John Holt GWS

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Is Child Abuse Greater at School or Homeschool?

Harvard University’s ongoing 7-week conference, the “Post-Pandemic Future of Homeschooling” continues as I write this. You can sign up to watch the past and upcoming sessions here: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/taubman/programs-research/pepg/events/future-homeschooling.

Yesterday’s event focused on whether child abuse is greater at homeschool or school and it was a surprisingly frank session. The event was sparked last year when Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor, called for a ban on homeschooling due to its potential to hide child abuse. The panelists and commentators for this session firmly said there is no need for further regulation of homeschooling on child abuse grounds based on all the data they had.

We also learned that there is very little data that is accessible to researchers from public and private schools, police records, and other reporters of child abuse, so we don’t have a good accounting for the bullying, suicides, and other abuse-related factors that children face in school.

Charol Shakeshaft made the interesting point that the reason she thinks these issues are not explored fully by schools is that children are not trusted or believed as much as the adults are, and that adults, such as union leaders or school administrators, routinely put adult interests and institutional concerns over children’s health in these matters. Another interesting piece of information that came from the panel is that most sexual child abuse is done by adults who are not in caregiver roles, which further challenges the belief that school is the best place for all children to be.

No one mentioned giving children enforcable rights they can act upon as individuals. Mandatory reporters and other methods of assessing child abuse continue to be the preferred methods for handling abuse claims. Commentator Martin West raised the important point that the issue of child abuse in homeschools and schools should be reframed as "How do we reduce child abuse throughout our society?," but this was not discussed much. Getting children reintegrated into adult society, making them more visible in the daily lives of our homes and communities, and providing them with easier access to healthcare, activities, and opportunities is still a bridge too far for most adults to cross in our society.


Blake Boles invited me to do a couple of podcasts with him, where we analyze and opine about the Harvard panels. In this first episode we discuss weeks 1–4 of the conference: Should homeschooling laws change? Who is homeschooling today? Are homeschoolers prepared for life? And—are homeschoolers socially isolated? We get into some spicy discussions regarding homeschooling regulation, Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Bartholet’s ideas for protecting vulnerable children, the nature and limits of academic research, and political factions within the homeschool movement. Listen by searching for "Off-Trail Learning" wherever podcasts are found.

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