In the 1800’s, Germany compelled children to attend schools that were established to ensure a plentiful supply of obedient, but literate soldiers and factory workers. They were so successful that many other countries - including the US - copied them. These days much creativity and independent thought is still often discouraged in schools. Many people whose children are really bright and creative are forced to actually give them Ritalin when they are in school (and only then) so that they ‘fit in’. With the large class sizes and teachers who cannot or are not allowed to control the children’s behavior, learning has become more passive, and children’s natural curiosity and willingness to learn has become stifled.

Since 25% of adults in the USA are now illiterate, people are looking to the school system as the villain. There must be something wrong with the system if a child cannot learn to read in three years at school, but his mother can teach him to do so in six weeks at home. Parents for whom home schooling is not an option have increasingly turned to alternative schools for their children’s education.

School can become very traumatic for ADHD children or those with extreme creativity, especially if they lack social skills, which many do. Anxiety, rage and depression are often the result. When children’s needs are not being met, they don’t understand what is wrong or what to do about it; they just get fearful or angry. They may even get sick and beg to stay at home. Home schooling is becoming more popular as discerning parents see the problems inherent in public schools.

When the public system decides to actually lower the Scholastic Aptitude Test, as it was called back in the forties, because it was deemed ‘too hard’ for today’s child, there must be something wrong. Children these days are considered to be unable to match the IQ of their parents and grandparents. Rubbish! Parents have made the judgment and decided; it is the teaching methods at fault, not the children. The new standards seem to validate mediocrity.

Another reason that home schooling is becoming more popular is the escalating violence. No parent wants to let their child suffer the trauma of seeing their friends shot dead, or being injured themselves, due to some other child’s unbridled rage. The chaos that seems to reign on school buses, not to mention bullying problems, is not much better. All in all, it’s not the least bit amazing that parents are increasingly home schooling their children.