Homeschooling On The Rise In Minority Communities

Since 1999, homeschooling in the United States has grown a dramatic 74 percent, according to CNN.

Homeschooling is becoming increasingly popular among minority communities, who feel that their cultural perspective is lacking from American classrooms.

Joyce and Eric Burges founded The National Black Home Educators to ensure that African-American history and culture were a part of their children's education. Their organization is now international.

CNN takes a look at homeschooling in America.

WATCH:

Comments

[FrancesMorgan]

04:03 AM on 12/10/2010

For those who are worried about a "parallel society" I suggest you read this: http://kellygreenandgold.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/a-parallel-society/
Those who think that homeschoolers are more right wing or religious might want to actually look at the evidence on these topics here: http://kellygreenandgold.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/home-education-the-image/
or this: http://kellygreenandgold.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/fundamentalism-and-home-education/

[shbkyn]

10:06 AM on 12/07/2010

Obviously, most people do not get it. The primary reason these black parents are home schooling their children, is because these American public schools are neglecting the African children culture need. Everything they are taugth are from a Eurocentric curriculum, all the books and teaching material dipict white people, and everything that has happened in this world was done by white people, and that blacks never created anything, not one civilization, when infact the African had many thrieving glorious civilizations before any other people ever came into exitance. In the words of my beloved Dr. John H. Clarke, African Historian, he said All history is a current event, so everything that goes on in the world today, came from the Africans. How would you like to have your child go to a school, and taught that people that looks like him had nothing to do with creating civilization, and that the only history they have is slavery. That is why there is such a dire need for African Centered Education, so that black children can be taught their history, and culture, going back hundreds of thousand of years ago, and continued until the whites and Arabs destroyed Africa, and enslaved the people. It is said blacks cannot learn liek whites and others, that is hardly the truth, black children are neglecting the bias education that is put before them, it insults their self esteen, and it creates many other problems, that we see with African children attending these Eurocentric schools.

[SF TKF]

01:02 PM on 12/07/2010

Spelling, grammar, world history, and science (basic evolution of the human species) certainly appear to have been lacking in your education.

[rmarie]

03:07 PM on 12/07/2010

It's a thread on a blog, not a thesis or literary magazine piece. And shbyn is right on...obviously, you do not have Black children, nor have you gone through the experience of being shuttled through the public school system as a Black child.

It's about time that our community take responsibility for our kids' education, and ensure they learn true history, not revisionist indoctrination. And I don't plan to just teach my child the truth about his history, but history period. He's going to learn to value and respect all cultures, which is something that is NOT emphasized in public schools.

Just an example of why more minorities are homeschooling: most public school kids (and many adults, for that matter) think Africa is a country, instead of a continent. They have never heard of the Masai, and they think that Cleopatra really was lily White like Liz Taylor. They've heard Aesop's fables and the Greek myths, but never heard traditional African folks tales, which many of those stories were derived from.

[robXdion]

11:48 AM on 12/08/2010

Oh, they get it. They just resent it. Any assertion of black cultural identity apart from an imitation of Eurocentricism is deemed "racist" or "separatist" because it makes some whites uncomfortable to see blacks display such self-determination without their aide, permission or supervision. This unspoken insecurity drives much of institutionalized racism and keeps it self-perpetuating.

[jessemoyer]

09:59 AM on 12/07/2010

This is a perfect example of people not waiting for the traditional education system to provide solutions for their learners. As the current system continues to fail, we will continue to see a rise in people taking responsibility for their own learning and looking outside the traditional system to find the solutions that meet their specific needs.

[lilpeg]

09:22 AM on 12/07/2010

When public education is not working for a child and there is no money for private schools/tutors, what else can a parent do? Throw the kids away? Or figure out how to make them productive, interested, creative participants in society via DIY homeschooling? Yes, there is a crisis in American Public Education but, all the community action in the world may not change things in time for my kid.

[teacher39years]

11:04 AM on 12/07/2010

Thomas Edison was home schooled because he did not learn in the traditional way.

[boscobear]

09:09 AM on 12/07/2010

Great, isolate these kids even more and then in 20 years, their parents can wonder why they can't function to their full potential in the 'real world'.

[rmarie]

02:58 PM on 12/07/2010

They're not isolated, most homeschooled kids are well-mannered, well-spoken and quite social. My son has never been to a daycare or preschool, has no siblings, yet he plays well with other children, as if he's around them 24/7.

As for getting out, we go to the children's museum, zoo and botanical gardens here. There are also story times on the weekend at my fav. bookstore. We have playgroup time, and he's in karate. These are the kinds of things most homeschooling families do. Our kids get more "field trips" and social interaction than those in public school.

Remember - just because public school kids are technically surrounded by other children most of the day does not mean they meaningfully interact with them, or even acknowledge them half the time. It does not mean they are learning about the unique experiences of their peers.

[rmarie]

11:23 PM on 12/06/2010

My son is only 3, but I'm still choosing to homeschool him from preschool (now) through middle school and beyond, if public education doesn't improve. For me, it's about him not getting indoctrinated, learning true history, not the white-washed version, and learning to become a critical thinker, not just retaining info for a short time to take a test. It's been known for decades that public education is not the best course for minority children, especially Black boys.

I support the improvement of public schools, but I will never put my kid through it if I don't have to.

[teacher39years]

10:58 AM on 12/07/2010

Revisionist History came from the Federal Standards.

[rmarie]

02:54 PM on 12/07/2010

I realize that, not to mention unqualified, corrupt school boards like we have here in Texas. Teachers can't even do what they were trained to do (teach)...if they dare stray away from what they're "supposed" to tell the children, they can be punished.

[yappnmutt]

10:07 PM on 12/06/2010

homeschooling actually reflects the reality of the workplace more than institutional(public) schools. most people people socialize with a large group of business associates but few actually work with hundreds and thousands of people in the same building doing the same thing. not many people work in a room with more than thirty people doing the same task.

homeschooling is about focused work and networking for opportunities to learn more if it is done correctly. that is better preparation than being in a rigid setting all day learning exactly the same things(with a narrow selection) in exactly the same way as everyone else.

[susiesorority]

10:10 AM on 12/07/2010

Well said. Do you have kids and do you homeschool?

[yappnmutt]

04:48 PM on 12/07/2010

we homeschooled my kids until high school. we achieved our goals concerning their education. they have a very strong foundation in the three rs and a curiosity that leads them wherever they find an interest. they are independent from peer pressure and other group think limitations.

we decided to enroll them in high school because colleges are still behind the curve when it comes to measuring the academic achievement of homeschoolers. the other reason was to expose them to the people they would spend the rest of their lives working with.

[tploomis]

09:32 PM on 12/07/2010

I can imagine a scenario in which homeschooling is beneficial for children, but the vast majority of parents trying to homeschool their children are not competent to do so -- at least in my state there are no educational requirements for the parent of the child being homeschooled. Many of those homeschooled are taught by parents without even a high school degree, and their motivation for homeschooling is mostly related to promoting their religious views.

[been2there]

09:32 PM on 12/06/2010

Despite my passionate support for good public education, I wound up home schooling my two children. Both are gifted, both are learning disabled--and public schools kept refusing to deal with those realities.
Okay, I know how tough it is to deal with kids like mine, and in a class of 30, it really was impossible. But--
Part of home schooling well is ensuring that kids play with other kids. Guess who I met in the home schooling group? The same people I knew from PTA.
Education can't work without slave labor--otherwise known as volunteers, and almost all of whom are mothers. Not only are schools losing the best and brightest students, they are losing the parents who were willing to help educate other peoples kids. Every single one of the parents in that group expressed frustration over having to remove their children to protect those children from the bullying and disruption of the unparented kids.
Raising children well is hard work, and it is a full-time job. We need to structure taxes and other benefits to make it more feasible for people--not just women--to make children the full time job they need to be. And full time parents should not be losing out on everything from basic respect to retirement benefits.
T. Berry Brazleton, an eminent pediatrician, suggested retooling the work day so that each parent worked two/thirds of a day, and children spent more time at home.

[reader1]

08:17 PM on 12/06/2010

It will give the educators pause, why are we in a system that states you must be socialized a certian way. If we take away all the money that is invested in education and actually use it for teaching purposes, perhaps we will have more developed human beings, and ones that can read, write and do complicated math. However, homeschooling uses the best of both worlds, they keep their children home but they still need public education in order to get a diploma in most states. Also, if they have high school students, they use the system to get driver's ed. So as much as they claim they are independent, they are not. Do not be alarmed, it's all a shell game!

[rmarie]

11:27 PM on 12/06/2010

I don't know about your state, but in Texas you do not need to attend public school to graduate from high school or be accepted into college. It's all about keeping good records while homeschooling.

Also, in Texas, drivers ed is not only offered in schools. You can go to an independent provider for that. And even if you take drivers ed as an elective (I did), you won't get actual instruction or driving time unless you pay the instructor a fee, same as with an independent provider.

[hulagirrrl]

07:31 PM on 12/06/2010

Government should be very concerned about these figures. Yes, there may be people who feel that their culture is not represented well enough in schools, but I doubt that is truly the only reason for homeschooling. Most parents may fear for the safety of their children and that they are simply not learning enough. What is most frightening though is that many of the really nutty nutty religious people are homeschooling and indoctrinating their children with all sorts of anti social nonsense. The homeschooling trend is tearing on the fabric of our society as we know it. We somehow need to have a common ground and that used to be our basic education.

[LVorBust]

09:05 PM on 12/06/2010

I really get annoyed when I read things like your post. I'm in Nevada and we are a home schooling family. Nevada ranks bottom of the fifty states. We home school so our child will know how to read and do math. As a result, we are part of home school groups to provide friendships and support in our lives. I have yet to come across nutty religious people who are indoctrinating their children with any sort of anti-social nonsense. Infact, the only non-sense regarding home schooling is people's reactions like yours who don't know any better. Home schooling does not tear apart the fabric of our society. Our children actually are far more respectful and polite than the average public school kid. Our children usually have a better motivations and interests in life than sitting in front of a television or wondering what Justin Beiber is doing at the moment. Please, before you spout your own uneducated non-sense, why don't you do what I teach my child to do. Ask a question, do research, observe, do more research, and come up with a thoughtful dialogue that is based on as much truth as possible.

[rmarie]

11:34 PM on 12/06/2010

And last I heard, Texas ranked 49th, which is also why I'm homeschooling, in addition to several other things. But religion is not one of them, like so many uninformed people think.

Our kids get to grow up with a love of learning because they're not stifled. Their creativity and unique ways of thinking/problem solving get nourished, which you just can't count on happening in public schools.

There are some religious fanatics who homeschool, but people need to realize that whether those kids went to homeschool, public school, private, etc, they would still be growing up in that environment and would most likely end up indoctrinated regardless.

[hulagirrrl]

01:05 AM on 12/07/2010

No need to become so angry over this issue or spew insults at me.
Home schooling is a very debatable issue, and my belief is that it can foster parallel societies that may or may not want to live by the same standards of citizenship in our communities. I maintain that homeschooling is tearing the fabric of our society. We really do not have reliable figures and statistics on the various reasons why parents home school, but the majority are of religious or social issues.
Not only unfortunate for the children who are probably not learning to become a tolerant citizen, but I also doubt that they really receive a well rounded theoretical education.
If your state is doing so very badly in education then wouldn't you teach your children better by having civil courage and fight for better education for all?
I applied Waldorf teachings to supplement my children's education outside of school, and they learned two foreign languages not just at home but by living in a different country than America. I am a staunch supporter of public education, maybe because we have experienced compulsory education at its finest.
Alooooha.

[teacher39years]

09:25 PM on 12/06/2010

I believe that the narrowing of the Curriculum due to No Child Left Behind has disenfranchised and frustrated many children at a very young age. Increased emphasis on Standardized Test Scores does not allow for creativity or indivual differences in children. Frustrated children become behavior problems.

[hulagirrrl]

01:10 AM on 12/07/2010

I can see the frustration part, in my opinion there should be much more play in elementary years and also more PE. Do you not believe though that many home schooled children have behavior problems to begin with? I just seem to run into parents who home school and then tell me about IEP's that they have to do with their local public school. Maybe it is my experience but most home schooling families that I have met fit either that or the religious category. I could be wrong.