Harvard law professor says homeschooling is 'dangerous' for children, gets slammed for 'elitist' remarks
A Harvard Law professor's claims that homeschooling is "dangerous" because it gives parents authoritarian control over their kids is being called out by many, including former Harvard students.
Elizabeth Bartholet — Wasserstein public interest professor of law and faculty director of the Law School’s Child Advocacy Program — whose views were written in an article by Erin O'Donnell in the Harvard Magazine, believes that homeschooling violates children’s right to a “meaningful education” and their right to be protected from potential child abuse, but may keep them from contributing positively to a democratic society.
In a paper published in the Arizona Law Review, Bartholet notes that parents opt for homeschooling for multiple reasons — either they find local schools lacking or they want to protect their child from bullying. It is also noted that some do it to give their children the flexibility to pursue non-curricular activities at a higher level. However, a survey of homeschoolers showed that a majority of such families are driven by conservative Christian beliefs and seek to remove their children from mainstream culture.
Bartholet asserts that homeschooling is an "essentially unregulated regime," and that there are very few requirements that parents stick to laws that ensure a right to education. She says, "That means, effectively, that people can homeschool who’ve never gone to school themselves, who don’t read or write themselves."
Bartholet also says that the practice can isolate children, and points out the case of abused children. She said, "Teachers and other school personnel constitute the largest percentage of people who report to Child Protective Services," adding that not one of the 50 states requires that homeschooling parents be checked for prior reports of child abuse.
She states that it is "important that children grow up exposed to community values, social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people’s viewpoints," adding that while countries like Germany have completely banned homeschooling, other countries like France require home visits and annual tests.
“The issue is, do we think that parents should have 24/7, essentially authoritarian control over their children from ages zero to 18? I think that’s dangerous,” Bartholet says. “I think it’s always dangerous to put powerful people in charge of the powerless and to give the powerful ones total authority.”
Many have called out Bartholet's views on homeschooling, including Harvard graduate, Melba Pearson, who wrote in a post that the "article is an attack on the fundamental rights and freedoms that make our country (and until recently, institutions such as Harvard) what they are."
She also wrote, "[Bartholet] argues the government has more of a right to educate, care for, and control your children than you, their parents, do; and furthermore, they can do it better. The idea that a government, already so inefficient and inadequate in so many areas, can care for and educate every child better than its parent is wrong."
Mike McShane also wrote for Forbes that the "stereotype of the insular conservative homeschooler has never been an accurate picture of homeschooling in America." He also added that "banning homeschooling would thrust thousands of children who left traditional schools to avoid maltreatment back into the very schools where they were victimized."
Others took to social media to share their views on Bartholet's paper. One user tweeted, "This is tyrannical and draconian. People like me, homeschool students, would have been made into criminals for our educational choice. How dare she, Elizabeth Bartholet has no idea how wrong she is. Shame on @Harvard for allowing her on their faculty and to let her say this."
Another wrote, "I was not homeschooled—and I do not homeschool my own children—but I have many, many friends who have raised wonderful children and did so BECAUSE of homeschooling. I’m embarrassed by Harvard—where I attended graduate school—for its stunningly bad reasoning and bias!"
Many also called out Bartholet for being "elitist." One user wrote, "Most homeschool parents don’t work at NASA, but generally, they do quite well. University & public school system are [the] largest of glass houses & black hole for public money. @HarvardMagazine article & @Harvard_Law conference are prime examples of centrally planned elitist arrogance."
A user said that the Harvard Magazine article was "Another attempt by condescending and elitist professors to tell parents how to raise and educate their children."