Hmm, I do wonder as to the source of this information, and of course, it really is very different over there, but it may be worth thinking about what we could learn from this story about what US home schoolers do when they grow up.
"Dr. Ray, himself a homeschooling dad, studied 5,247 home-educated graduates and found that 49 percent were in college and the remaining 51 percent were earning their way in a wide variety of occupations. Over 10 percent were pursuing such prestigious professional careers as doctors, ministers, accountants, nurses, school and college teachers, and the like. About 3 percent were owners of small businesses or contractors, and 6 percent were office workers. Nearly 10 percent were salesmen, computer programmers, draftsmen, service workers, hairstylists and in other such positions. Two percent were wearing military uniforms or constabulary blue, and four percent were employed in such labor-intensive occupations as carpenters, mechanics, bakers and managers. About 7.5 percent were homemakers, and the rest were farmers and blue-collar workers."
I can't trace it but I seem to remember Prof Roland Meighan, formerly of Nottingham University and now of Educational Heretics Press, saying at HESFES that the outcomes for British home educators were very similar to outcomes from schooling. Must mean that we have something to learn!
10 comments:
"Must mean that we have something to learn!"
Do you mean that HE'd children should be doing better than schooled children?
I would argue that, even if the adult careers of HEd children are similar to those of schooled children, I should imagine that if they did research into the emotional stability of these two groups of children they would find very different outcomes! Also, research such as this can't take into account the different approaches that parents take to HEing - autonomous learning vs. school-at-home for example.
Cx
Makes one think if it's worth all the parental sacrifice. ;)
I do agree with Clare and Tech. I think that a more significant poll would study how contented the former HEd children were with their choice of career.
D
Having said all that, it's still comforting to be able to demonstrate that future career choices are not limited - the sort of thing you can show to doubting relatives who worry about the possible damage to a child's prospects!
But aren't they limited? Why do I hear complains about poor access to exams?
There are ways around this that mean that any child who wants to will most likely be able to get the qualifications he desires, but I do agree that this situation needs to be addressed, and that exam access be made routinely easier.
You mean £££ ways around it?
Yes. Cash is almost inevitably involved if one sticks with doing exams at home. Otoh, many families we know have seen their previously HE kids go to a college-like environment from about 15, and doing their exams there. Some have directly skipped all the O and A level stuff and have gone directly to Open University Degree which is far cheaper than going to University atm.
So poor people home-educating would not be quite a good idea, would it?
I have heard that being schooled or not would not make a difference, it seems being poor in this country is what makes the difference, access to university is not quite equal. Is that the issue?
Absolutely, this country regressed when the decision was made to make students pay tuition fees. This now means, in practice, that many poor students are frightened by the level of debt they must acquire to get their degree. The students with rich parents in the background obviously find this much less of a problem.
It's wrong, imo, that high quality further education is very often, therefore, only available to the rich.
D
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