Home Schooling: Just Another Silver Bullet.

Critics of public education are rushing to judgment about the superiority of home schooling over public education. The latest convincing evidence: The 2000 champion of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee is a home-schooled student. In fact, according to press reports, 27 of the 248 contestants in the last national spellfest were home-schooled.

Want more evidence for this edge? Four of the 10 finalists in this year's National Geography Bee also were products of home-schooling.

If this record of success in national bees isn't enough evidence to shut down the public education system in this country, I don't know what is. Do home schoolers have to score convincing victories on "Jeopardy," "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" or cable TV's "Win Ben Stein's Money," too? Would success on the leading quiz shows of the day finally confirm the pre-eminence of home schooling?

Home-schooling's leading advocates are licking their chops at the prospects. As an enthusiastic Mike Farris, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, told the news media earlier this year: "I can't wait until home-schoolers are ... becoming presidents." Farris can rest easy. Both A1 Gore and George W. Bush probably acquired more inspiration and aspiration to become president from their parents than they ever received from their high school history or civics teachers. Both were, in a real sense, home-schooled.

Parental Support

Insofar as the national spelling bee is concerned, the truth is there never has been a champion who hasn't been homeschooled. Think about it. How would a student prepare for the national spelling bee except to spend a lot of time with drill and practice on spelling words? This year's winner, George Abraham Thampy, didn't win the championship by just showing up. He undoubtedly spent many hours practicing at home for the event. (He finished fourth and third in two previous spelling bees.) To say he was driven to become a spelling champion would be an understatement. Furthermore, it would not surprise me that his parents provided at least some support and encouragement as the youngster worked toward his goal.

Please don't misunderstand. I am not diminishing the accomplishments of 12year-old George Abraham Thampy. The national spelling champion is obviously a highly talented, hard-working, persistent student.

Presumably, a couple of other factors contributed to his success. His father, K. George Thampy, is a biochemist and physician, and his mother stays at home. One conclusion I draw is that homeschooling has a better chance of being successful if one parent is a highly-educated professional with a well-paying job that allows the other parent to stay at home with the children.

Unfavorable Outcomes

While we should applaud the Thampys for the outstanding job of schooling their son at home, we should not overlook the other end of the home-schooling spectrum, where prospects aren't nearly as bright. Consider a situation where there is no father in the home and the mother works two minimum-pay jobs. In this household, the oldest son or daughter may be home-schooled primarily to provide babysitting services for younger siblings.

Or consider the parent who is so frustrated with trying to rouse her child every morning that home-schooling becomes an option or the parent who is tired of dealing with a child's disciplinary problems at school and opts to keep him home. There are various other circumstances in homeschooling that may cast a shadow of doubt over its intent and substance.

Critics of public schooling may not want to look at the entire spectrum of home-schooling circumstances. The reality is that the educational resources and opportunities for home-schooled youngsters are not equal. The home environment, especially the economic attributes, has a significant impact on a child's learning regardless of whether the child is taught at home, in the public school or in a private or parochial school.

As a public school administrator, I have seen the high degree of success demonstrated by many students in the public schools whose fathers are highly educated professionals and whose mothers are at home for the students after school. These parents have the material and other resources to provide for their children. They are available to encourage and assist them in their learning. However, I also have seen the miraculous work in public schools of educating students from disadvantaged backgrounds, sometimes with supportive parents and sometimes not.

Borrow Good Ideas

Certainly, the public schools could learn from home schooling. Home schooling, at its best, provides a safe, supportive environment. Flexibility in how instructional time is used may be an advantage in home schooling. Multiage grouping, cooperative learning, teaching for mastery and small class sizes are potential advantages of home schooling.

A most significant factor in home schooling is the positive, intimate relationship between teacher and student, between parent and child. Talk to public school students about their favorite, most influential teachers and their words will describe close relationships and other parallel elements of successful home schooling.

Public educators need to continue to foster closer relationships with the home. They also need support to apply some of the instructional methods used in home schooling in the classrooms of public schools. The motivation isn't to win spelling bees and geography competitions but to provide parents and others with the assurance that every child is being taught well in a safe and caring environment.

Randall Zitterkopf is superintendent of the Huron Public Schools, P.O. Box 949, Huron, S.D. 57350. E-mail: rzitterkopf(c)huron.tie.net