Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

GetReligion

Home
Religion News
Wait, not all home-schooling is stupid and harmful!?

Wait, not all home-schooling is stupid and harmful!?

Last updated on: January 3, 2014 at 11:40 am by Bobby Ross Jr.

Wait, not all home-schooling is stupid and harmful!? 2014-01-03T11:40:15-05:00 Bobby Ross Jr.

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What she said.

Last summer, I did a GetReligion post titled “WPost: Virginia law highlights stupidity of home-schooling.” In that post, I characterized as “lousy journalism” the Post’s 2,500-word report on a Virginia religious exemption that allows families to opt entirely out of public education:

The Post takes the absolute worst-case scenario — a family that goes the home-schooling route and apparently flubs it — and uses it as the overarching lens through which to view the issue. That’s unfortunate. And biased. And bad journalism.

Hmmmm, do you think I was too subtle?

I had no problem at all with the newspaper reporting on the negative side of home-schooling. That’s journalism. The issue was that the Post neglected entirely to tell the other side of the story, such as home-schoolers who make perfect scores on their college entrance exams.

Fast-forward to this week when I came across a Christianity Today blog post with this intriguing headline:

The Normal, Drama-Free, Totally-Healthy Christian Homeschool Movement

In that post, CT’s Ruth Moon suggests that in a culture that loves shock value, typical evangelicalism rarely makes news. CT is, of course, a leading magazine for evangelicals. She notes that she grew up in the conservative homeschool culture and adds:

When American Prospect published Kathryn Joyce’s recent article on the “apostates” among us, I took note. In fact, I couldn’t stop reading. It was a little like watching a train wreck with family members on board.

Joyce’s piece profiles several homeschooling horror stories—narratives of children raised by hypersensitive, overbearing parents, parents who used mental and physical punishment. The article ties those stories to the history and culture of the broader homeschooling movement, which became popular in the 1980s and spread in the last few decades to more than 2 million practitioners.

While I know the kinds of heartbroken children of homeschooling Joyce profiles, I also know the other side. For every mistreated homeschooled kid who’s grown up to be an outspoken rebel against the culture — and I know a few — I know a half-dozen young adults who grew up to go to college, get a real job, and find a healthy place in society without too much drama.

Stressing that she means not to discount the negative experiences of some, Moon acknowledges that the American Prospect piece and a recent Daily Beast article on home-schooling “do their part to shine light on the dark places of the homeschooling world.” But she adds:

These articles also remind me of the danger of letting news define our view of the world. It’s no secret that news highlights the odd, often at the expense of the normal. As Catholic novelist and journalist G.K. Chesterton noted in 1909, journalism’s biggest flaw is that it is a “picture made up entirely of exceptions.”

And later:

We often assume journalism is a mirror to reflect reality, rather than a lamp to shine into dark places. Because the news tends to fall in the latter category, the everyday graces — what Martin Luther would call the days of mundane faithfulness — are not captured, nor should we expect them to be, in the pages of your daily newspaper or on your favorite news blog.

I could keep copying and pasting, but instead, go ahead and read the full post.

Here’s my question: Do you agree that we should not expect daily journalism to reflect the everyday reality of, say, home-schooling? Why or why not?

Previous Post

January 2, 2014

NYT: Nuns, birth control and Obamacare

Next Post

January 3, 2014 Will Pope Francis embrace all the 'progressive' nuns?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 5Q+1 Academia Anglicanism Announcements Atheists & Agnostics Baptists Books Business & Economy Catholicism Creeping Fundamentalism Education Ethics Evangelicals Film First Person gays Godbeat Got news? Humor Interviews Islam Journalism Judaism Lutherans Mainline Marriage & family Middle East Mormons Music Nones Orthodoxy Pagans Pentecostalism People Podcasts Politics Pop Culture Race Radio & TV Religion religious liberty Same-sex marriage Science Sex Social Issues Sports Uncategorized Vatican Web/Tech What is this? World World Religions Worship

Select a Month August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 May 2010 July 2009 February 2009 October 2008 July 2008 January 2007 August 2006 July 2006 October 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I denied my Lord three times before dawn broke and a bird announced the morning. What creature's cry fulfilled the prophecy?

Select your answer to see how you score.

An eagle A raven A dove A rooster