are more equal than others. That individuality and original thinking are treasured by educators, but that being part of a peer group and pleasing the teacher are what get you ahead socially. That learning higher math is necessary for learning to use a computer. That learning what someone else demands you to learn is more important than learning what you want to learn. Schools also make mediocre and poor students learn to accept their lives as losers. The curricula, language, and texts of school are much closer to the lives and experiences of rich kids than poor, thereby favoring the child who looks and sounds most middle-class. This creates alienation between the school and learners who don't fit into the social profile of what the school expects a good learner to be. A contradiction between technique and reality creates a "disequilibration" in the citizenry, resulting in greater dependency upon human technique to help people adjust to a society made increasingly technological by man. A study conducted by Dr. Lawrence M. Rudner, Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation, demonstrates that home schooled students are developing cognitively without formal schooling and provide an informative look at Americas modern home education. This study presents the results of the largest survey and testing program for students in home schools to date. In Spring 1998, 20,760 K-12 home school students in 11,930 families were administered either the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) or the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency (TAP), depending on their current grade. The parents responded to a questionnaire requesting background and demographic information.Major findings: DemographicsHome school parents have more formal education than parents in the general population; 88% continued their education beyond high school compared to 50% for the nation as a whole. The median income for home school families ($52,000) is signif...
