Being a homeschooled child is often a source of curiosity for the general public. There are a lot of prejudices in American society about what types of people homeschool their children, and a lot of these prejudices and stereotypes are very unkind. Many people have felt that, in the past, homeschooling was the territory of extremely religious families; however, today, more and more mainstream and “normal” families are choosing to use homeschooling as an option because of a lack of resources in the public school districts in which they live (Winnick).
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges that homeschooled students face is exactly this: facing up to the stereotype of what a homeschooled student should look like, according to Winnick. This can be a very real problem as students who were homeschooled make attempts to go on and enter colleges and universities around the United States and the world as a whole (Winnick).
According to Winnick, writing for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “ as homeschooling has entered the mainstream of education, more and more homeschoolers began seeking entry to secular institutions of higher education, including state universities and Ivy League colleges. Faced with this new applicant pool, college admissions officers must grapple with the dilemma of comparing this new breed of student to those who are the products of typical education, those who present themselves replete with official transcripts, teacher recommendations, and a vast assortment of extracurricular activities” (Winnick). Admissions officers at universities and colleges cannot turn down a student merely because he or she is homeschooled, so these officers have had to make changes to the way they admit their students into universities.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests that there are a variety of different reasons that a family will choose to homeschool their children. Indeed, it seems unlikely that the practice will do anything but grow in the future.
Works cited
Winnick, Pamela R. "Homeschooled students take unorthodox route to become top college candidates." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 1. 2000: Online archive.
