Resisting Bureaucracy: A Case Study of Home Schooling

Abstract

Home schooling is a growing U.S. trend, with an estimated 1.1 million students being home schooled (Princiotta, Bielick, & Chapman, 2004). The average home school family in the United States is White, middle class, Christian, and conservative (Masters, 1996), yet home school families are becoming increasingly diverse, and now represent a broad cross-section of the nation's racial, ethnic, religious, political, and ideological diversity (Romanowski, 2001; Welner, 2002). Home schooling has sparked passionate and rancorous debates, yet other than general demographics, relatively little is known about the families who choose to educate their children at home (Welner, 2002). In the spring of 2002, the authors, all of whom are either professors of education or practicing school administrators, were invited to conduct a study of home schooling in a small, rural midwestern town we refer to by the pseudonym of Wheatland. District leaders were interested in learning why families residing in their district chose to home school and what might encourage them to reconsider sending their children to their local public schools. Prior to embarking upon the study, we expressed misgivings and preconceived notions about home school parents and their motivations for home schooling their children. We could not understand why taxpaying adults did not take advantage of the local public school system, especially one that was small and highly regarded for its academic achievements. We were skeptical about how much time these parents actually spent educating their children. However, our willingness to set aside our own assumptions and listen to the families tell their personal stories resulted in us coming to see them in a different light. The home school families that participated in the study graciously invited us into their homes, their schools, and gave us a glimpse into their lives. They were candid in their assessment of home schooling and public education, and saw the advantages and disadvantages of both. We first present findings from the qualitative data collected from the home school families. We then use home schooling as a standpoint from which to examine established educational practices that have been the target of criticisms in recent years. A number of reformers have called for the dismantling of schools' bureaucratic structure and culture (Astuto, Clark, Read, McGree, & Fernandez, 1994; Clark & Meloy, 1989; Darling-Hammond, 1997; Larson & Ovando, 2001; Meeks, Meeks, & Warren, 2000; Senge et al., 2000) and replacing them with environments that are inclusive, caring, learning communities more akin to families than factories (Calderwood, 2000; Eaker-Rich & VanGalen, 1996; Furman, 2004; Lipsky & Gartner, 1997; Noddings, 1992; Shields, 2000). We hope that our work will lead to a more balanced and less emotionally charged discussion about why parents elect to home school their children and how the practices of parent educators might inform public education. The Re-emergence of Home Schooling in the United States Home schooling has a long history in the United States going back to several centuries, but there is general agreement that the contemporary home school movement began in the 1960s and emerged from two different ideological strands (Basham, 2001; Carper, 2000; Lyman, 1998). One strand came about in response to court rulings that codified the separation of church and state. Conservatives who wanted to raise their children in a traditional Christian environment expressed dissatisfaction with what they saw as the increasing secularization of public schools (Welner, 2002). Because they felt public schools no longer taught the beliefs and values they wanted their children to acquire, they turned to their churches and formed overtly Christian home schools and support groups (Carper, 2000; Somerville, 2001). During the same timeframe, a second strand was fomenting as a growing number of critics were expressing discontent with the quality of education being provided in public schools. …