The sheer number of homeschoolers highschoolprincipal represent a distinct threat to the hegemony of the government school monopoly. Qualitatively, the academic success of homeschoolers, measured by standardized test highschoolprincipal 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 highschoolprincipal costs associated with government schools [2] in achieving these academic results. Multiplied highschoolprincipal by the number of homeschoolers, even these modest amounts add up to a sizeable market attracting numerous educational entrepreneurs. highschoolprincipal Besides challenging the legitimacy of government schools, homeschoolers also pose a more direct economic threat. Funding for government schools is based on attendance,

currently so strong that it may well leave a number of listeners 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 highschoolprincipal control of schools, a commitment to expansion highschoolprincipal of educational opportunity, and 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 highschoolprincipal our preference for one particular purpose of education:

educational bureaucrats, ideological indoctrinators and other beneficiaries of today’s system. What will happen when the growing number of homeschooling families withdraw their political support for the enormous taxes required to fund today’s $300 billion government system? To combat these threats, defenders of the status quo are fighting back with all the legal, legislative, and economic weapons at their disposal. The most insidious of these tactics is the systematic undermining and co-opting of the homeschooling movement by establishing government homeschooling programs. Government homeschooling programs set seductive lures before families by providing “free” resources, teachers, extracurricular activities, facilities, and even cash reimbursement. When enough families have voluntarily returned to the government system, it will be a relatively highschoolprincipal straightforward matter t highschoolprincipal.

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