People from this nation are lazy. From that country they are self-disciplined. Farmers are like this. Attorneys are like that. Have you ever caught yourself falling to the stereotyping trap?

Have you ever been stereotyped? A stereotype is an often unfair and untrue belief that many people have about all people or things with a particular characteristic.[1] Since its inception about 30 years ago, the modern homeschool community has been dealing with stereotypes.

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As it turns out, researchers are also interested in stereotypes and homeschooling. Scholars McCulloch, Savage, and Schmal explored the impressions of college admission officers toward homeschooled applicants in a recent study.[2] In their paper, "Admission officers' impressions of homeschooled applicants in evangelical and nonevangelical colleges and universities," they "... sought to ascertain whether the perceptions of admission officers adhered to the common stereotype that homeschoolers are brighter and yet socially less well-adjusted than average" (p. 215). They did this in the context of examining various traits of the admission personnel themselves to ascertain whether their backgrounds affected their views and understanding of and attitudes toward young adults who had been home educated.

The authors introduced their topic before detailing their methods. They explained that the stereotype with which they were dealing has two parts. The first is that homeschoolers (i.e., the students, or graduates of homeschooling) possess intellectual superiority. They summarized research on this, citing various studies[3] showing that the home educated typically score at the 65th to 80th percentile on standardized academic achievement tests (compared to the national average of the 50th percentile of public school students). "The second part of the stereotype is that homeschoolers are socially awkward. This myth has been very persistent and is often discussed in homeschool circles as the 'S' word" (p. 217).

In this study, McCulloch and colleagues explored the impressions of admission officers regarding applicants who had been homeschooled. In particular, their study examined characteristics of ",,, admission officers who self-reported as accepting the homeschool stereotype" (p. 218). The researchers gathered data on the officers regarding whether they were politically conservative versus liberal, religious versus nonreligious, whether they worked at Christian colleges versus at secular colleges, whether they were veteran officers versus new to admission counseling, and whether they would favor, or not, homeschooling their own children. They collected responses from admission officers at colleges that identified as Christian institutions and from those at secular colleges. The participants, admission officers, identified their own political views as being from very liberal to very conservative, and a varied range was represented by them. They worked at small, medium-size, and large colleges and universities. A majority attended church once per week or more often.

Consistent with the first aspect of the researchers' working stereotype, 44.4% of the admission officers thought, regarding homeschool applicants to college, that they were either "somewhat better prepared academically" (31.4%  of the officers) or "much better prepared academically" (14.0%). Only 12.4% thought that the applicants were either "very poorly prepared academically" (0.8%) or "somewhat less prepared academically" (11.6%). The officers considered 44.6% of the applicants "on average similar to other students" in terms of academic preparation.

Consistent, likewise, with the second part of the authors' working stereotype, a total of 47.9% of the admission officers had the impression that homeschool applicants to college were either "very poorly adjusted socially (3.3%) or "somewhat poorly adjusted socially" (44.6%), while a total of only 6.6% believed homeschool applicants were "somewhat better adjusted socially" (4.1%) or "much better adjusted socially" (2.5%); 46.3% thought the homeschooled were "on average similar to other students."

Further analysis revealed some notable findings. "It was hypothesized that admission officers who reported themselves to be less religious, more politically liberal, worked at secular colleges, and were more experienced would be most likely to adhere to the homeschool stereotype (academically brilliant but socially awkward). These predictions were only partially substantiated" (p. 222). First, and in general, the homeschool stereotype appeared to be held by the majority of admission officers who participated in the study.

The researchers reported that "... the most striking finding was that the homeschool stereotype was more strongly accepted among admission officers working at ..." institutions that were a part of an association of Christian colleges and universities than officers at the other secular institutions. That is, "... admission officers in evangelical colleges and universities were more likely to rate homeschooled applicants as being less socially adjusted than were admission officers ..." at other institutions and the "... reason for this finding is unclear" (p. 222).

McCulloch and his colleagues were surprised by this finding. They hypothesized that admission officers in Christian colleges would be more familiar with and have more contact with the homeschool community in general and the stereotype in particular compared to officers from secular colleges. Further, the researchers conceptualized the following:

       It may be that familiarity with this group may work to solidify the stereotype-they may see what they expect to see in this group. Wason (1960) first described this as "a failure to eliminate hypotheses," better known as confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is defined by Myers (2013) as "the tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions" (p. 118). (p. 222)

The authors also explained a finding that supported the preceding hypothesis; more detail on this is in the report.

The researchers offered a few more findings. First, the political views of the admission officers were not significantly related to the question of social adjustment. The political views were, however, significantly related to their ratings of the academic preparedness of homeschooled applicants. "The more conservative the political view of the admission officer, the greater the belief in the academic preparedness of the homeschooled applicant" (p. 221). Second, the more liberal the political views of the admission officer, the less likely they would be to potentially homeschool their children. Next, the religious views of the participants were not significantly related to their holding to the stereotype about homeschoolers. Finally, the longer a person had been an admission officer, the more he or she "... disavowal of the socially awkward stereotype" (p. 222) but years as an admission officer was not related to the person's attitude about the academic preparedness of homeschooled applicants.

"What may be the most interesting finding of this study is that the longer individuals work as an admission officer, the less likely they are to accept the myths" about homeschool applicants to college and university, wrote the researchers (p. 223). McCulloch and his colleagues outlined, in the introduction to their study's report, that research consistently shows that the home educated perform academically better, on average, than institutional school students and that they also do as well or better, on average, than their institutional counterparts in terms of social, emotional, and psychological development. Since research shows the home educated to be doing quite well, the authors of this present study wonder about admission officers holding to stereotypes.

McCulloch and the others posit the following:

      Christian higher education has a strong mandate to avoid biases and discrimination. It may be that Christian college admission officers need to be most on guard regarding how they judge fellow Christians who present as homeschooled applicants. As the number of homeschoolers grows and continues to expand the ranks of applicants at Christian colleges and universities, practical knowledge of the research related to academic preparedness and social adjustment becomes paramount. (p. 223)

One might hope that more solid research being done and college admission officers reading it will help reduce their vulnerability to holding to stereotypes about those raised in home-based-education environments.

--Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

National Home Education Research Institute

P.S. You might want to stop right now to donate just $10, $20, or more to help NHERI do research that helps counter stereotypes and false impressions.

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. Donate online.

NHERI, PO Box 13939, Salem OR 97309, USA

Endnotes:

 [1] Retrieved March 11, 2014 from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stereotype.

[2] McCulloch, Donald S.; Savage, Alexandra; Schmala, Liz. (2013). Admission officers' impressions of homeschooled applicants in evangelical and nonevangelical colleges and universities. Christian Higher Education, 12(3), 215-224.

[3] For example: Ray, B. (2010, February 3). Academic achievement and demographic traits of homeschool students: A nationwide study. Academic Leadership Online, 8(1), 1.