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March 9, 2021
School-By-Video Is Not The Same As Homeschooling - The Suicide Rate In Children Has Nothing To Do With Being Taught At Home And Everything To Do With How Educators Are Teaching By Video
As the argument goes round and round as to whether to fully reopen states from their long-term and economy-destroying lockdowns, we see liberal websites, like Propublica, document how states that kept their schools and most school sports open and available, such as Texas,, compared to the state next door, New Mexico, being closed down, fared better in regards to teen suicide.
The liberal message here is blatantly clear: SCHOOLS GOOD - HOME SCHOOLING BAD!
The problem with that messaging is their facts, which are accurate from my research, doesn't match the hype as to the "reason" behind the higher suicide rate in states that closed down all their public schools.
The Propublica piece assumes that the higher rate of teen suicide is because of the school closures, and chances are their audience, which is liberal, won't give it too much thought because generally speaking liberals do not do much research on homeschooling.
It isn't controversial to point out that liberals believe that the public education system is critical for children, while conservatives believe homeschooling is far better than the indoctrination camps called public education.
For those of us that have reported on homeschooling multiple times, we find that their simplistic premise is so far off it isn't even in the realm of reality.
YOUTH SUICIDE INCREASED LONG BEFORE COVID-19
A USA Today piece from September 2020, using data from between 2007 and 2018, found the rate of suicide among those aged 10 to 24 increased nearly 60% during that period.
The rate of suicide among those aged 10 to 24 increased nearly 60% between 2007 and 2018, according to a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rise occurred in most states, with 42 experiencing significant increases.
"It's a real trend that has been demanding, for a while, a serious public health and research effort to understand what is happening and why," said Anna Mueller, an associate professor of sociology at Indiana University Bloomington who studies suicides in adolescents. "I don't buy that it's just social media, which is one of the explanations that I most consistently see."
The suicide rate increased from 6.8 per 100,000 in 2007 to 10.7 in 2018. The report compared three-year averages of suicide rates for 2007–2009 and 2016–2018....
The title of that piece was "More young people are dying by suicide, and experts aren't sure why."
That data was taken long before COVID-19 became an issue.
SUICIDES RELATED TO SCHOOL CALENDAR
In May 2018, Psychology Today reported that children and teen suicides were related to the school calendar, stating "Psychiatric emergencies and youth suicides rise sharply with the school year."
The researchers also found a continuous increase in the rate of psychiatric emergencies during school weeks, but not during vacation weeks, over the 4-year period of the study. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that the increase in suicidal ideation and attempts over time is the result of the increased stressfulness of school over this time period rather than some factor independent of schooling. In another, more recent study, Gregory Plemmons and his colleagues (2018), found that the rate of hospitalization of school-aged children for suicidal ideation and attempts increased dramatically—by nearly 300%—over the seven years of their study, from 2008 to 2015, and each year the rate of such hospitalizations was significantly higher in the school months than in the summer.
Now that there is a pandemic to blame it on, no one seems to care that previous data undercuts the premise of suicides rising because of the pandemic and school closures.
ANOTHER POINT........
The National Home Education Research Institute quoted a study which "failed to detect statistically significant differences between both groups in the NSCH Social Competencies scales (both social skills and behavior problems subscales), in items measuring social competencies, behavior problems, or depressed mood, or in overall participation in community activities, including paid work. Thus, homeschooled students are not at risk for socialization problems in the U.S."
The conclusion of that very lengthy, but well written article is as follows:
Using a widely used population-based health governmental data source, we established that social and emotional health and community participation of US homeschooled students, ages 6 to 17, is comparable to that of publicly schooled students. Homeschooled students are not at risk of socialization problems in the U.S.
That is another point of data that proponents of public schools, not only refuse to acknowledge, but actively lie about, with claims that homeschooling harms children socially.
The facts simply do not match their narrative.
THE DISCONNECT...
So, how do we explain the suicides being blamed on the school closures and pandemic?
Easily.
Children being taught at home solely because of school closures, are not being homeschooled in the traditional sense.
It is not their parents or a designated tutor, neighbor or even retired teacher that is teaching these children. They are doing Zoom calls and other video related type "teaching," where the child isn't working one-on-one with an "in-person" teacher, as it is with homeschooled children, but rather children are forced to sit in front of a screen all day with a teacher talking at them, not to them.
There is no individual, one-on-one interactions between those teaching and those learning, and most of the time, they treat it like a "classroom" via video, which limits the amount of time any one child gets for questions, clarifications or just needed interaction.
THE TWO ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
I know many that think since the public education system has become more about activism that learning basic math, English, science and history, that leaving the schools closed is preferable, but there are families out there that simply cannot home school.
Whether because they need to work, or they don't feel capable of homeschooling, or have no support nearby to provide homeschooling, for some public school is the only way to keep their kids safe while they are forced to be away from them.
Sadly, for some homeschooling simply isn't an option. Private school or charter schools may be a better choice for them.
While standardized test scores aren't always the best way to measure academic achievement, studies consistently find that home-schoolers do seem to outperform public schooled students on tests such as the ACT and SAT.
The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) commissioned a study drawing data for the 2007-2008 school year from multiple standardized testing services. The national average percentile scores were higher in all subject areas by at least 34 percentile points, and as high as 39 percentile points. Factors such as parental college degrees, how much parents spent on education, level of state regulation, and sex of the students made little difference in the range of scores in all areas among the home-schooled children.
Analysis from a 2015 study conducted by Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute reveals that home educated students usually score 15 to 30 percentile points higher than public school students on standardized tests. This study further concludes that these results were achieved regardless of income level within the students' families or educational status of the students' parents.
Other recent news from the National Home Education Research Institute states that the College Board reported 2014 SAT scores for home-schooled students as being significantly higher than scores for their traditionally schooled counterparts.
Favoring the reopening of schools is not mutually exclusive to recommending that all who can, should homeschool.
BOTTOM LINE
Again, one-on-one interaction between homeschooling parents and children, is far better for children, mentally, psychologically, and academically than public schools, or school-by-video.
Editors note: Susan - It is my personal opinion that the reason liberal websites, those that favor keeping states closed, but are pushing for schools to reopen, is because they know that without the conditioning, programming and indoctrination into liberal/socialist/communist ideology, far more children would walk into the world understanding the need for personal responsibility, a work ethic, an understanding of how capitalism benefits society, and less activism to replace all the aforementioned.
Liberals/Democrats and the media, all despise the thought of parents being in total control of what a child learns and when, rather than the "state" being given full reign to indoctrinate them.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 1-800-273-8255
Since the topic is so serious and disturbing, we thought a little video on "caught on Zoom" would provide a little relief, even as some examples are of teachers badmouthing students when they thought parents and students weren't listening, along with a CNN media personality that forgot to turn his camera off before deciding to masturbate.
Those and many more examples below.
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