If the COVID pandemic has a silver lining, it might be a drastic reduction in the influence of U.S. public schools, where leftist-activist teachers have had free rein to mislead and influence children on the sly.
The proof of schools’ waning power is the number of U.S. children who are home-schooled: It has nearly doubled during the sinister, shape-shifting and media-hyped pandemic, which has driven elected officials to close businesses, shutter churches and even regulate interpersonal relations between Americans.
Many parents had previously turned away from public schools for their waning quality and total abandonment of moral education; now even more fear exposing their kids to the coronavirus.
The headlong rush for the exits – and for home-based education – is bound to further undercut the nation’s struggling public education system.
Nearly 2.6 million children have been switched to homeschooling since the pandemic began, according to a new report from the Bellwether Education Partners, commissioned by the Walton Family Foundation and reported by Axios. The total number of homeschooled kids is now about 5 million. According to census data, more than 11 percent of U.S. households are now home-schooling.
Interestingly, it’s not just white families making the change. While some 9.7 percent of white families have pulled out of traditional education, 12.1 percent of Hispanic families, 8.8 percent of Asian families and 16.1 percent of Black families are opting to do it better at home.
The reasons families state for switching are interesting.
The pandemic gave many parents their first up-close look at the quality and content of their children’s education.
Many want more individualized learning options, whether that means more attention from teachers or more personalized lesson plans, said Alex Spurrier of Bellwether, one of the authors of the report. Some families are tired of virtual learning, while others don’t feel safe sending kids to school for medical reasons.
Along with families who have moved to home-schooling, millions more have moved their kids from public school to private school.
America’s education system has long been stagnant and failing, and the pandemic has exposed this to the public, said Romy Drucker, K-12 education director at the Walton Family Foundation.
“Parents want greater personalization, and this seems like a trend that’s here to stay,” she said. “Schools will have to earn back the trust of parents.”
