December beginner's tournament: Homeschooling is superior to the public primary school system

In my final round, I will deconstruct pro’s principal arguments that homeschooling is definitively better than public schooling by addressing the soundness of the studies cited. Pro provided several graphs/illustrations showing that homeschooled kids are better off than public schooled kids. It is no accident, though, that the bulk of his claim comes from a single study, and from a single scholar. Lubienski (and fellow researchers) began by surveying claims made by homeschool advocacy groups, namely the National Home Education Research Institute (HSLDA). This institute funds agenda-driven research for homeschooling, which is directed by the National Home Education Research Institute’s, Brian D. Ray. He’s the one Pro has been citing throughout the debate. (1)1. Do homeschooled kids achieve more academically/socially?Lubienski argues that “these studies do not in fact demonstrate what the advocates say they do, because they all compare an unrepresentative sample of motivated, two-parent, middle or upper class white families to national norms that include the entire population.” (1) This general argument is also supported elsewhere, in a source I cited in the previous round (in this round it will be source 2): “Ray did not use a random sample but instead gathered participants through various email lists and homeschool advocacy groups. Further, the vast majority of the participants in his study were in the 18 to 24 age bracket (only roughly 15% were over 24, and 2% over 29), which means that it was likely a bit early to study outcomes for many of these participants.” This last bit is in reference to the socialization benefits of homeschooling, suggesting there is no concrete evidence from these early studies concluding that homeschooled adults are actually better off socially than public schoolers. “Ray frequently conducts studies of homeschooling in which huge majorities of participants are from white, middle and upper-middle class, well-educated, two-parent households...” (2) This makes Ray’s constant comparison to the national average throughout the study, as well as his suggestion that his survey participants’ success was due to being homeschooled rather than other factors, both unscientific and incredibly misleading. Lubienski continues: “children from privileged backgrounds who homeschool do well on standardized tests, just as they would have done had they attended public or private schools.” (1) Suffice it to say, in combination with my arguments in round 3 and the evidence I laid above demonstrating the scientific dishonesty found in Pro’s study by Ray, it is clear that homeschooling is NOT demonstrably superior – academically or socially – to public primary schooling (or any level of public school for that matter). 2. Is homeschooling cheaper?To say that homeschooling is cheaper than public schooling is a total sham. Pro provides statistics (again from Ray) showing that homeschooling costs as low as $600/yr per child while public schooling costs $9,963/yr. Ray thinks he can compare the family costs to a single child education with that of public school’s costs. The reality is that sending kids to public schools costs the parents nothing. It is cheaper by default. There is no direct cost incurred by the parent here. On top of this, the statistic fails to take into account, or even acknowledge, hidden costs to homeschooling. By submitting to homeschooling, the family is forgoing a whole salary on the part of at least one parent. Lubienski summarizes: “The actual costs of homeschooling would need to include utilities and meals provided by the home during homeschool, the cost to the family of foregoing a second income so one parent can stay home, and unquantifiables like homeschooling mothers’ “motivation, experience, commitment, and so on.””(2)3. The economyPro said: “Con believes homeschooling is bad for the economy, because it reduces GDP. But GDP has one little flaw that’s very important in this debate: GDP doesn’t measure the value of domestic work. When you cultivate some vegetables in your garden you’re producing goods, but that’s not included in GDP. When you buy the same vegetables in the supermarket they are included in GDP. When you homeschool your children it’s not included in GDP, but when you send them to public schools it is included in GDP (2).”There is no way to measure a child’s growing intellect and sociability in the economy. What can be measured is the growth and productivity of the workforce: will homeschooled children (now adults) provide more for the economy in the form of productive and skilled workers when compared to their public school counterpart? Hopefully I’ve demonstrated to the readership and voters that homeschooling is NOT discernibly superior to public primary schooling. What’s left, then, is the numbers. One parent of every child’s family will lose a salary. Assume that all families thought that homeschooling was superior. If there are ~35million homeschooled children (which is 2015’s total of primary school kids in public school ages 5 to 13), that would leave us with roughly 17.5million individual parents without a job (assuming average family has two kids), contributing towards something that doesn’t provide for the economy (homeschooling).The above is also reason to reject Pro’s idea of creative destruction, as there is nothing being “created” as a replacement.To summarize my view that homeschooling is NOT superior to public primary school: 1. Homeschooling, by virtue of available statistics and studies, is NOT verifiably superior to public primary schooling. The studies involved are bias, misleading, and simply do not account for the various conditions that homeschoolers can and do face on a national level.2. I maintain that public schools offer a unique, holistic experience that homeschooling cannot even begin to address. Public schools offer such an experience at no expense to the parents and is available for all to take part in equally, regardless of familial circumstance.3. The public schooling system is a large part of the American (and undoubtedly most countries) economy, providing jobs/income, community resources, and an all-around healthier economy, while homeschooling only weakens it.All in all, this was a great first experience in formal debate, and I once again appreciate Hayd for setting up the tournament, and for Stefanwaal for a great debate . . . VOTE CON!!!!Sources:1. https://gaither.wordpress.com...2. http://www.responsiblehomeschooling.org...3. http://nces.ed.gov...