 Episode 3 – Public School vs. Homeschooling In 2019, Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Bartholet published an article calling for a presumptive ban on homeschooling, which she believed conflicted with progressive ideals. Homeschooling presents both academic and democratic concerns, she argued. Public education makes children aware of important cultural values and provides skills enabling them to participate productively in their communities and the larger society through various forms of civic engagement. Even homeschooling parents capable of satisfying the academic function of education are not likely to be capable of satisfying the democratic function. Bartholet published her condemnation of homeschooling as faith in America's public school system was plummeting, yet she neglected to provide any comparative analysis. So how do the two systems stack up? Following progressive educational theories, the federal government began exerting more authority over education in the 20th century, imposing national standardized testing in 1965 and establishing a federal education bureaucracy, the Department of Education, in 1979. In the 21st century, both George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind and Barack Obama's Common Core demanded federal funding, bureaucratic oversight, and standardized testing for public schools. Since 1970, the results have been dismal. The government massively increased educational expenditures, resulting in the expansion of school administration, which has vastly outpaced the growth of both students and teachers. Today, taxpayers spend more than $15,000 per public school student, yet test scores have largely flatlined and in some areas even declined. These results became especially concerning after No Child Left Behind tied school funding to test scores, pressuring teachers to devote more time to teaching the test at the expense of other subjects. While public school test scores are dropping, homeschooled students, by contrast, score consistently as much as 30% points above the national average. The difference exists even when comparisons are between students from households with similar economic and education levels. Why the disparity? Parents who are involved in and spend discretionary money on their children's education are more likely to want good results. In the public school system, bureaucrats spend anonymous tax money to fund a factory-modeled system for everyone. But homeschoolers aren't just better students. Although socialization is the most commonly cited benefit of public education, in comparison to homeschooling, homeschoolers significantly outperform their public school peers when tested for social, emotional, and psychological development. With all the claims that the public school environment promotes social development, it is puzzling how public schools group children according to their age, creating an environment where students interact almost exclusively with children at the same level of maturity and with little resemblance to real life. Far from being isolated, homeschoolers enjoy greater opportunity to socialize with people of all ages. Homeschool co-ops, for example, bring students together for group lessons, often taught by parents with expertise in the subject, as well as field trips, sports, and musical education. Unfortunately, many families that would prefer to homeschool simply can't afford to withdraw their children from public schools. The result are families being victimized twice, being forced to finance the very schools they would prefer to leave.