Sociology Now, Census Update

Why do parents homeschool their children? The most
important reason cited was concern about the environment
of traditional schools (31 percent). Almost as many said that
they wanted to provide the religious or moral instruction
missing in traditional schools (30 percent). Only 16 percent
said that they were dissatisfied with the academic instruction
at the other schools (Figure 17.4).
Thus, homeschooling is a phenomenon largely of the
political far left and the far right. Liberals might complain
about classroom conduct, watered-down academics, and the
lack of attention to individual learning styles; conservatives
and religious homeschoolers complain about having a
required multicultural curriculum, with no school prayer, and
teaching evolution.

No Child Left Behind

In January 2002, President George W. Bush signed Public
Law 107-110, the Elementary and Secondary School Act,
better known as “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB). The 670-
page law outlines a top-down approach to school perfor-
mance, with a number of sweeping, even revolutionary,
provisions:

■Students in elementary school (grades 3 through 8) must

take annual tests to ensure that they have met minimal

standards of competency in reading and math.

■Students in schools that are falling behind can transfer

to better schools on the government’s tab.

■Every child should learn to read and write English by the end of the third grade.

The cost of enforcing this law is immense: The Department of Education budget
increased from $14 billion to $22.4 billion to handle it. And the goals, though broadly
defined, become difficult to enforce. Teachers complain that they must spend an exces-
sive amount of class time preparing students for the reading and math tests, while
ignoring other essential subjects like history and science. They complain that the pro-
gram doesn’t target the students who need the most help and even forces them to dumb
down accountability measures that were already in place.
School districts complain that the law tends to reproduce the same inequalities
that it is intended to combat. It treats every school district alike, ignoring special chal-
lenges faced by districts with many impoverished or non-English-speaking students
or students with learning disabilities.
The administration says that the programs are successful, pointing to a (small) rise
in math and reading test scores. But 40 states have requested exemptions from part of
the NCLB, and 20 states are debating whether to drop out and forego the federal fund-
ing. Others are setting absurdly low standards to make targets easy to meet or are pass-
ing laws giving priority to their existing school accountability programs. In 2005,
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumental (backed by a Republican governor)
sued the federal government for not allocating enough money to finance the law (an
“unfunded mandate”). New Jersey and Maine are expected to follow. The National
Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teachers’ union, has also joined sev-
eral school districts in challenging inadequate funding in court (Dobbs, 2005).

EDUCATION AND INEQUALITY 575

31%

Concern about

environment of

other schools

30%

To provide

religious or moral

instruction

16%

Dissatisfaction

with academic

instruction

at other schools

9%

Other

reasons

7%

Child has a

physical or

mental health

condition

7%

Child has

other special

needs

FIGURE 17.4Parental Reasons for Having

Children Homeschooled, 2003

Source:Frey, William H., Amy Beth Anspach & John Paul Dewitt, The

Allyn & Bacon Social Atlas of the United States.Published by Allyn &

Bacon, Boston, MA. Copyright ©2008 by Pearson Education. Reprinted by

permission of the publisher.