The answer is homeschooling parents.

If you're homeschooling, pat yourself on the back because you're making a huge contribution to society, and possibly to the world. 

Let's look at the facts: 

Public-Schooled Children

1) Schooled children are more likely to grow up to be poor readers in the sense that they don’t have the skill to read the kind of literature that many first-hand sources demand of us.

When many homeschoolers educate their children using primary sources such as The Federalist Papers or the Declaration of Independence and public-schools teach their students using tertiary sources in the form of textbooks, well, the facts speak for themselves.

There's no way around this. Not being able to read primary sources will make you dependent on tertiary sources for your information. How can you think for yourself when you're dependent on other people’s interpretation of the material? 

Won't this also add to a decline of knowledge and wisdom, and therefore, to a less intelligent society?

2) Public-school children are more likely to grow up with a habit of lying and cheating. In the film, Race to Nowhere, it was revealed that 97% of public-school students lie because the testing demands are so unrealistic that the only way to pass from one grade to the next is by being dishonest. 

Dishonesty breeds distrust, and no relationship can survive distrust.

It's a collective dishonesty too. When it's only one or two children that lie, it's seen as poor character, but when everyone lies, it becomes a cultural norm. The proof is all around us.

Fifty years ago, it was unusual for a person in good standing in society to lie. When in doubt, it was assumed that the person was telling the truth.

This isn't true anymore. When a person's integrity is questioned, it's assumed now that he or she is lying.

We've become a country where lying is no longer seen as shocking; instead, it's the cultural norm.

3) School children are more likely to have lower moral standards in part because their peers have more influence over them than their parents, and schools no longer encourage moral behavior.

4) School children are less likely to share strong bonds with their family or to uphold the same family values when they are grown. This lack of shared values undermines the family unit.

Isn't the family unit the cornerstone of a society?

How can there be a healthy society without healthy families? Any country with wise and just leaders will make the well-being of its families a primary concern. 

Considering the same points that were just mentioned, let's now look at how homeschooled children differ from public schooled children:

Homeschooled Children

1) Homeschooled children tend to be self-learners for life, pursuing knowledge for its own sake. They tend to have better critical thinking skills, because they are used to thinking for themselves.

They don't have unrealistic demands put on them by an educational bureaucracy comprised of businessmen like Bill Gates and Mike Milken who know more about making obscene amounts of money than they do about the educational needs of our children. 

2) Homeschooled children are typically good readers who love to and do read in their leisure time. They are continually increasing their knowledge, their understanding, and their minds, which contributes to a not dumbed-down society, a condition we desperately need to remedy. 

3) Homeschooled children tend to be better mannered, which amounts to a naturally improved character. They grow up under the supervision of parents who have the time and influence to guide them in the right ways. 

4) Homeschool children are more likely to grow up with the same values as their family contributing to a more solid family unit, and consequently, a more solid society.

Let's look at how this affects us as a country.

We claim to have high literacy rates, but it's common knowledge that we lower the standards of the tests to make us look better educated. We’re not as literate as we seem on paper.

Talk to ten high school students about their reading habits if you want to know how far from reality the literacy statistics veer.

Here's what our president had to say about it: "We're 26th in the world. 25 countries are better than us at education. And some of them are like third world countries. But we're becoming a third world country."

It is difficult to disagree with him. 

The less educated we are and the lower our moral standards are, the more mediocre a people we become. 

This, I conclude, is the reason why homeschooled children are our only hope for turning the tide on a country inflicted with a moral and intellectual malaise.

Ask any Canadians or Britons what they think of the average American intelligence? I've asked them many times, and I always get the answer I expect. A kind of embarrassed giggle and a confession that, yes, they think we are of inferior intelligence. 

It's no secret to anyone but ourselves. It's not that we are born with inferior intelligence, but that we don't develop our minds. And if we don't develop them, we can hardly use them, which is why the shameless entertainment and technology industry is making such a killing off of us. 

Why do we accept this for ourselves and our children when we can do so much better?

The human spirit is capable of greatness.

Greatness!

If you're able to homeschool, please join us! Without a miracle of some sort, and until we have a better educational system in place, it's the one hope we have for a better future.

Take control of your child's education and do the best job you can do. 

With diligence and perseverance, it will be far better than the dumbing down of our children's minds that the government schools are forcing on us.

Homeschooling is a rewarding experience. It is inspiring to watch a young person discover his or her mind and put it to better use than you could ever imagine.

And if you're already homeschooling, then you know that there is nothing more satisfying than being this person's teacher. 

How to Raise a More Intelligent Child and an Excellent Reader, free guide and book list with over 80+ carefully chosen titles.

Join the Smart Homeschooler Academy to learn how to give your child an elite education at home.

Elizabeth Y. Hanson is a Love and Leadership certified parenting coach with 17 years experience working in children’s education. She has two successfully homeschooled children in college.