Schuerman 1

Kiley Schuerman
Sarah Brown Ph. D.
English 12 CPDC
2 December 2013
Taking Action to Learn
Introduction
Education in the United States dates back to the colonial times, and the idea of public
education was originally developed from two Greek philosophers named Plato and Aristotle.
Their beliefs and influences remain in public education today, Plato believed that education was
to teach good character, citizenship, and strong leadership and Aristotle believed the government
was solely responsible to foresee that each citizen was allowed a public education while
including good virtues (Nosotro). Even with the influences of these two philosophers, it wasnt
until the mid-1850s, during the Industrial Revolution in America, that public education became
widely implemented in the United States.
The current mandatory requirements for legal operation of public schools in the state of
Nebraska, is stated in Rule 10 section three of the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE)
handbook, it states that public schools must only hire teachers and administration that have
obtained a teaching certificate, and must offer instruction in English, mathematics, and social
studies while incorporating multicultural education in all areas of education. Additionally, for
grades nine through twelve a minimum 200 credit hours is required for graduation, including 80
percent from core curriculum. The school must also meet the minimum class time hour
requirements for each grade level; for kindergarten 400 hours, for grades one through eight 1,032
hours, and for grades nine through twelve 1,080 hours (NDE).

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However, public education is not the only form of education students in the United States
can receive. In addition to public education, students have the option to enroll in private,
parochial, or homeschooling as well. Homeschooling is the type of education that has been used
for the longest and is currently increasing at the fastest rate of seven percent annually (U.S.
Department of Education). There is currently three percent of American students being
homeschooled for a total of 1,508,000 students out of a total number of 51,135,000 students
(Mack).
This is not a new thing for many of us, as homeschooled individuals are seen in the media
constantly in todays society. The television show 19 Kids and Counting on TLC, shows the
experiences of the Duggar family through homeschooling their 19 kids. Also, the 2007 Heisman
trophy winner and NLF player Tim Tebow was homeschooled from kindergarten through high
school along with his four older brothers and sisters (Strauss). In addition to these two cases,
Teresa Scanlan of Gering, Nebraska who was crowned Miss America in 2011 at the age of 17
was homeschooled for her Christian beliefs (Olsen).
In the state of Nebraska, legislation on April 10, 1984 allowed parents the right to educate
their children outside of accredited public or non-public schools. After the legislation allowed
homeschooling, they were forced to form regulations for the procedures and standards of filing
for exemption and established Rule 12 and Rule 13. On August 22, 1984 Rule 13, which serves
for those families filing for exemption for religious purposes, became effective; and on August 4,
1999 Rule 12, which is for fro families filing for reasons other than religion, became effective.
Since then both of these rules have been revised twice and have a current effective date of May
3, 2010 (NDE 1).

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In the state of Nebraska homeschools are considered exempt schools, and the NDE
defines the exempt status as quoted below.
Parents who file to exempt their children from approval and accreditation
regulations, and receive official notification form the Commissioner of Education
acknowledging their election to do so (NDE 2).
In the 2012-2013 school year, there were 7,200 students enrolled in exempt schools in the
state of Nebraska, and Douglas, Lancaster, and Sarpy counties account for 50 percent of the
states total number. Also, the states total percent is slightly lower than the national percent at
2.35 percent of the total number of students enrolled in Nebraska being exempt students (NDE
4). However, Nebraska along with many other states currently have low regulations for students
who are enrolled in homeschool or claim the exempt status. Currently, exempt students are only
required to notify the state of their decision and to meet the minimum hour requirements for class
time which are the same as public education.
Through research one could find several reasons for why it is necessary for Nebraska to
pass a bill that would make the current homeschooling regulations stricter for exempt students.
These reasons include the safety of the students, the overall quality of their education, and the
socialization and community awareness of the students.
Change is Necessary
Several studies have shown that students who are homeschooled are also typically abused
by their parents. If these students were enrolled in public education, someone may have been
able to identify the abuse through weight loss and bodily bruises. Due to the amount of abuse
found in homeschool environments, two websites have been formed to document cases of abuse.

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The first website is sponsored by the organization Homeschoolers Anonymous, which is

expanding to become a non-profit organization called Homeschool Alumni Reaching Out
(HARO). The site is used to document stories of adults who are interested in sharing their
experiences growing up in homeschool. When sharing his experiences one member commented
on homeschooling in general.
Homeschooling, as a method of instruction, is not intrinsically bad, dangerous,
or damaging. I saw many children raised in homeschooling who were not abused
by religious fundamentalism even if they were Christians. However, as a
society, we have to realize that the current state of homeschooling gives parents
unique power over their children. Yes, many homeschooled children are a part of
co-ops, interact with neighbors, and have relatively normal social interactions.
But other homeschoolers are isolated in rural areas, with no contact with
neighbors, or the outside world. Abuse develops in these environments because
there is no oversight from outside the parents and, if criticism if lodged, the
parents are defensive. To many homeschooling parents, homeschooling (the
method) is part of a larger worldview that involves rejections of secularism,
science, and academic institutions (Ducote).
With the possibility of abuse arising in these environments, regulations need to be
established to ensure the safety of the children. The other website, Homeschoolings Invisible
Children, was created by Heather Doney and Rachel Coleman Ph. D. to document stories of
children abused in homeschool. As Rachel Coleman stated, Homeschooling enables parents to
isolate children; that can enable them to abuse them. (qtd Goldberg).

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Their site is categorized in the following types of abuse: fatality, food deprivation,
imprisonment, physical abuse, and sexual abuse (Goldberg). A few of these cases include Hana
Williams, an Ethiopian teenager living in the state of Washington, who in her last year of life lost
30 pounds from being beaten, denied food, forced to sleep in a barn, given cold showers outside
with a garden hose, only given shoes when it snowed, and sometimes was only given a towel to
wear as clothing. Additionally, five year old Dashawn Harris was beaten to death by his mothers
boyfriend in a homeschooling lesson for mispronouncing the word sad (Coleman).
These are just two of numerous stories documented on their website. Even though this
abuse only occurs in a fraction of the 1,508,000 students that are homeschooled, regulations need
to be enforced to prevent the cases that do exist. In the state of Pennsylvania, students who are
homeschooled are required to be up to date on all immunizations and must receive annual vision
and hearing tests. They also are required to complete dental exams when first enrolling in
homeschool education, in third grade, and in seventh grade (PDE 8-9). I dont see why these
regulations should not be enforced in other states. Students enrolling in public education are
required to meet health standards, so why wouldnt we implement these same standards for
exempt students in the state of Nebraska.
Pennsylvania also requires a background check of all parents, legal guardians, and
instructors that will be associated with the student receiving education before they will be
granted approval for homeschooling. In the background check the individuals with legal custody
must not have been convicted for criminal offenses in order to satisfy (PDE 9). Many criminals
will commit another crime when giving a chance, and since the typical homeschooling
environment isolates the criminal I feel that background checks are a necessity when applying

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for exempt status in the state of Nebraska. When a child is homeschooled, they are typically not
seen in public by many people and this is what allows the parents to get away with the abuse.
Not only should regulations be changed for the safety of the children, but it is also
important that the students enrolled in exempt schools receive quality education. Nebraska
currently only requires students filing for the exemption status to notify the state by July 15th or
30 days prior to beginning instruction for those applying for the first time. Other than
notifications, they are required to send in a birth certificate to the state and a syllabus outlining
their education. However, to this day, the state of Nebraska has not required any testing or visits
to prove that the students are actually learning the material (NDE).
In public schools, students are required to take several state standards including the
NeSA tests and the MAPS tests. However, homeschooled students are not required to complete
these. To me a state standardized test should be taken by all students in the state of Nebraska for
the statistics to be accurate, but this is not the case. The only standardized tests that are currently
taken by students both educated in homeschooling and in public schools is the ACT and SAT.
Many homeschooling advocates would say that homeschooled students typically score higher
than the students in public schools, which is true. The national average ACT composite score for
students educated in public schools in 2012 was 21.1 (ACT). Which is lower than the national
average composite score of homeschooled students which is currently 22.6 (United States
Department of Education). According to Glen Cutlip, an official of the National Education
Association, even though these test scores are higher, they are not accurate. He stated,
The study averages percentiles form several different tests, comparing scores of
homeschoolers nationwide with those of public school students homeschoolers
were selected by sending out a questionnaire, they constitute a self-selected

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group, not a representative sample of the entire homeschooling population (qtd

Pfleger 92).
The only way to measure the progress of students in homeschooling and to prove that
they are getting a quality education is to require them to complete exams on a regular basis. In
the state of Pennsylvania homeschooled students are required to complete state standardized tests
in third grade, fifth grade, and eighth grade (PDE 10). Nebraska needs to implement a law
similar to this to prove that the exempt students are receiving a quality education.

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Works Cited List

ACT. 2012 ACT National and State Scores. 2013. Web. Google. 20 Nov. 2013.
Coleman, Rachel. Hana Grace-Rose Williams. Homeschooling Invisible Children. 4 May
2013. Web. Google. 6 Nov 2013.
--- Dashawn Harris. Homeschooling Invisible Children. 5 May 2013. Web. Google. 6 Nov
2013.
Ducote, Nicholas. Why I Blame Homeschooling, Not Just my Parents: Reflections by Nicholas
Ducote. Homeschool Alumni Reaching Out (HARO). 2013. Web. Bing. 17 Nov. 2013.
Goldberg, Michelle. The Sinister Side of Homeschooling. The Daily Beast. 20 Sep. 2013.
Web. Google. 6 Nov. 2013.
Mack, Julie. What the U.S. Census says about homeschool families. Michigan Live. 2012.
Web. Google. 17 Nov. 2013.
NDE (Nebraska Department of Education). A Report on Participants in Nebraska Exempt
Schools 2012/2013 School Year. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Nosotro, Rit. History of Public Education. Hyper History. 2010. Web. Info. 17 Nov. 2013.
Olsen, Teri. Teressa Scanlan. Homeschooling Teen Magazine. 2011. Web. Google. 20 Nov.
2013.
PDE (Pennsylvania Department of Education). Homeschooling in Pennsylvania: A Fact Sheet.
2 May 2008. Web. Google. 20 Nov. 2013.
Pfleger, Katherine. Homeschooling May Not Be Viable. Education: Opposing Viewpoints. Ed.
Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Opposing Viewpoints Series, 2000.
Reist, Margaret. "Board to rethink home-school rules." Lincoln Journal Star, 08 November 2013.
Print.

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Strauss, Valerie. Tim Tebows Unusual Education. The Washington Post. 2012. Web.
Google. 19 Nov. 2013.
United States Department of Education. Home School Statistics. Statistic Brain. (2013). Web.
Google. 17 Nov. 2013.