Harvard law professor that called to ban homeschooling now says: "Some parents have discovered that public schools are worse than they thought, and have been surprised at how little their kids have been learning."

Harvard law professor that called to ban homeschooling now says:

"Some parents have discovered that public schools are worse than they thought, and have been surprised at how little their kids have been learning."

— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) August 21, 2020

Harvard Law Today reports:

Professor Bartholet: I agree that there could very well be some increase. Some parents have discovered that public schools are worse than they thought, and have been surprised at how little their kids have been learning. I also know that Home School Legal Defense Association advocates, the main lobbying force for a subset of the homeschooling community that opposes all homeschooling regulation, are joyfully rubbing their hands at the prospect of what they think might be a very significant increase.

I think it’s hard to know how any increase in the homeschooling population might affect the prospects for the increased oversight that I think is important. Roughly three percent of the population is now homeschooled. Let’s say that increases to six percent post-COVID. Legislators and other policymakers may look at that and say, ‘Wow, now this is a big phenomenon, it may continue to grow. Of course, it shouldn’t be just this lawless world out there with no rules and regulations and oversight. Of course, this should be part of our overall regulated educational system.’

But it is also possible that some people who are homeschooling for the first time as a result of COVID think they’ve been doing way better than the public schools, are not used to being regulated in ways that hamper their freedom, and may therefore be resistant to any new regulation of homeschooling.