Burch on Virtual Charters and Other Market-Based Educational Trends

Two weeks ago I reviewed Terry Moe and John Chubb’s new book celebrating market-based education reform, especially home-based online learning.  Today I review Patricia Burch, Hidden Markets: The New Education Privatization (Routledge, 2009), which is a critique of these same trends.

The FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and Homeschooling

I was prompted to write this when I read this month’s excellent cover story on the FLDS in the National Geographic.  I’m sure most of my readers recall the saga that played out on national television in 2008 when the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services removed 437 children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, TX after receiving what turned out to be a hoax phone call alleging widespread sexual abuse there by FLDS men.  This seizure led to the largest child custody battle in U.S. history, which resulted in the eventual return of all the children to the compound when the Third Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the families. 

Moe and Chubb on Virtual Schools

This post reviews Terry M. Moe and John E Chubb, Liberating Learning: Technology, Politics, and the Future of American Education(San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2009).

Moe and Chubb are legendary in the world of Educational Policy.  Their 1990 book Politics, Markets and America’s Schools is perhaps the most influential book ever written on the issue of privatization of public education.  In this new book the two scholar-activists reunite to make the case again for radical transformation of public education with private enterprise leading the way.  In this review I will only very briefly summarize their main argument.  My chief interest is in the portions of their book that deal directly with virtual public education, because it happens for the most part at home. 

Cherlin on Marriage and Divorce in America

This post reviews Andrew J. Cherlin, The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today (New York: Knopf, 2009).  [Read an interview with Cherlin here. Publisher's summary here. Buy it here.]

Cherlin, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins, here presents a masterful synthesis of the historical and sociological scholarship on American and European families to explain why Americans marry more and get divorced more than other industrialized countries. 

Monk on Regulating Homeschooling in Britain

This post reviews Daniel Monk, “Regulating Home Education: Negotiating Standards, Anomalies, and Rights” in Child and Family Law Quarterly 21, no. 2 (2009): 155-184

Monk, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, Birbeck at the University of London, has been studying homeschooling for a few years now, his work largely concerned with challenging the dominant discursive tropes used by both advocates and critics of homeschooling, trying to get everyone to see that there is more at stake than the simplistic parent vs. government rhetoric suggests.  This new article is not available online, but a 2004 piece he wrote along these lines is available here.

In the present article Monk summarizes the current legal context of homeschooling in Britain and makes predictions for future policy directions. 

Spiegler on the Failure of Homeschool Regulation in Germany

This post reviews Thomas Spiegler, “Why State Sanctions Fail to Deter Home Education: An Analysis of Home Education in Germany and its Implications for Home Education Policies” in Theory and Research in Education 7, no. 3 (November 2009): 297-309

This is the last post in a series I’ve devoted to the recent special issue of Theory and Research in Education, which was entirely about homeschooling [I didn't review my own article].  Here Thomas Spiegler, a sociology professor at Friedensau Adventist University in Germany, draws some policy implications from his award-winning 2007 doctoral dissertation, which was the first ever study of homeschooling in Germany. 

A bit more on West’s HARMS OF HOMESCHOOLING

Last week’s post generated by far the most activity I’ve ever had on this blog.  Most of the comments submitted showcase the remarkable zeal with which homeschoolers rush to defend themselves in the face of perceived attack.  The outside observer might find such behavior a bit overdone and melodramatic.  To me it helps explain why homeschoolers have been so successful in the political arena. 

West on the Harms of Homeschooling

This post reviews Robin L. West, “The Harms of Homeschooling” in Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly 29, no. 3/4 (Summer/Fall 2009): 7-11 [Available here]

West, a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center, here provides perhaps the most blistering attack on homeschooling to be published in a reputable source in many years.

Villalba on Homeschooling in Sweden

This post reviews Cynthia M. Villalba, “Home-Based Education in Sweden: Local Variations in Forms of Regulation” in Theory and Research in Education 7, no. 3 (November 2009): 277-296.

Villalba, who recently received her PhD from the Institute of International Education at Stockholm University (Dissertation title: Home Education in Sweden), here presents an engaging summary of the recent history and current status of homeschooling policy in Sweden. 

KUROWSKI AND VOYDATCH Roundup

Back on July 14,  New Hampshire family-court judge Lucinda Sadler ruled that the daughter of a divorced couple who had been homeschooled by her mother (Voydatch) must be sent to public school.  This was in accordance with the father’s (Kurowski) wishes, though the girl had resided with the mother since the divorce in 1999, when the child was an infant.  Judge Sadler’s decision was based partly on the socialization issue (which was the father’s main concern) but also at least in part on her opinion that the girl’s Christian homeschooling was too rigid, that she would be better served in life by being exposed a wider range of views than what her mother provided.  [You can read the entire court document here]

Since this case is a custody-related case, it, like the In re Rachel L. case in California, was at first not on the radar screen of the leading homeschooling watchdog groups.  It is now.