Brian C. Anderson

About the author: Brian C. Anderson is senior editor of City Journal, the cultural and political quarterly published by the Manhattan Institute.

With its glowing academic successes, home schooling stands as a criticism of public schools. Undemanding assignments from inadequate teachers contribute to the lack of academic excellence in public schools and are the primary reasons parents home school their children. In contrast, an abundance of excellent materials can be tailored to the needs of each home-schooled child and presented in a flexible format. Outsourcing is available for difficult subjects or those subjects requiring expensive equipment. As a result of superior educational opportunities, children who are home schooled perform better on standardized exams than do students attending public schools. Parents also home school for religious reasons, finding public schools uncivil, unsafe...