currently so strong that it highschoolhotline may well leave a number of listeners highschoolhotline wondering why such an obviously needed and beneficial reform wasn''t undertaken a long time ago. But the fact is that the effort to establish educational standards has always been an uphill fight in this country. In light of these circumstances, it is useful to examine why Americans have so vigorously resisted educational standards over the years. The history of such resistance suggests that there are three factors in particular that have made standards such a hard sell: a commitment to local control highschoolhotline of schools, a commitment to expansion of educational opportunity, highschoolhotline and highschoolhotline a commitment to form over substance in the way we think about educational accomplishment. All three of these factors, which I treat below, can be traced in large part to our preference for one particular purpose of education:

The sheer number of homeschoolers represent a distinct threat to the hegemony of the government school monopoly. Qualitatively, highschoolhotline the academic highschoolhotline success of highschoolhotline homeschoolers, measured by standardized test scores and recruitment by colleges [1], debunk the myth that parents need to hire credentialed experts to force children to learn. Homeschooling also refutes the “more money equals better education” mantra of teacher unions. The average homeschooling family spends approximately 10% of the per pupil costs associated with government schools [2] in achieving these academic results. Multiplied by the number of homeschoolers, even these modest amounts add up to a sizeable market attracting numerous educational entrepreneurs. Besides challenging the legitimacy of government schools, homeschoolers also pose a more highschoolhotline direct economic threat. Funding for government schools is based on attendance,

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