Classic newspaper series critiques homeskooling

The other day I began a thread citing a Yahoo! question about reporting educational neglect of allegedly "homeschooled" children.

While that thread is still fresh in your thoughts (maybe), here are links to a famous critique of homeskooling that two Akron Beacon-Journal reporters wrote in 2004. The series ran for several days and its impact is still felt. However, the newspaper's online archives have long deleted the relevant articles and an education organization has made retyped PDF files available. Other links flesh out the series. Now you have more ammo for your own criticisms.

Especially revealing are the comments from college representatives in Part 2 about how few homeschoolers are actually applying to the elite universities. The situation has little changed, I would suspect, given what we know about so many "typical" homeschoolers (i.e., fundies and not-so-smart moos who had little education themselves and disdain formal schooling). If these students are so much in demand at regular universities, why was the creation of Patrick Henry College to cater to them even necessary?

From National Education Policy Center website archives

Home Schooling: Whose Business is It?

Akron Beacon-Journal

14–20 November 2004
by reporters Dennis J. Willard and Doug Oplinger

[Part 1.] Home Schoolers’ Motivations Are Diverse;
Their Teaching Styles Vary

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/EPRU-0503-101-OWI.pdf

[Part 2.] Claims of Academic Success Rely on Anecdotes,
Flawed Data Analysis

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/EPRU-0503-102-OWI.pdf

[Part 3.] Parents Want to Control Influences;
Critics See Need for Wide Exposure

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/EPRU-0503-103-OWI.pdf

[Part 4.] Home Schoolers May Be No Safer in Their
Homes Than Other Children

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/EPRU-0503-104-OWI.pdf

[Part 5.] Home-schooling Freedoms Help Parents Who Abduct Children

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/EPRU-0503-105-OWI.pdf

[Part 6.] A Diverse but United National Network Mobilizes
Against Regulations at All Levels

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/EPRU-0503-106-OWI.pdf

[Part 7.] Parents Assert Rights

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/EPRU-0503-107-OWI.pdf

[Summary, same day as Part 7:] Home Schooling Series Recap

http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/EPRU-0503-108-OWI.pdf

[Some cases of abuse by "homeskoolers" used in the reporters' research for the series:]
Troubling incidents in home-school settings

http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/26206

[Summary of responses from homeskooling rabble:]
Home-schooling series elicits intense response

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1291269/posts

[Excerpt from posted article at that last site: “If there was one thing clear about the Beacon Journal's exploration of the movement, it was that most home schoolers who responded to the newspaper didn't like it.” Ha ha.]