The weapons at the arsenal of the "educational elite" is pretty broad. Only a few years ago I was dead set against homeschooling. The impression I had of it was that it was done by radical religious conservatives (and that is saying something if you know me at all) who want to separate themselves from the world. I thought that the children who were homeschooled would be socially stunted and naive. Well, that perception has changed. I know a whole bunch of homeschoolers and their children. I have never met a more stable, intelligent, socailly adjusted bunch of children in my life. I can say that with confidence because I run high school bible studies, and run the young adult minitry at my church. And, as I mentioned before, I have taught high school math for three years to the homeschooled children.

I do have to admit that not all parents are equipped to teach all subjects to their children adequately. However, most homeschoolers are involved in co-ops where skills can be shared, and even the local schools and colleges can be used to round out the education (at least in my area, Western Washington).

Anyway, my point is, that parents don't have to go it alone, and any "propganda" suggesting that parents can't teach as well as "experts" misses out on the whole picture. I think homeschooling works because success in education has much less to do with the "expertness" of the teacher and more to do with a proper learning environment and the support of the parents, and there is no more parent involvement than in homeschooling.

Ron