Several state departments of education also conducted their own surveys on academic achievement of home-schooled students. In 1987, much to its embarrassment, “the Tennessee Department of Education found that home-schooled children in second grade, on average, scored in 93rd percentile, while their public school counterparts, on average, scored in 52nd percentile on Stanford Achievement Test” (the SAT-9 is a well-respected battery of multiple-choice academic achievement tests for public-school students).

These studies, and many others, confirm fact that home-schooling parents can give their kids a superior education. This shouldn’t surprise us. Home-schooling parents succeed where public schools fail because parents give loving, personalized attention to their children, use innovative free-market educational materials, and nourish a love of learning in their kids.

Joel Turtel's book, "Public Schools, Public Menace" gives parents a wealth of information about homeschooling and new low-cost, Internet private schools.

Article Copyrighted © 2005 by Joel Turtel.

Things got worse after Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C. and Emperor Augustus took power. The quasi-democratic Republic turned into dictatorial Roman Empire and was ruled by a succession of Emperors. To secure their power, each succeeding Emperor then tightened their grip on education. They increasingly regulated education, suppressed teachers who spoke against Emperor, and eventually required teachers of Greek and Latin rhetoric to be licensed and paid by State. The quality of education in Rome then grew progressively worse.

The parallels with history of education in America are striking. Here too, when our education system was voluntary and parents paid teachers and schools directly, we had a high-quality, constantly improving education system. After state governments created compulsory public schools, education in America has been going down-hill ever since.