Today I heard a clip of HBO host Bill Maher spouting the most vile and ridiculous lies about homeschooling. I was taken aback, even though I know Maher is just a bigoted blowhard. The lies he was perpetuating about homeschooling should have died 30 years ago, but apparently they are alive and well in some ignorant circles.
In the US there are approximately 1.5-2 million homeschoolers, but some of you might be completely unfamiliar with homeschooling. Maybe you've never actually known someone who homeschooled, or maybe you know of a family who is doing it, and they do seem odd. I know I have some readers from the UK and at least one in the Ukraine. Stats I've found put the number of homeschoolers in the UK at 20,000-100,000. That's quite a range. I'd be interested to know why the real number is so elusive. The number for Ukraine is less than 100 families. Wow, we have that many in our little cooperative group in the northwest corner of Arkansas, a state with only 3 million people. If you are a citizen of another country, and homeschool outside of the US, I'd be interested to hear from you in the comments. If you are just unfamiliar with homeschooling in general, I'd be happy to answer any questions in the comments.
Ok, here is the less than brilliant Bill Maher's statement:
"... the Adam and Eve story is taken literally by half the country and it's no coincidence that the type of tree which god forbade Adam and Eve eating from was the Tree of Knowledge. Rick Santorum homeschools his children because he does not want them eating that f--king apple. He wants them locked up in the Christian madrassa that is the family living room not out in public where they could be infected by the virus of reason. If you're a kid and the only adults you've ever met are mom and dad, and then they're also the smartest adults you've met, why not keep it that way? Why mess up paradise with a lot knowledge? After all, a mind is a terrible thing to open."
(it should be noted that Maher is apparently ignorant of even the most basic of Biblical information. it was not the "Tree of Knowledge", it was the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". this error alone should cause thinking people to discount what follows from his venomous lips.)
Ok, let's take this ridiculous statement one piece at a time. Maher says "Rick Santorum homeschools his children because he does not want them eating that f--king apple.", meaning Santorum, and by logical extension other homeschooling parents, don't want their children to acquire knowledge. This flies in the face of mountains of evidence that homeschool kids beat the national norms in almost every subject, every year. They score about 2 points higher than the average on the ACT, and in the 84th to 89th percentile on several other standardized test. The average, of course, is the 50th percentile. Only 11-16% of all students taking those tests scored higher then the average for homeschoolers.
Next, Maher says, "He wants them locked up in the Christian madrassa that is the family living room not out in public where they could be infected by the virus of reason." This statement itself shows Maher's ignorance. A madrassa is, literally, a place of learning and study. When used by English speaking people it almost always refers to an Islamic school. Either way, Maher's attempt to have it mean a place where learning is stifled by Christian religious zealots falls short. The whole purpose of a madrassa, in either usage, is to educate. Maybe my 8 year old could teach him how to look up words and their origins in her little dictionary.
Moving on, Maher says, "If you're a kid and the only adults you've ever met are mom and dad, and then they're also the smartest adults you've met, why not keep it that way?" This is the most laughable old stereotype that Maher employs. Homeschoolers are not isolated. One of the wonderful advantages of homeschooling is the opportunity to engage in activities outside the classroom. We participate in Scouting and similar groups, 4H, church activities, art classes, music lessons, sports, cooperative classes, field trips, and a myriad of other activities that bring us and our children into contact with "the outside world" throughout the week. In fact, almost every homeschool mom I know, and I know well over 100, wishes she and the kids could spend a little more time at home. My older kids spend 2 hours every Tuesday in a high school level chemistry class, taught by a very capable instructor. All of my children have accompanied Husband to our state Capitol on numerous occasions to spend one day or several seeing how our state government functions. Rachel served as a page for the Arkansas House of Representatives during their last regular session. I guarantee that you could ask any Arkansas legislator, and he or she would say Rachel is the opposite of sheltered! (at least in that regard. we do closely monitor television, movies, etc.)
And finally, the petty and uninformed Maher says, "Why mess up paradise with a lot knowledge? After all, a mind is a terrible thing to open." Again, I could point to the statistics that show that homeschoolers in general score significantly higher on standardized tests than public and even private school students. We could discuss the fact that as a percentage, homeschoolers far outpace non-homeschoolers in state and national contests like spelling bees, geography bees, and science competitions. I could point to the increasing trend among colleges to recruit homeschoolers. Schools like Stanford have seen that many of the brightest kids are coming from a homeschool background, and they want those kids at their school.
When I began this post about 20 minutes ago I was filled with anger at Bill Maher and his stupid, uninformed rantings. Now I've vented a bit, and I feel much better. I'll end with this: Hey Bill, my 13 and 11 year old kids study algebra, chemistry, ancient Greek, Latin, grammar, history, and literature. They travel to museums and aquariums and science centers on a regular basis. They are extremely well versed in the inner workings of state government, and more than competent with national government. They are more informed about current events than most adults, and can discuss them intelligently. I know of a dozen families just like us within a 20 mile radius. You just keep your ignorant little misconceptions. When the generation we are raising takes the reigns, you can rest easy, knowing that they have also been taught compassion and civility. You will be able to live out your golden years in a nice retirement home, not the razor wire enclosed camp you would like to put us in right now.
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