Newspaper Logic: Akron Beacon Journal Attack on Homeschooling

Have you ever read something you knew was wrong and just felt frustrated about it? It didn’t make sense, but you couldn’t explain why?

Recently an Ohio newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal, printed a series of articles attacking homeschooling. They claim that little is known about homeschoolers and suggest the government should tightly monitor and regulate the movement. They quote school officials and focus groups who say that homeschooling can hide child abuse and failing students.

This is nothing new. We didn’t pay much attention until a friend told us that the first article mentions our logic book The Fallacy Detective. Ironically, we discovered that the two reporters who wrote these articles, Doug Oplinger and Dennis J. Willard,  showcase several brazen errors in reasoning.

We’d like to give you a few tools for explaining to your friends, neighbors, and elected officials why using bad logic isn’t a good idea when attacking homeschoolers.

Our purpose isn’t to point out all the fallacies in these articles. We want to equip you to do this yourself. (Parents, finding fallacies in these articles might make a good school assignment.) Here is a crash-course in debunking bad newspaper reporting.

Fallacy 1: Appeal to the People

Claiming that something is true just because many people believe it is the fallacy of the appeal to the people. The Akron Beacon Journal articles use this fallacy frequently.

Nationally, according to the most recent polls on the topic, the country is divided on the socialization issue.

A 2001 Phi Delta Kappa poll found that the public, by just a slightly larger percentage (49 to 46), believes home schooling does not promote good citizenship. More than half – 53 percent – of the people who live in the Western United States believe home schooling promotes good citizenship, while only 37 percent in the East agree. (Nov. 16)

. . . .92 percent of [Americans] said home schoolers should take the same tests required of public school students. (Nov. 15)

We may not like to admit it, but we all become uneasy when many people disagree with us. However, public opinion is not a good gauge for what is true or false. Just because a large percentage of the population thinks homeschooling fails to produce good citizens does not make this true. Asserting this would be an appeal to the people.

Fallacy 2: Faulty Appeal to Authority

Another fallacy used in the Beacon Journal articles is faulty appeal to authority.

David Swarbrick estimates that “60 percent [of homeschoolers] are on par with the public schools, 20 percent are above and 20 percent are below.” (Nov. 15)

When we read a quote like this, we might worry that it indicates that homeschoolers don’t excel at academics the way we thought.

However, before we accept what Swarbrick says, we need to look at his credentials. Is he an authority on comparing the academic accomplishments of homeschool students to government school students? We read that Swarbrick is a math tutor for 225 homeschool students in Texas. Based on what these articles say, he only has contact with students who need tutoring in math – probably not a good cross section of homeschoolers. To appeal to his expert knowledge would be a faulty appeal to authority. (Note: David Swarbrick has said that he was dreadfully misquoted by Oplinger and Willard.)

. . . there are huge, untested segments of the home-school population that may be failing, according to many researchers. (Nov. 15)

An ambitious reporter can find someone willing to say anything he wants. It means nothing when a reporter writes, “many researchers say. . . .” We can find “many researchers” willing to say there are space aliens living among us. A reporter needs to name the researchers he is quoting and explain their credentials. Otherwise, he is using a faulty appeal to authority.

Fallacy 3: Proof by Lack of Evidence

. . . [T]he nation [collects] an unprecedented volume of statistics on public school students. . . . [But] it . . . knows almost nothing about children who are educated at home. (Nov. 15)

Lack of evidence is only evidence that there is a lack of evidence. There is no evidence of widespread cannibalism among Akron, Ohio residents; should the government fund a massive study to learn why there is no evidence? No, the government should channel its money to study problems for which we have evidence.

This line of reasoning tempts us to lose perspective. We imagine all the horrible possibilities of what homeschoolers could be doing behind closed doors, but we forget that we have absolutely no evidence for this – we only have a lack of evidence. Paranoia is an irrational fear of the unknown.

A reporter commits the fallacy of proof by lack of evidence when he suggests that something is true simply because there was no evidence to the contrary. A lack of evidence cannot be used to support or refute anything. The reporter has the burden of proof to supply positive evidence to support his claim.

School superintendents and other child professionals say an unknown number of children receive an inadequate education at home. . . . (Nov. 15)

An unknown number may be a million or zero. We don’t know. We could say an unknown number of newspaper reporters were smoking an unknown substance when they wrote this article.

Throughout these articles, Oplinger and Willard weave together the proof by lack of evidence fallacy with another manipulative technique called innuendo.

Fallacy 4: Innuendo

In Texas, a librarian told the Beacon Journal that some home-schooling parents objected to the book selection on the shelves. They lobbied the library to bring back older editions – books that depicted the United States in the 1950s, prior to the landmark 1964 civil rights legislation. . . .

That idea is espoused on a number of racist Internet sites. . . . (Nov. 16)

Notice how Oplinger and Willard never explicitly claim that these homeschoolers are racist. They would need evidence to support this accusation. They only insinuate. Innuendo is a propaganda technique that uses subtle and misleading language to manipulate our minds.

Racist and extremist home schoolers are almost invisible until an event thrusts them into the public’s consciousness. . . . In 1994, Gordon Winrod, an avowed anti-Semite and racist, kidnapped his eight grandchildren from their home in North Dakota and took them to a remote area in Missouri for six years and home-schooled them. . . . (Nov. 16)

To conclude that Winrod homeschooled these children simply because he did not send them to school clearly is a misrepresentation of homeschooling. Winrod kidnapped these children. Do all kidnappers homeschool their victims? By referring to kidnapping in an article about homeschooling, Oplinger and Willard suggest that this kind of behavior might characterize homeschoolers.

A tour of the Patrick Henry campus [a college connected with HSLDA] offers an impression of little or no racial diversity. . . .

On the college’s apparent lack of racial diversity, [a representative of the college] said that’s not important to the organization. . . .

The only African-American visible on a busy day early in the 2003-04 school year was a kitchen worker. (Nov. 17)

Oplinger and Willard never directly say that Patrick Henry College is racist, but they imply this with their strategically truncated quotes and observations.

Warning to Reporters

This attack on homeschoolers has provided us with an exhilarating supply of material to teach logic. It made our day.

Oplinger and Willard may have mentioned our book to hint that homeschoolers don’t use logic. But as we read their articles, we found that these reporters demonstrated a remarkable ignorance of logic. They should have read our book. It might have saved them the time it took to write those articles. But we’re happy for the opportunity to teach some logic.

Links

If you haven’t read these newspaper articles, search the Akron Beacon Journal for these articles:

  • 11-14-2004 – Home schoolers' motivations are diverse; their teaching styles vary
  • 11-15-2004 – Claims of academic success rely on anecdotes, flawed data analysis
  • 11-16-2004 – Parents want to control influences; critics see need for wide exposure
  • 11-16-2004 – Socialization study inaccurately promoted, researcher says
  • 11-16-2004 – Racists can use home schools to train youths
  • 11-16-2004 – Some fringe groups use home-schooling
  • 11-16-2004 – UP FOR DEBATE
  • 11-16-2004 – Related links to home school information
  • 11-17-2004 – Home schoolers may be no safer in their homes than other children
  • 11-17-2004 – Common elements
  • 11-17-2004 – Up for Debate: Troubling situations
  • 11-18-2004 – Home-schooling freedoms help parents who abduct children
  • 11-18-2004 – Unregistered students in Ohio
  • 11-18-2004 – Up for Debate: Tracking missing kids
  • 11-18-2004 – UP FOR DEBATE
  • 11-18-2004 – Tails of missing-child cases
  • 11-18-2004 – The Home School Legal Defense Association
  • 11-18-2004 – Cartoon
  • 11-19-2004 – Power center driven by religion to reshape nation
  • 11-19-2004 – A diverse but united national network mobilizes against regulations at all levels
  • 11-20-2004 – Parents assert rights
  • 11-20-2004 – Home-schooling purists spurn growing online charter schools
  • 11-20-2004 – Up for Debate: Balancing rights
  • 11-20-2004 – Home schooling series recap

Copyedited by Mary Jo Tate. Cartoon © 2004 Rich LaPierre. (Hi-resolution image)

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Site Comments

1 • Nick Cox • April 24, 2008 • 4:03 PM

In the “appeal to authority” section, “David Swarbrick estimates that “60 percent [of homeschoolers] are on par with the public schools, 20 percent are above and 20 percent are below.” (Nov. 15)”

While unquestioningly accepting someones opinion, generated casually from experience like Davids, or from large, scientific studies is clearly bad—an undue appeal to or blind trust of authority

While that is true, this quote does not malign students at all.  The idea that 60% of a group is average, 20% above average, and 20% below average is statistically like saying that the two groups are THE SAME.  David is, statistically speaking, saying that in math ability, home schoolers look like anyone else

2 • roboknight • July 27, 2008 • 10:56 AM

Nick, I noticed that same thing.  But phrased that way, especially with the last item being “below average”, it could cause someone to remember “60% were below average” although it doesn’t say that at all.  I find that frequently in newspaper articles and even on television.

Btw, I find this site fascinating.  My wife and I are considering homeschooling as an alternative to a regular school.  This site excites me to the prospect that my wife and I can give our child more than either of us had from our own schooling.  I was a product of public schools and I’m not sure how I turned out like I did.  My wife was a product of a Catholic school and sometimes she wonders if her parents money was well spent.  Anyway, this is really great stuff.

3 • Carolyn Harrison • August 13, 2008 • 3:04 PM

What a howl!  BTW, isn’t a 20/60/20 split basically a bell curve for ANY given population?  I’m looking forward to teaching Logic with the Bluedorns.  Thank you so much for your thoughtful, unapologetically Christian, intelligent work toward the progression of classical ed.

4 • Thomas Edgerton • September 04, 2008 • 6:49 PM

Public schools play an important front-line role in delivering Mental Health services to at-risk children. Without it, millions of kids would not be receiving the psychiatric services they need. The stigma against mental illness still runs strong in this society, and sequestering children who may have serious brain disorders in home schools serves no one. All home school kids should be examined twice yearly for possible Mental Health problems.

5 • Ronald Ford • September 29, 2008 • 1:41 PM

We do not need more governmental intrusion. Mental Health problems? I feel are often caused by government schools. I obtained a public school teaching certificate 1976.

6 • Aadel • November 19, 2008 • 10:27 PM

Lets take that one step further, let’s require all children to take a mental health exam each year.  Then, while they are there, let’s test them for drug use, dental health, “social” skills, academic ability, and STDs.

Better yet, let’s make all teachers do a yearly mental health examination.

Don’t you think a parent that cares enough about their child to educate them at home would be concerned about their mental well-being?  I don’t understand your logic.  Anyway, great article!

7 • Adlyn • November 20, 2008 • 12:05 PM

As a black American homeschooler I find the racist remark offensive. “Racist” is a very strong and powerful word and can ruin reputations. How dare they use it for homeschoolers that refuse to use fast-food books, most before the civil rights movement, and insinuate that’s racist. Same thing goes for the attack on the Patrick Henry College. I hope that these “reporters” are fired and print a retraction. How sad. If you ask me they seem to have have it out for homeschoolers.

8 • Katie • January 15, 2009 • 4:46 PM

I get so tired of explaining that homeschoolers are not freaks of nature incapable of simple math problems and social interaction. Its always the same two questions.  Sure there are a couple kids like that, but couldn’t the same argument be made for kids in school as well?!  Or is every child educated in the public school system extremely intelligent and well versed in proper social behavior?  I was homeschooled, and I also have a couple friends who were.  I have everything that is considered “normal.”  Most of my old homeschooled friends do as well.  I won’t say its perfect, yes, there are parents who brain wash.  There are parents who don’t educate very well.  But thats the case everywhere.  Lets look at the big picture instead of attacking a minority group.

9 • Priscilla Algarin • February 03, 2009 • 2:01 AM

Mental illness is a product of this society, which crams people together in big buildings with one mission in common, higher productivity and more money, without taking into consideration our natural environment and needs, in order to be free people who will make logical decisions.  Diagnosing our children is not a solution it never was, we make up all these different disorders to send them to psychiatrists who will give them some meds, and boost pharmaceutical sales. Us homeschooled parents accept our childrens flaws and we work with them to improve in creative and encouraging ways, most of us dont medicate our children if we know we can help them in other ways!

10 • Amy • February 09, 2009 • 4:28 PM

I am a homeschooled child. I’m in 7th grade, but that doesn’t limit what I do in schoolwork. I take 12th grade chemistry and excel at it; I take Latin, which I wouldn’t be able to to in most schools. My parents own a homeschool group, I know plenty other homeschoolers, we aren’t anti-social in any way, but I have a share of public school friends too. Its EASIER being homeschooled. You aren’t forced to get up at six every morning and forced to do this when you are told to. I myself get up at
8-11 every morning. I can do schoolwork in pajamas. It’s everything I like. Its easier, but the same amount of work done by public schoolers in an 8 hour day can be done in two hours if i’m feeling productive that day. If not, three hours. Thats still a fraction of the time it takes.
Consider homeschooling your children. If they don’t like it don’t make them homeschool. If they want to try public school, let them. If they don’t like public school and want to be homeschooled, LET THEM. No one is built the same. Public school is good for some, and others its just too hard or too easy.

Try it. We need more homeschoolers around here.

11 • Kelly • March 23, 2009 • 3:27 PM

I am currently writing a paper in my english class on why homeschooling is good. A ton of people believe it is bad but they dont even know what they are talking about. I am glad to have found this website. Its going to help me big time with writing this paper! Thanks! =)

12 • Keith Wilcox • August 19, 2009 • 10:24 AM

Excellent These are all fallacies that I have dealt with recently as I home school my two boys.  Just yesterday someone used the appeal to the people fallacy in their argument against my reasoning to home school. It bothered me.  But what really gets me is the lack of evidence.  Our doubters either make stuff up or they just say because there is no data that it must be bad.  Thank you for such a clear explanation.

13 • Chantelle • April 05, 2010 • 10:17 PM

In order to find an fallacy in an article you must be able to detect something that almost seems like a hasty generalization; and has no real evidence to back it up…Fallacies, I love ‘em!

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