A、Parents of different beliefs took part in homeschooling movement. B、States are persuaded to agree to the education of children

Moderator:
    Hello Ladies and Gentleman, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker for today’s session, Dr. Howard Martin. Dr. Martin, Professor of education at Harvard University, has been studying American education for decades. Dr. Martin. Dr. Martin:
    Thank you for that introduction. Today, I’d like to talk about home schooling in the U.S. Before 1918, when Mississippi became the last U.S. state to require that school-age children attend public or private schools, many children were taught by their parents at home or by teachers informally hired by the community.
    Decades later in the 1980s, homeschooling made a comeback when religiously conservative parents convinced states to approve and give full credit for the teaching of children at home. The homeschooling movement has since broadened to include parents of all faiths or no faith at all. Thus, an estimated 1.5 million American children about 3 percent of the school-age population won’t be going anywhere as schools open for the fall term. Instead, one or both of their parents will gather books, prepare lesson plans, and teach their children everything right in their living rooms.
    Homeschooling’s big selling point for many parents is the argument that children get their ethical values from the people with whom they spend the most time. Adults who choose to stay home and teach their children often object to standardized testing and what they see as the rigid way in which schools group students by age rather than ability, and pass them ahead to the next grade whether or not they’ve grasped the material. The idea that one parent, or even both, make the best teachers, and home makes the best classroom, has been accepted in many parts of America.
    In home-schooling households, it’s not unusual to find several children, ages 4 to 16, being taught together. Older kids help younger ones, as they once did in those one-room schoolhouses. Many home-taught students excel in several subjects and have no trouble moving on to college, often with academic scholarships in hand.
    But critics point to home teachers’ lack of experience and credentials. No one’s supervising them, they say. And they argue that pulling kids out of school may deprive them of social skills. Home-schooling parents dispute the notion that their children are socially isolated and bookish. They are, the parents say, hard workers who go to scout and church meetings, play sports, and shop at malls right alongside their friends who go to school.
    16.What marked the comeback of homeschooling in the 1980s?
    17.What is homeschooling’s big selling point for many parents?
    18.What do critics say about homeschooling?