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Available data do not allow us to draw a causal relationship between homeschooling and advanced academic achievement, but the growth of homeschooling certainly demonstrates a high level of discontent with traditional public education. Homeschoolers are willing to give up a “free” public service that often costs $7,000, $15,000, or even more per year to deliver. Homeschooling often requires one adult to stay home to teach one or more children, a sacrifice that should be measured in lost earned income as well as reduced career potential.

Homeschooling can be expected to continue to increase in popularity thanks to the use of innovative technology by charter schools and homeschoolers. Luis Huerta, Maria-Fernanda González, and Chad d’Entremont report that an estimated 60 Internet-based charter schools are online in 15 states and currently enroll 16,000 students, which is about 10 percent of national charter enrollment. An additional 52,000 students are enrolled in homeschool charters allowed in California and Alaska.26

If they lack expertise in advanced or specialized subjects such as calculus or Greek, charter managers and homeschoolers can turn to the 27 online Internet courses provided by the College Board, which has long offered advanced placement examinations to high schoolers for college credit. The extraordinary growth of broadband Internet services, technology-based education in universities and firms, and discontent with traditional schools is promoting K-12 innovations, especially in choice schools and among homeschoolers.27

Public Educators’ Opinions

Opinion surveys show a large gap between the views of educators and those of their customers, parents and students. Educators, for example, tend to oppose individual accountability, educational standards, and testing. On the other hand, a Public Agenda national survey of high school students showed that three-fourths believe that stiffer examinations and graduation requirements would make students pay more attention to their studies.28

In another survey, three-fourths of high school students said that schools should promote only students who master the material. Almost two-thirds reported that they could do much better in school if they tried. Nearly 80 percent said students would learn more if schools made sure they were on time and did their homework. More than 70 percent said schools should require after-school classes for those earning Ds and Fs.29

Leaders of traditional public schools differ sharply from their customers. A national Public Trust survey showed that 76 percent of superintendents and 59 percent of principals report that “students graduating from middle school have learned the reading, writing, and math skills they will need to succeed in high school,” but only 33 percent of high school teachers agree. Similar percentages of district and school leaders report that “a high school diploma means a student has learned the basic academic skills of reading, writing, and math.” Yet only 54 percent of high school teachers agree.30

Table 6-1 PERCEIVED DEGREE OF ACADEMIC CHALLENGE IN SCHOOLS

SOURCE: Harris Interactive, “The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher 2001: Key Elements of Quality Schools,” http://www.metlife.com/WPSAssets/26575530001018400549V1F2001ats.pdf.

Table 6-1 reveals how elementary and secondary school educators and students differ in their perceptions of the rigor of their schools’ academic programs.31

Former dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Theodore Sizer portrays the charade of challenging standards in Horace’s Compromise, which describes the common pattern of a teacher who gains orderly and easygoing relations with his students by telling them the absurdly easy questions he will ask on a test. He gains the approval and admiration of his principal even though his and his students’ efforts are at a pathetic minimum.32

The preference for achieving easygoing relations and high student self-esteem through low standards