Homeschooling Works

I just read an op-ed article in the Washington Times about the success of homeschooling.

This is the positive way to state the obvious corollary, which is that it is also an article about the failure of the nation's public and private schools to adequately educate their students.

"Researchers surveyed thousands of freshmen and seniors to measure their knowledge of America's history, government, economics, and international relations. The students - even the seniors - failed by astounding margins." This according to Michael Farris, president of Patrick Henry College, the school whose freshman students (80% of whom were homeschooled) outperformed all others, including those at every Ivy League school surveyed. (These included Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Duke, and our own UVA.) In fact, the average score of the Patrick Henry freshman was greater than that of the average Ivy League graduating senior. (See here.)

According to HSLDA President J. Michael Smith, author of the Op-Ed piece, "The test results do show clearly what happens when you compare the best with the best: The best homeschooled students systematically outperform the best non-homeschooled students. This success did not happen automatically. It happened because tens of thousands of dedicated parents made tremendous sacrifices to educate their children."

You can read an ad-free version of the full Washington Times article here, from the HSLDA website.