I just wanted to say good job on the home-schooling article in Tuesday’s paper. It was unbiased, objective and informative. It also provided some much needed coverage on an issue that has been pushed to the back burner by the educational mainstream. My wife is a child development major and has been doing some heavy study in this area. When she attempted to do an independent study on the subject, every HDFS and education professor that she asked to sponsor her flatly refused. Her advisor ended up being the only one who supported her. The close-minded attitude by the academic community towards a viable and positive alternative form of education is deplorable.

I, for one, was home-schooled from seventh grade on. I achieved a 1250 (92nd percentile) on my SATs, and I am currently a senior in political science with a 3.5 term GPA. These days, home-schooled children have even better opportunities to succeed. When my parents pulled me from traditional school in the late ’80s, they were sued by the school board twice, and forced to pay thousands of dollars each time. Now there are wonderful programs such as Mary Terpstra’s (through the Ames school system) that actively assist parents in giving their children the best education possible. In response to those who think there are no social development opportunities, Mary’s program also offers various group activities just for home-schooled children, including theatre, sports, nature excursions, etc. It’s high time that the academic community crawl out of their shells and explore this fast-growing trend.

David P. Eron

Senior

Political science