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Questions Raised Over U.S. Home Schooling
WASHINGTON, July 5 (IslamOnline) - Around 850,000 of the nation's 50 million schoolchildren are being taught at home rather than in schools; and according to a 1999 study on home-schooling in the U.S. released this week by the Department of Education, many of them are Muslims.
The report, which marks the first effort by the department's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to form an estimate of home-schooling statistics, details the lives of the 1.7 percent of American schoolchildren who were educated at home instead of at school in 1999.
Many parents believe that home schooling gives their children academic benefits and a better education.
"The primary reason is that it's a great way to raise kids," said the publisher of Home Education Magazine, Mark Hegener. "Any way you slice the American pie, you're going to find home-schoolers sticking out of it."
However, religious beliefs also play an important role in choosing home schooling over public schools. The same study considered the religious factor as the second largest reason for home schooling.
The study also showed that home-schooled students were shown to do remarkably well compared to their public school counterparts.
Many Muslim parents choose home schooling because they believe that their children can lose their Islamic identity in public schools.
Parents also believe that home schooling is an excellent way to connect their children to Islam and protect them from the morally unwholesome atmosphere in many public schools.
Fatima al-Mirgani of Los Angeles, California, is a well-educated mother of three home-schooled girls who sides by this theory.
"I believe home-schooling is the best choice for Muslim parents," she said when asked about choosing to teach her daughters from home.
"All [that] it needs is a stay-at-home mother who really cares about her children and who's ready to sacrifice some of her time teaching them at home," said al-Margani. "It is the best choice and the only way to protect our children. It is the safest way to teach them."
Noor Haleem, a mother of three home-schooled children, also believes that home-schooling is Muslims' best choice in the U.S. "I'm an American, ask me about what children see, hear and then do in public schools," she said.
"I cannot imagine, as a Muslim mom, to expose my kids to what I have been through. No way! I am a well-educated mother and I'm sure I can give my kids a better education from home rather than sending them to public schools.
"At the same time, I will spend more time with them, I will protect them," added Haleem.
But, Amal Taher, a multi-level teacher at "Al Syrat al-Mustakeem" school, does not recommend the home-schooling system. She thinks the only acceptable reason for parents to home-school their children is if there are some factors that may prevent the children from learning how to protect themselves and their beliefs in the outside community.
But, parents who are not qualified to teach or whose children are restless from staying at home so much may end up causing more harm than good by keeping their kids at home.
"Otherwise, as a teacher, I believe that children need to face the outside community and to gain more experiences while growing up," she added.
Many parents feel that choosing home schooling is not an easy decision because it requires a great deal of time investment and responsibility on the part of the parents.
They also believe that home schooling while possibly protecting the children's religious beliefs, could also diminish their opportunities for developing social skills, or of even having a social life.
"I'm Muslim too. I care about my children and about their Islamic identification. But who said that home-schooling is our only or our best choice?" said Shahina Khan, a mother of five children.
"I disagree with this opinion one hundred percent. I believe that home-schooling prevents our children from learning how to deal with others and how to make friends," she stated. "They need a social life and not just better and more safe education.
"We learn from our mistakes, as our children do. They need to have experience with the exterior world. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to face any social problems in the future," added Khan, whose five children are in public schools.
Khan believes that she can take care of them and protect their Islamic beliefs even while they are enrolled in public schools.
However, Nourel Deen al-Giayash, principle of the "Peace Academy" Islamic school in Tulsa, Okla., feels that the damage done at public schools is too great to be countered by anything at home.
He says that the first choice for Muslim parents should be Islamic schools, and unequivocally discourages public schooling. U.S. public schools are notoriously famous among Muslims as a breeding ground for violence, drugs and sex.
"I cannot imagine putting my son in a public school. I know what happens inside these schools. So, as a Muslim father, it's my responsibility to protect my son from this unhealthy ambiance," al-Giayash said.
"If, for any reason, parents cannot put their children in Islamic school, they should think about home-schooling as a second choice if they are qualified to do it."
When asked if parents should be well educated to be qualified for home-schooling, al-Giayash replied that home-schooling requires time, a strict schedule and educated parents.
"I think it depends on the children's grade. If we talk about elementary school, we can say that educated parents are qualified for home-schooling, but for no doubt, middle and high school require well-educated parents," he said.
"I believe that what our children will lose in the public schools is much greater and dangerous than what they will lose in home-schooling."
The NCES study paints a clear portrait of the average home schooler, saying that compared to other students, home schoolers are more likely to live with two or more siblings in a two-parent family, with only one parent working outside the home.
The government report reveals that parents of home-schoolers are better educated than other parents and are rearing a handful of children on one income. The majority of those parents earn less than $50,000, and many earn less than $25,000.
"These are families that have one income and have sacrificed to live on one income," said Laura Derrick of Austin, a parent of two home-schoolers and president of the Home Education Network.
With additional reporting by Sahar Kassaimah
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