Are Homeschooled Children Being Prepared to Be a Significant Part of Society?
J. Gary Knowles was the first to focus research on older adults who were home educated, collecting extensive data from a group who were home educated an average of about six years before they were 17 years old. He found that they tended to be involved in occupations that are entrepreneurial and professional, that they were fiercely independent, and strongly emphasized the importance of family. Furthermore, they were glad they had been home-educated, would recommend homeschooling to others, and had no grossly negative perceptions of living in a pluralistic society. In a different vein, Patricia Lines, while with the United States Department of Education, asked whether homeschooling parents and their children are withdrawing from the larger public debate about education and, more generally, from social discourse that is an integral part of a liberty-loving republic. In a sense she addressed whether these children and youth are being prepared to be a significant part of society. Lines con
