alternative to the traditional public school system.
    Judy Aron in her letter to the editor of The Journal of College Admission extols the better educational value of home schooling in contrast to a traditional education.  She begins by focusing on the downfall of traditional education:
It is an environment that fosters kids not to take risks because success is so important, and failure is so detrimental. Students learn that if they stick to subjects or skills they are good at, rather than those they have a passion for or an interest in, then it is easier for them to succeed. This thought process produces students who pursue professions that may make them money or bring them status, but that they ultimately don’t enjoy...  (Aron, 2004, p. 4)
Judy Aron contrasts this with the home school system, which is opposed to this mentality.  Furthermore, the home schooled students tended to be more self motivated, because they get to play an active role in their education and help determine the curriculum.  Ms. Aron concludes by urging admissions people to be more open minded to the better equipped nature of home schooled students (4).

References
Aron, J. (2004). Letter to the editor. The Journal of College Admission, 185, 4. Retrieved February 27, 2005, from EBSCOhost database
Romanowski, M. H. (2001).  Common arguments about the strengths and limitations of home schooling. Clearing House, 75(2). Retrieved January 1, 2005, from EBSCOhost database
Staelhe, D. (2000). Taking a different path a mother’s reflections on homeschooling. Roeper Review, 22(4), 270-271. Retrieved January 1, 2005, from EBSCOhost database


© Erik Smith 2005
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