Mixed Findings on Adults Who Were Homeschooled?
It Depends on Your Weltanschauung
Hello, , from NHERI and Dr. Ray.
Summary Points:
- The study compares 57 Canadian religious homeschool graduates to public school graduates.
- The researchers find many similarities and many differences.
- Religious homeschool graduates more frequently attend church, observe regular religious disciplines, try to strengthen their relationship with God, and donate 10 percent of their income.
- Religious homeschool graduates are just as likely as any to know a public official, and are more likely to know a corporate executive.
- Religious homeschool graduates are less likely to trust or have confidence in many institutions and groups such as the federal government, mass media, public school, scientists, people who don’t believe in God, and labor unions.
- Care should be taken in
interpreting the findings. Various religions were lumped together in “religious homeschool.” Also, it is not known for how many years the participants were in homeschool, Catholic school, evangelical Christian school, or other schooling.
The Context
Cardus, a think tank in Canada, and its researchers have conducted several studies that have
included homeschooled students. The most recent is entitled Educating to Love Your Neighbour: The Full Picture of Canadian Graduates.[1] One of the main objectives of Cardus’ projects is to measure religious school outcomes in North America.
In their studies, graduates from the various non-public school
sectors are measured against the graduates of public schools. In this 2016 report, the researchers examine how graduates of secondary schooling do “… when stacked up against one another within Canada, particularly how the non-public graduates do when compared to the vast majority of Canadians who are public school graduates” (p. 10).
Methods
In
the spring of 2016, the investigators included a survey of randomly selected Canadians. The sample was limited to respondents between twenty-three and forty years of age who had graduated from high school.
Respondents completed a survey that included “… questions on schooling history and experiences, evaluation of their high school, family background, occupational goals, current education and occupation, marriage and family, religious
and spiritual involvement, and civic and political engagement” (p. 16).
“Schooling history information included whether the respondent had primarily attended for high school a non-religious public school, government-funded Catholic school, independent school (i.e., private school with tuition), or homeschool” (p. 70). One should keep in mind that the analysis does not include how many years the adult was in a particular type of
schooling (e.g., homeschool, independent Catholic) during high school, nor during elementary school.
The researchers often use the term “religious homeschool” so one must know how this is defined. “The homeschool category is split into homeschoolers whose mother attended religious services regularly (i.e., once a month or more) and those whose mother did not attend religious services regularly” (p. 71). One should keep in mind that the
report does not explain what type of “religious services” (e.g., whether Baptist, Jewish, Mormon, Roman Catholic, or Unitarian).
The distribution of the 1,327 non-government high school respondents in the analysis is as follows:
- 540 (41%) public,
- 428 (32%) separate Catholic,
- 76 (6%) independent
Catholic,
- 88 (7%) evangelical Protestant,
- 138 (10%) nonreligious independent, and
- 57 (4%) religious homeschool.
The researchers’ statistical analytical “… model controls for [some] demographic variables and family background characteristics in order to isolate and report, wherever possible, school
effects. In other words, our report compares “apples with apples” (i.e. school sector effect) by isolating out other factors which we know will also effect [sic] student outcomes” (p. 17). The focus is to compare the traits of graduates of various non-government forms of education to graduates of public/state-run schooling.
Findings
Green and
her co-authors wisely point out that the “… current overemphasis on such performance outcomes …” as level of formal education attainment and income level “… is often under girded by the very utilitarian approach to education that we call into question. How, for instance, does sacrificing time to volunteer or joining a community organization fit into such a utilitarian metric of success?” (p. 19).
Therefore, they caution the reader that
the report’s section on work, income, and educational attainment be read as only one piece within the full context of the study because the remainder of the “… report will unpack a whole host of other important aspects of graduate outcomes that are not always deemed as important—habits of home and family life, engagement with civil society, practices of giving, cultivation of friendships, and more” that the researchers encourage the reader to regard as equally important (p
20).
The report gives findings on several school sectors compared to public schooling. In this brief article, only religious homeschool is the focus.
The researchers find that religious homeschool graduates are about the same as public-school graduates in terms of where they live and their mobility. Religious homeschool graduates are
just as likely to be employed full time …, and also just as likely to be in managerial or professional positions …. They also report incomes equal to those from the public school sector …. These graduates report having fewer years of education beyond high school than public-school graduates … and are significantly more likely than graduates of either public or nonreligious independent schools to end their formal education after high school
…” (p. 22).
Regarding “social relationships and personal goals,” the investigators found that religious homeschool graduates are no more likely to be currently married than the public school graduates but are significantly less likely to cohabitate outside of marriage, yet just as likely to have divorced. The data suggest “… that the religious homeschoolers families’ devotional and communal habits are generally stronger than their
peers who attended public schools” (p. 28). The home educated pray together, talk about God, and read the Bible “… with much more frequency than public school graduates” (p. 28). Also the religious homeschoolers “… are much more likely to embody more “traditional” gender roles, where the man is the primary breadwinner and the woman is the primary caregiver” (p. 28-29).
Public school graduates are more likely than religious homeschool
graduates “… to aspire to work that directly helps others …, provides them the chance of being creative …, helps them make new friends …, is considered worthwhile to society …, allows them to remain rooted to a community …, or even pays well …” (p. 29). The religious homeschool graduates “… are just as likely as any to know a public official and actually more likely to know a corporate executive than are public school graduates. “These findings may challenge the tightness of their religious
encapsulation, but do suggest that they are possibly more active at local community levels” (p. 29).
Regarding which institutions or groups are trusted, religious homeschool graduates trust people in general less than public school graduates. They are less likely to trust or have confidence in the following:
- federal government
- mass
media
- public school
- teachers and administrators
- scientists
- people who don’t believe in God
- education
- the prime minister
- the federal cabinet
- labor
unions
- the Supreme Court
- the scientific community
The researchers next considered the religious orientation of the adults in their study. Religious homeschool graduates have higher frequencies of church attendance than public school graduates and “… they are more likely to observe regular religious disciplines …, try to strengthen their
relationship with God …, donate 10 percent of their income …, pray alone …, and read their Bible … than public school graduates” (p. 40). Further, they more likely to make moral decisions based on Scripture than are their public schooled peers, and they are more likely to sound orthodox biblical beliefs about the triune God and Jesus Christ and feel obligated to their church and to obey the church’s authority. Overall, religious homeschooling appears “… to cultivate graduates with significantly
different beliefs and behaviours than the public sector” (p. 40).
In terms of charitable giving, “… religious homeschool graduates are more likely to give to their Congregations … and in greater amounts … than their peers who graduated from public schools” (p. 45). They are no different from graduates of public schools in terms of giving to political causes, other religious organizations, and nonreligious
causes.
Regarding “life in public,” the researchers found that the graduates of homeschooling whose mothers were “religious” “… primarily indicate no real difference from graduates of the public sector” (p. 51). The home educated are as likely to protest, engage in political activities, campaign for a candidate, march, demonstrate, or talk politics at church or with family and friends. The findings show that these study respondents
are, on the other hand, “… less likely than the public schooled to be involved with political movements in general and the environmental movement in particular.
Finally, those from religious homeschools are no more likely than public school graduates to say that their schools were too strict or sheltered them too much. These homeschool graduates think that they are “… more prepared for life beyond high school than public school
graduates [think they are]. They feel more prepared for a job … and for relationships …, and for a vital religious life ….” (p. 59). That is, “… they leave school feeling more prepared for life after high school than the public school graduates do” (p. 59).
The authors of the report gave the following simplistic summary statement, based on a wide range of data on many variables, about graduates of religious
homeschool:
Religious homeschool graduates are less trusting and confident in a whole range of public institutions than public school graduates; they are also increasingly more likely to see the society as hostile to their values. However, they are just as engaged with political life as their peers from public schools. Their school also forms graduates who attend church, observe religious disciplines, and
strengthen their relationship with God more so than public schools. (p. 6)
Conclusions
This study addressed many schooling sectors and a multitude of variables related to these adults’ lives. It is not easy to summarize the study, and it is certainly not easy to summarize what the researchers found regarding the graduates of what they call
religious homeschools.
As the researchers wisely point out, much of society places undue emphasis on how much money a person makes and how many years of formal schooling he or she has attained. From a biblical (i.e., Christian) perspective, these are clearly not the highest priorities in life.
To try to ferret out whether homeschooling is associated with good things in the
lives of the 57 graduates of “religious homeschool” in this study, one must carefully consider several pertinent issues. Here are a few.
First, a person must keep in mind that despite the fact that the investigators did their best to get a representative sample of graduates of religious homeschool in Canada and use careful statistical controls, it is still a relatively small sample of 57. One should be careful about confidently
generalizing to many thousands of people from this size of a sample.
The report should be seen as a study that compares graduates of private education schooling to those who came from government/public schools in Canada. It should not be seen as a study focusing on homeschooling.
Second, the authors do not tell us how long-term was the treatment, so to speak, of a particular
type of schooling (e.g., Catholic schooling, evangelical Protestant schooling, or religious homeschooling) on a student who is now an adult. They only know that the adult was in a particular school sector (type) for the majority of his or her high school years. One could ask, How might the findings be different if the analysis could control number of years during elementary and secondary school that the adult was in a particular type of schooling? This would be very
instructive.
Next, the research project importantly separated and analyzed schooling sectors by religion but then lumped a variety of religions (e.g., possibly Amish, Roman Catholic, evangelical Christian, Mormon, Unitarian, and so forth) within the sector of “religious homeschool.” This potentially significantly confounds matters if the values and beliefs of each of these different religions move graduates toward different ways of
believing and living in adulthood.[2]
In addition, many Christians would not consider the fact that a mother attended religious services regularly once or twice a month while her child was being home educated in high school to be an indication of a significant Christian upbringing for that child. For example, a
student in a Baptist school with a non-Christian mother might be receiving more biblical instruction than a homeschool student whose mother attends church service once per month.
Fourth, a person must examine his own weltanschauung (worldview) to determine what is good or better or success in the life of an adult with respect to loving one’s neighbor, whether that adult experienced high school Roman Catholic schools, evangelical
Protestant schools, homeschooling, or public schools. Should a person trust the media, the federal government, or labor unions? Why or why not? Should a person have as a high priority a college degree or a graduate university degree? Why or why not? Should a person make moral and political decisions based on biblical Scripture? Why or why not?
Further, the authors write the following:
If trust forms the bedrock of a multicultural and flourishing society, then the Canadian school sectors are, religious homeschool excepted, doing an equal job of cultivating similar levels of trust in a whole host of institutions and organizations” (p. 35).
One must emphasize, of course, the word “if” related to “… trust forms …” and whether a “multicultural and flourishing society” is a good thing for which to
aim. If the implied claim is true, then one might infer that non-government forms of education, other than religious homeschool, are having a fine impact on society. If these assertions are not valid, either biblically or empirically, then one might have no concerns that religious homeschool is not positively associated with such constructs. That is, it depends on your weltanschauung.
In conclusion, the findings of this study, that
involved the responses of 57 Canadian graduates of high school homeschooling who had religious mothers is intriguing. And the findings will leave those curious about the long-term effects of homeschooling with many questions.
In trying to evaluate the outcomes of homeschool education – and other forms of education – in adulthood, a person should keep in mind that the findings of this study are notably different from those in some other
studies to date.[3] For example, Cheng found the home educated to be more politically tolerant than others. And one of Ray’s studies found the home educated to be much more politically involved than the general public. Time will tell, with more studies and methodological approaches, what effects that homeschooling might cause different from institutional schooling –
whether secular, Roman Catholic, or evangelical Christian – and whether the effects are more consistent with biblical Christianity or some other religious worldview.
--Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.
National Home Education Research Institute
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Endnotes:
[1] Green, Beth.; Sikkema, Doug; Sikkink, David; Skiles, Sara; and Pennings, Ray. (2016). Cardus Education Survey: Educating to Love Your Neighbour: The Full Picture of Canadian Graduates. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: Cardus Education Survey. [2] Cardus researchers, in another report, wrote the following on this issue, “Of course, this is not perfect, since we can’t for example consider religious tradition differences (Catholic, conservative Protestant, etc.) in homeschooling outcomes” (p. 5); source: Sikkink, David; & Skiles, Sara. (2015). Homeschooling and young adult outcomes: Evidence from the 2011 and 2014 Cardus Education Survey. Notre Dame, IN: Cardus Religious Schools Initiative, University
of Notre Dame. [3] See, for example, the following: (a) Cheng, Albert. (2014). Does homeschooling or private schooling promote political intolerance? Evidence from a Christian university. Journal of School Choice: International Research and Reform, 8(1), 49-68; (b) Ray,
Brian D. (2004). Home educated and now adults: Their community and civic involvement, views about homeschooling, and other traits. Salem, OR: National Home Education Research Institute; and (c) Ray, Brian D. (2015, January 30). Gen2 Survey: A spiritual and educational survey on Christian millennials. Retrieved March 12, 2015 from http://www.nheri.org/research/gen2-survey-a-spiritual-and-educational-survey-on-christian-millennials.html