The History of Education

In 1642, the Massachusetts Law was enacted in Colonial America requiring parents to see that their children knew the principles of religion, were literate, and were well versed in the capital laws of the commonwealth. The primary motivation for enacting this law was to ensure the masses understood the laws of the new colony. Our ancestors could not possibly have known that by establishing this law they had laid the groundwork for compulsory, formalized education. For the first time, a law had been enacted that, in essence, forced parents to educate their children. The Massachusetts Law broadened a child's education from household tasks like making candles and soap, tending to livestock, and knowing the proper way of plowing fields, to grammar, arithmetic, and religion.

A few years after the law was enacted, public schools were established and the burden of education was, for the most part, removed from the shoulders of parents and placed on the shoulders of paid educators. It is at this point in our educational history that the debate between home education and public schooling began. It is a debate that has continued for over three hundred and fifty years and continues to this day.

Why School at Home

In Colonial America, it was out of sheer necessity that children were schooled at home. Pioneering parents could not afford to lose their children's helping hands around the house. Today the decision to homeschool a child is usually based on far more complex reasons than financial motivations. For some parents, the decision to school their children at home is academic. These parents believe there is a direct correlation between underfunded schools, overworked teachers, and sagging national literacy rates. These parents point out that the student to teacher ratio in most elementary schools is so high that it is impossible for children lagging behind, or those soaring ahead, to get the individualized treatment they deserve and require.

Fear is another motivating factor for schooling a child at home. The 1999 Columbine High School shootings were a landmark in our nation's history, drawing attention to violence and crime in public schools. Many parents were filled with fear every time their child grabbed his book bag and headed out the door. Some decided the only way to protect their children and assure they were receiving a good education was to begin teaching them at home.

Jessica Holmes is the mother of a sixteen-year-old boy and lives twenty miles from Columbine. She says she was pleased with the education her child received at his public school but did not allow him to enroll following the shootings in her neighboring town. "Some people think I am being paranoid or that I am overreacting. Frankly, I care more about what my son thinks than what a few friends or acquaintances think. I want him to know that I am not indifferent to his well-being. He is, and has been for sixteen years, my number one priority." Holmes admits that her decision was long in the making and not solely based on the Columbine tragedy. Holmes cites several incidents wherein her son was the victim of "petty crimes," including a mugging and the theft of his bike.

Tammy Caron, mother of three homeschooled children and the manager of a comprehensive homeschooling website, says Holmes feelings are shared by many parents. "The violence in schools is a factor in many homeschoolers' decisions in the same way bad language, sexual harassment, and other social ills would be. Homeschooling protects my kids from all of that now and gives them the message that we care deeply about them, we are part of their lives and we are listening."

Data from a recent White House Executive Summary suggest that fear of being victim to violent crimes in the schools is actually unfounded. The report "showed a decline in school crime and a reduction in the percentage of students carrying weapons to school. At the same time the data indicated a substantial amount of crime, including violent crime, against both students and teachers. The report indicated that students are more fearful at school today than in the past."

Holmes admits, "Chances are my son will never become a victim of schoolyard crime, but if he is so fearful that he will become a victim that he isn't able to concentrate then it is impeding his ability to become educated."

The Popularity of Homeschooling

Homeschooling has become immensely popular in the last decade. According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), 1.5 to 1.9 million American students are being educated at home.

NHERI indicates several reasons parents choose to homeschool, including the ability to "teach specific philosophical or religious values," the opportunity to control social interactions, to develop closer family ties, and the chance to offer higher academics than the public school could offer.

The decrease in national education standards, shortage of decent educators, and increase in attention on school violence could cause the homeschool numbers to rise even higher in the next ten years.