Hello, , from NHERI.

Parents in Canada (and a few other nations) might as well send their children to institutional schools if their education, schooling, if top academic achievement scores are their top concerns. One may find the following report:

TORONTO, December 7, 2010  -- A major international report released today by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows Canadian students rank among the best in the world in reading, mathematics, and science [Note 1].

Upon reading a report like this, however, parents should as several key questions?

What is "best," academically? What is the operational definition of "high achievement"?

Are OECD measures (i.e., the tests used) valid and reliable? For what purposes? For the objectives of individuals, students, families, and local communities, or for the plans of the state, or international interests?

How would a representative sample of Canadian home-educated students score on the same tests? Higher, the same, or lower? Why?

Perhaps even more importantly, however, parents and church leaders should be asking other questions, such as the following.

What worldview, values, and ways of thinking are taught to children and youth hour upon hour, day after day, month after month, year upon year in state-run schools? Are they consistent with biblical truths and reasoning, or consistent with and promoting some other perspective, way of thinking?

Who filters information, makes interpretations, and provides applications for children and youth in state-run institutional schools? Who decides what is important to put on OECD tests?

Are there things other than reading, mathematics, and science achievement that are more important, in the long run, for students, their families, and their societies? If so, what are they? For example, what percent of students from institutional schools, versus home-educated youth, end up committing white-collar crime, in prisons, in immoral sexual behavior, abusing drugs and alcohol, living on welfare, or otherwise living off of others rather than giving to others?

Should Christians care more, ultimately, about how their children score on tests like those used by the OECD or whether they are attracted to and following the King of kings and Lord of lords? Should Christians care more whether their children end up filling the job positions that civil government bureaucracies think need to be filled or living out the calling God has placed on their individual and corporate lives?

What if a study were to find that the home educated scored on achievement tests, on average, about the same as state-school children? A little lower? A lot lower? Would that be good reason, in and of itself, to jettison home-based education in favor of teaching, training, and indoctrination by the state that is given over to metaphysical naturalism, statism, Marxism, or any other philosophical paradigm other than that espoused in the special revelation of God, the Bible? [Note 2]

The homeschool community and its leaders should continually address whether they are putting the right emphasis on the right things as they rightfully attract ever more families to their ranks.

If you are interested in tangibly supporting our work doing research, collecting research, disseminating research, and helping homeschool families around the world, please see "Two ways to help" below.

P.S. Please feel free to send us your questions about homeschooling and we will try to answer them in upcoming messages.

Two ways to help:

1. Send a check to: NHERI, PO Box 13939, Salem OR 97309 (using a check puts the largest percent of your gift to work at NHERI)

2. Click here http://nheri2010.org/ and then the "donate" button.

NHERI, PO Box 13939, Salem OR 97309, USA

Notes:

1. Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. (2010.) Communiqués - Canadian Students Score Top Marks in Major OECD Report. Retrieved December 9, 2010 from http://www.cmec.ca/Press/2010/Pages/2010-12-07.aspx.

2. All forms of education/schooling - whether state-run public schooling, private classroom schooling, or parent-led home-based education - are the teaching, training, and indoctrination of children and youth.