Reading in our Homeschool

I was helping my daughter with a college paper today.  She is doing a paper on the topic of illiteracy in America.  She mentioned that she was looking for an interesting angle for the paper because she didn't want it to sound like all the other papers on illiteracy.  I mentioned to her some facts I remembered from reading in John Taylor Gatto's Underground History of American Education.  She was surprised at the statistics that shows a higher percentage of illiterate adults in America now than 70 years ago.


According to John Taylor Gatto’s book, The Underground History of American Education, “At the start of WWII millions of men showed up at registration offices to take low-level academic tests before being inducted.¹ The years of maximum mobilization were 1942 to1944; the fighting force had been mostly schooled in the 1930s, both those inducted and those turned away. Of the 18 million men were tested, 17,280,000 of them were judged to have the minimum competence in reading required to be a soldier, a 96 percent literacy rate. Although this was a 2 percent fall-off from the 98 percent rate among voluntary military applicants ten years earlier, the dip was so small it didn’t worry anybody.

WWII was over in 1945. Six years later another war began in Korea. Several million men were tested for military service but this time 600,000 were rejected. Literacy in the draft pool had dropped to 81 percent, even though all that was needed to classify a soldier as literate was fourth- grade reading proficiency. In the few short years from the beginning of WWII to Korea, a terrifying problem of adult illiteracy had appeared. The Korean War group received most of its schooling in the 1940s, and it had more years in school with more professionally trained personnel and more scientifically selected textbooks than the WWII men, yet it could not read, write, count, speak, or think as well as the earlier, less-schooled contingent.

A third American war began in the mid-1960s. By its end in 1973 the number of men found noninductible by reason of inability to read safety instructions, interpret road signs, decipher orders, and so on—in other words, the number found illiterate—had reached 27 percent of the total pool. Vietnam-era young men had been schooled in the 1950s and the 1960s—much better schooled than either of the two earlier groups—but the 4 percent illiteracy of 1941 which had transmuted into the 19 percent illiteracy of 1952 had now had grown into the 27 percent illiteracy of 1970. Not only had the fraction of competent readers dropped to 73 percent but a substantial chunk of even those were only barely adequate; they could not keep abreast of developments by reading a newspaper, they could not read for pleasure, they could not sustain a thought or an argument, they could not write well enough to manage their own affairs without assistance.”

What is the problem in America?  Reports of Americans not being able to compete academically with other countries are common.  I even watched a movie recently entitled Waiting for "Superman"  that discussed the poor academic performance in our country and some of the individuals and private or charter schools that desire to change things.  Sadly, things aren't changing in the public arena.  If a student struggles in school, alternative methods of education aren't sought.  The student is instead labeled, often drugged, and things don't improve.

In fact, things get worse.  The Washington Post reported last September that SAT scores are the lowest in four decades.  How low do we have to sink before we realize that what we are doing, even throwing money at the problem, isn't working?   Homeschooling Statistics show clear proof that there is a better way to educate children.  Even if a child can't be homeschooled by parents, there are still many other options that would allow for children to receive a quality education.  If we are going to throw money at a problem, then let's not keep throwing money in the same bottomless pit with the same dismal results.  Instead, let's do some things a little different somehow.

I have been spending so much time in prayer lately.  My step-daughter has to remain in the public school.  I want her to receive a quality education and a Biblical worldview, and it is going to be tougher to accomplish this when her time is mostly spent in the school building a few miles from my home.  However, I am determined to try.  I figure that God is in charge, and He has a plan.

I have become fascinated with educational methods in earlier times.  Oh, those days weren't perfect, but the quality of education couldn't be beat.  I look back to the days where hard work at home was a part of daily life before a student even went to school.  Most children didn't begin school at five or six, but at eight or ten.  Many learned to read at home.  Have you ever read a test from the late 1800s?

I once asked God why the King James version of the Bible is so difficult for people to understand today.  I admit to being one of those people that often enjoys an easier translation.  Yes, terminology and phrases have changed.  People do speak differently now than they did when the Bible was translated from the Hebrew and Greek.  However, I truly feel that part of the reason why we have versions of the Bible that are more "modern" is because we don't have the same quality of education.  The vocabulary that we have been exposed to in our lives is not of the same caliber that was used in previous generations.

We aren't less intelligent.  We have a generation that has advanced technology to levels that wouldn't have even been dreamed of seventy years ago.  It was wasn't even a thought that a person could have instant access to family thousands of miles away.  The advances we have made in science have been incredible. The life expectancy of men and women in our country has increased by decades.  And yet, it almost feels like that golden age of man aspiring to learn, to create, to grow, and to stand for something bigger than himself has given way to materialism, entertainment, and comfort.  This is a generalization that obviously doesn't apply to everyone, but it is there.

  We read a lot in our homeschool.  Books have been a big part of the education my daughter receives.  I sometimes doubt myself and wonder if I am giving my children the solid, Biblical education that I want them to have.  Results are sometimes more difficult to measure when we don't have a stack of worksheets or tests to use as a ruler.  Oh, I have some quizzes here and there, but I mostly just check them to see if the concepts are being thoroughly understood.  If they aren't, we can backtrack and review.

Then I hear my eleven year old daughter talk with friends at church, or adults in a store.  I hear her expressing herself politely and well.  I see her enthusiasm as we discuss a current piece of literature she is studying.  I am delighted when she gets excited about something she is learning.  It is then I realize that she is receiving a quality education.  It is then that my fears are put to rest for awhile.  We use some materials that were written before 1923 and are public domain.  We enjoy the McGuffey readers.  Laura has loved the books she is reading in science by Arabella B. Buckley and the Ellwood W. Kemp Historical books about Greece and Rome.  These were published in the early 1900s and are still wonderful today.

I rest assured that we have a nice balance of more modern literature with wonderful works from earlier times.  I am confident that my daughter is receiving a very high quality education with a strong focus on God.  I pray I am instilling in all of my daughters a desire to learn more and be all that God has for them to be.