Inside Education: Gifts of Home Schooling

            Home schooling is becoming more and more popular in today's world. It has been a controversial matter for a long time because people are concerned about giving and/or receiving the best quality education. Although there are many reasons behind a child's being home schooled, home schooling can be questionable as was reported in a recent Newsweek magazine. Although home schooling was criticized in the past, such negative viewpoints  are beginning to change. "Learning at Home: Does It Pass the Test?" by Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert discusses how the views on home schooling are changing and why home schooling can have advantages over normal schooling. The authors' purpose is to let their target audience know that home schooling can be respected as much as normal, typical schooling. They address their article toward parents and students, especially those who are or will be thinking about home schooling and/or those who are already home schooled. The writers draw on the audience's curiosity to gain support to their discussion. The authors do this by using ethos, pathos, and logos effectively to illustrate some positive views on home schooling.        

            The authors begin their essay in an interesting way to attract the audience. They state that there were some parents who said "NO" to their children's attending school. They probably used this style to begin their essay in order to catch the readers' attention as to why some parents would want to do that. Many people would be curious with this response because the majority of people believe that children's attending school is the best form of education. After the surprising first sentence, since no one would expect a parent to refuse normal schooling, the authors immediately introduce student's positive experiences in home schooling to support their introductory sentence. Here, the authors gather the audience's interest because the readers are curious to find out more.

            What adds strength to the authors' logos is their ability to show sufficient examples of positive home schooling experiences. They give the parents' opinion that home schooling can provide more attention and care to the children than normal schooling can give. There are other parents who want to give their kids the chance to follow their interests rather than a text book. (64). Other parents consider home schooling a good way for their children to get educated as there are no fears of going to school. Some students choose home schooling because they did not fit in with other children at school, while some other students were bullied.

            Another appeal to logos is that Kantrowitz and Wingert mention that  many famous celebrities, like Queen Elizabeth II, Thomas Edison, and the pop music group Hanson, have been educated through home schooling. At this point, the authors are trying to tell the audience that these home schoolers are/were successful. By presenting the facts, the authors gain credit. At the same time, they are able to influence the audience's positive feeling toward home schooling just by mentioning some famous and successful people who grew up in a home schooling system.

            The authors continue to perfect their logos by being very logical, yet reasonable, throughout the essay. They discuss many advantages to home schooling, but, they do not brag about it. For example, they state the fact that home schoolers, on average, have scored higher on standardized tests than those who do normal schooling. (66, 68). The authors also stress an important fact, (which everyone wants to know when it comes to home schooling): Home schoolers can get into some of the most prestigious colleges in the nation. Despite all the positive sides of home schooling, the writers mention some negative sides, such as the large expense of a home schooling education and the fear of a home schooler becoming anti-social. Because they do not constantly discuss too many good things about home schooling, their analysis is presented in a fair, balanced, reasonable form. This is one of the keys to their use of logos.              

            Pathos is a huge factor that plays an important role in the writers' strategies. They create feeling of confidence in their audience due to their positiveness of home schooling. Their main points are supported by real life experiences; therefore, the article itself is believable. For example, the authors glance at a special case to remind the readers that home schooling can have advantages and produce astonishing results. One amazing experience includes a boy's tremendous talent in math. His mother explains that she recognized her son's gifted ability in Math. This ten-year-old is so talented that he was bored in his Math class when his mother decided to switch him to home schooling. He is now moving ahead of everyone and is currently studying college calculus at home. His experience shows that home schooling can enrich one's special talent. Overall, the writers are able to create encouraging, satisfying, pleasant feelings in readers because they mention  so many advantages of this type of education that the readers feel that they are not mistaken regarding their decision of home schooling.

            Although some audience members may feel vexed and disagree with home schooling, the authors make their pathos effective by trying to change people's minds. Some non-home schoolers might have too much pride in their normal schooling system. These people may not be able to accept some positive characteristics in home schooling because they strongly believe that their system is superior. However, the writers of this article are trying to give these people another perspective. The writers do this by presenting actual facts and the true experiences of individuals as discussed earlier. With such evidence to support their essay, they can probably change how non- or anti-home schoolers feel. The authors may be able to get these people to think differently about home schooling from now on. For these reasons, emotional appeals in this essay are effective.

            Ethos is the third effective appeal that is used in "Learning at Home: Does It Pass the Test?" by Kantrowitz and Wingert. The authors gain credit for ethical appeals in a variety of ways. Since their research makes them very knowledgeable, they are able to show familiarity. These factors allow the writers to gain trust and credibility from the audience as they discuss different qualities in home schooling. For example, they provide logical criteria of  becoming a good home schooling candidate such as organization, patience, resourcefulness and an enjoyment of being with their kids for a parent. A good home schooling candidate for a student should respect his or her parents as teachers and still love them as parents (67). By mentioning and showing these factors and many more criteria of home schooling, the authors gain credibility from the audience.

            The writers' effective ethos also comes from their showing confidence. Their confidence in this topic is very obvious throughout the essay. They show self-understanding which assures the audience that they know what they are talking about. Also, because the authors feel comfortable discussing the topic, the audience could , in return, understand the context of the essay and easily see the authors' main points.             The writers' style and voice as they discuss their analysis create better ethos as well. As a reader, it was very interesting to read their essay because the authors themselves sound interested in discussing the topic. They show eagerness when they talk about positive aspects on home schooling. An example of this can be seen when they mention, "Today almost everyone knows a home schooler, so it's more socially acceptable," (66). When they say this, they assume that many people in today's world have some connection to a home schooler; therefore, they should start understanding home schoolers. They also tell the audience that home schoolers' image is not wacko, fringe, lunatic-type people any more (66). By saying this, the authors connect themselves to the home schoolers because they show understanding and support in home schooling. This in turn shows their interest in the subject.

            As discussed in this essay, the authors were successful in using three appeals. The logos was effective due to the writers' fair, logical, reasonable analysis. They presented the essay with sufficient facts and examples to give the audience better ideas on home schooling. These also helped in clarifying their purpose. Their emotional appeal was effective because the writers gave their target audience more confidence in home schooling, despite the fact that home schooling has had a negative reputation in the past. To other audiences, the writers were able to make it clear that those negative views on home schooling are changing in today's world. The ethical strategy was also effective in the article as the authors have confidence in their analysis. The appropriate voice and tone  created a better style. All of these factors made their essay attractive and interesting to the audience. The authors should receive full credit for their work.