Homeschooling

[topdog98]

I would argue that the success has nothing to do with government incompetence, but rather parent involvement. It's no secret that parents that are actively involved in the their child's education will have children who do better on exams, whether home schooled or not. It's the same reason why private schools can use less educated and lower paid teachers and still produce better results.

Parents who are willing to pay to put their kid in private school is already showing a vested interest in their child's education. The parent who chooses to homeschool their child shows a vested interest in their child's education, the parent who places their child in a public school, but attends PTA, checks homework, and works with their child shows a vested interest. I don't have any hard statistics, but I bet if you compared these three specific demographics, the results would be similar. In public schools, their are many students just going through the motions, with parents who can care less.

If the only chance of success in government schools is high parental involvement, then what value does the government add besides expensive babysitting? It seems that these parents are essentially "homeschooling" after school hours, and the children whose parents are not "afterschooling" have little chance of success.