Since the passage of Brown vs. Board of Education over 50 years ago, black families have long held high repute for America's educational system. Although many have openly expressed dismay at the poor results garnered from public schools, the overwhelming majority of black families still tend to side with public schools as the number one educational choice for their children. In fact, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, over 18 million black children attend public schools across the country as opposed to 120,000 black children who are now being home schooled.
While the number of black children who are home schooled certainly pales in comparison to the number who attend public schools, it is important to note that black homeschoolers currently account for the fastest growing demographic in home schooling today. In effect, black families are taking a self-imposed stand for their families by placing the impetus back on themselves to provide a quality education for their own children.
This is a crucial element to consider when discussing black home schooling families. While numbers still fall in favor of those families whose children attend public schools, thousands across the country are finding that the home schooling alternative best allows them to loosen the firm grip of public education that blacks have long been wedded to.
So, how do these factors weigh in the discussion of virtual charters and black homeschoolers? For one, charter schools, whether brick and mortar or virtual, still fall in the category of public education. Therefore, although charter schools differ from regular public schools, the premise is still the same: Charter schools provide free elementary/secondary education and receive government funding in order to operate.
When black homeschoolers decide to teach their own children according to their individual parental standards and expectations, they become the masters of their children's educational destinies. It is no longer left up to the school board, teachers, administrators, or the NEA what their children learn and how far along their children will advance. Crippling factors such as class size, poor educational quality, apathetic educators (in some cases), racism and failing outcomes fly out of the window when black families home school. Parents again have the power to give their children a positive future - one that is bright and full of promise. This is the case only when black parents teach their children on their own without the assistance of virtual charters which are set in place to recoup their loses, so to speak.
