Home Schooled Students: Admission & Financial Aid
Helen Hegener
This is the second of a two-part post forwarded with permission from the
NHEN list:
From: Sean Callaway <scal@...>
Hi,
This is a message that I sent to the national financial aid officers email
list this evening, in response to the message posted by Nathan Richman of
the HSLDA to the financial aid officers list last week.
Sean Callaway
_________________________________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Home Schooled Students: Admission & Financial Aid
To the list:
No organization in homeschooling "has its act together" as well as does
the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). No homeschooling
organization is as professional, media and politically savvy, nor as
economically sound. The HSLDA is, however, not the authoritative voice of
homeschooling. They are an authoritative voice for, and of, some in
homeschooling.
Because most of us in higher education are ignorant of the realities of
homeschooling, it's important to point out that the The National Center
for Home Education (NCHE), a division of HSLDA, which networks state-wide
organizations in all 50 states, only networks organizations built upon
local groups the majority of which generally require a statement of
religious faith as a condition of membership. The tenets of these
statements of faith substantively eliminate non-Christians, theologically
observant Catholics, some Protestants, secular humanists, and Mormons
among others. And this exclusionism is reflected in the HSLDA web site
which doesn't refer to state groups other than those seemingly built on
statements of faith.
Many parents who have no interest in the theological and political views
of the HSLDA or these state groups, or who are ignorant of them, join the
HSLDA for the legal protection which it can provide, and therefore are
counted as committed members of the HSLDA for statistical purposes.
The political and religious views of the HSLDA probably represent a
significantly large plurality of homeschool families. But, at the present
time, the largest growing segment (by percentage of growth) of
homeschoolers are probably those who start to homeschool for non-religious
reasons - perhaps a Columbine type of reaction is the reason, or a
perception of a poor education in public schools coupled with an inability
of the parents to afford a private or parochial school education.
The HSLDA has done many really important things such as their involvement
in the recent redefinition of the conditions under which homeschooled
students can receive aid. They are constructing Patrick Henry, a college
in Virginia for homeschooled students - with a law school - which is
intended to train up a Godly generation of students to gradually move into
positions of political influence.
Unfortunately for us in higher education, and for many homeschool parents,
there is no national group to whom one can turn in a busy day that can be
said to represent the non-HSLDA constituencies, which are often fractious
to the point of irrelevancy when it comes to financial aid and admissions
issues. There are many local groups, there are some effective state
organizations, but aside from the HSLDA and the NCHE network, there is no
homeschool group today which has the expertise and economic base to
address financial aid and admissions issues on a national and regional
basis in a consistent and timely fashion, especially now when
homeschooling is becoming such a hot issue. It's a big problem. There is,
however, the beginning of a new inclusive national homeschool
communications network, the National Home Education Network (NHEN), which
is attempting to set up an inclusive communications and resource network.
It remains to be seen if this will have long term viability.
The HSLDA's positions clearly are not universally admired in
homeschooling. Nor are its partisan political stances. Much of the
research it sponsors is based in a segment of homeschoolers and doesn't
reflect the diversity of homeschooling and so the research conclusions
which are drawn must be understood in context. Many homeschoolers don't
feel comfortable with the HSLDA's approach to testing, standards, and
pedagogy. Lastly, many homeschoolers feel that the HSLDA's intervention in
legal issues in certain states has on occasion been misguided, short
sighted, or partisan, acting not as true representatives of all
homeschoolers, but just of those who are truly confirmed members of
National Center for Home Education groups.
When dealing with homeschooling, it's always important to have more than
one source for information because how things are presented are often
conditioned by the ideological underpinnings of the source. For instance,
when looking at state laws governing homeschooling, in addition to
<http://www.hslda.org> it might be a good idea to also use
<http://nhen.org/legnet/index.html> for the sake of comparison.
The HSLDA doesn't represent homeschoolers in general even though one might
gain that impression from HSLDA press releases. And since the HSLDA/NCHE
point of view and agenda is anathema to many in homeschooling, the
limitations of this viewpoint on issues affecting homeschooling cannot be
effectively understood in a context in which the critical faculties are
suspended.
Sean Callaway
Director of College Placement
The Center for Urban Education
Pace University School of Education
One Pace Plaza
New York, NY 10038
Tel: (212) 346-1568
Fax: (212) 346-1078
E-mail: scallaway@...
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NHEN list:
From: Sean Callaway <scal@...>
Hi,
This is a message that I sent to the national financial aid officers email
list this evening, in response to the message posted by Nathan Richman of
the HSLDA to the financial aid officers list last week.
Sean Callaway
_________________________________________________________________________
Subject: Re: Home Schooled Students: Admission & Financial Aid
To the list:
No organization in homeschooling "has its act together" as well as does
the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). No homeschooling
organization is as professional, media and politically savvy, nor as
economically sound. The HSLDA is, however, not the authoritative voice of
homeschooling. They are an authoritative voice for, and of, some in
homeschooling.
Because most of us in higher education are ignorant of the realities of
homeschooling, it's important to point out that the The National Center
for Home Education (NCHE), a division of HSLDA, which networks state-wide
organizations in all 50 states, only networks organizations built upon
local groups the majority of which generally require a statement of
religious faith as a condition of membership. The tenets of these
statements of faith substantively eliminate non-Christians, theologically
observant Catholics, some Protestants, secular humanists, and Mormons
among others. And this exclusionism is reflected in the HSLDA web site
which doesn't refer to state groups other than those seemingly built on
statements of faith.
Many parents who have no interest in the theological and political views
of the HSLDA or these state groups, or who are ignorant of them, join the
HSLDA for the legal protection which it can provide, and therefore are
counted as committed members of the HSLDA for statistical purposes.
The political and religious views of the HSLDA probably represent a
significantly large plurality of homeschool families. But, at the present
time, the largest growing segment (by percentage of growth) of
homeschoolers are probably those who start to homeschool for non-religious
reasons - perhaps a Columbine type of reaction is the reason, or a
perception of a poor education in public schools coupled with an inability
of the parents to afford a private or parochial school education.
The HSLDA has done many really important things such as their involvement
in the recent redefinition of the conditions under which homeschooled
students can receive aid. They are constructing Patrick Henry, a college
in Virginia for homeschooled students - with a law school - which is
intended to train up a Godly generation of students to gradually move into
positions of political influence.
Unfortunately for us in higher education, and for many homeschool parents,
there is no national group to whom one can turn in a busy day that can be
said to represent the non-HSLDA constituencies, which are often fractious
to the point of irrelevancy when it comes to financial aid and admissions
issues. There are many local groups, there are some effective state
organizations, but aside from the HSLDA and the NCHE network, there is no
homeschool group today which has the expertise and economic base to
address financial aid and admissions issues on a national and regional
basis in a consistent and timely fashion, especially now when
homeschooling is becoming such a hot issue. It's a big problem. There is,
however, the beginning of a new inclusive national homeschool
communications network, the National Home Education Network (NHEN), which
is attempting to set up an inclusive communications and resource network.
It remains to be seen if this will have long term viability.
The HSLDA's positions clearly are not universally admired in
homeschooling. Nor are its partisan political stances. Much of the
research it sponsors is based in a segment of homeschoolers and doesn't
reflect the diversity of homeschooling and so the research conclusions
which are drawn must be understood in context. Many homeschoolers don't
feel comfortable with the HSLDA's approach to testing, standards, and
pedagogy. Lastly, many homeschoolers feel that the HSLDA's intervention in
legal issues in certain states has on occasion been misguided, short
sighted, or partisan, acting not as true representatives of all
homeschoolers, but just of those who are truly confirmed members of
National Center for Home Education groups.
When dealing with homeschooling, it's always important to have more than
one source for information because how things are presented are often
conditioned by the ideological underpinnings of the source. For instance,
when looking at state laws governing homeschooling, in addition to
<http://www.hslda.org> it might be a good idea to also use
<http://nhen.org/legnet/index.html> for the sake of comparison.
The HSLDA doesn't represent homeschoolers in general even though one might
gain that impression from HSLDA press releases. And since the HSLDA/NCHE
point of view and agenda is anathema to many in homeschooling, the
limitations of this viewpoint on issues affecting homeschooling cannot be
effectively understood in a context in which the critical faculties are
suspended.
Sean Callaway
Director of College Placement
The Center for Urban Education
Pace University School of Education
One Pace Plaza
New York, NY 10038
Tel: (212) 346-1568
Fax: (212) 346-1078
E-mail: scallaway@...
----------------------------------------------------------------
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was sent via | Subscribe/unsubscribe mailto:LISTSERV@...
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Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe:
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Intro or 9.9% Fixed APR and no hidden fees. Apply NOW!
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