A NEW FEDERAL government report that more children than ever before are being taught at home can be construed as a disturbing commentary on the state of public schools or a positive reflection of parents' increasing interest in their children's education -- or both. More parents choose
to teach at homeThe issue: The number of home-
schooled children is growing as parents
become more concerned about
public education.Although home-schooling has been regarded as the realm of eccentric parents, it has gained respectability as many home-schooled children attain academic excellence. It is becoming an option for parents who can commit the time and money.
The U.S. Education Department report showed that in 1999 between 709,000 and 992,000 of 50 million children in the country were home-schooled. Previous figures varied from 360,000 in 1994 to 640,000 in 1996. The report did not breakdown the numbers by state, but Hawaii Department of Education estimates that 2,000 to 6,000 island children are being taught at home.
Patty Teruya, a Palolo mother who has taught her children at home all their lives, says she wants them to have a good education and a strong sense of family. "If a parent doesn't care, who else will," she says. Curriculum materials and textbooks can cost up to $500 a year and "we don't have new cars or big-screen TVs." She contends her children learn more, scoring "so much higher" on SATs than those in public schools.
Teruya's assertion is supported by a 1999 study by a Maryland educational organization that showed home-schooled children perform as well as private school students and better than those in public schools. Colleges and universities are welcoming home-schooled children because most are better prepared academically and socially for higher education, the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation reported.
Hawaii law requires that all children be educated, but officials generally do not interfere with home-schooling. Parents must notify the DOE that they intend to home-school and provide annual reports either through an evaluation process or by having the child take a standardized test. If there are indications that a child is not learning, the state will step in, but that is rare, a DOE spokesman said. Home-schooled children are not awarded high school diplomas but may take any college entrance exams; many colleges do not require a diploma.
Home-schooling isn't the answer for every parent. For two-parent families, financial restraints can be difficult; for single-parent households, they may be impossible to overcome. Teaching isn't easy in a formal classroom or at home and to educate their children properly, parents must also learn. Still, the trade-offs may be worthwhile if children get a better education.
WHILE MICROSOFT CORP. recently survived a federal judge's intemperate order that the company be broken up, Bill Gates' monopoly of the computer industry is not the same. A federal appeals court has affirmed its decision that Microsoft must change its behavior to allow other companies access to computers using its Windows operating system, and any further appeal is likely to be futile. Microsoft court
ruling is good news
for consumersThe issue: A federal court has affirmed
that Microsoft used illegal tactics in bundling
its Internet browser with its operating system.That is good news for consumers who may want to use a variety of software with Windows.
Much of the attention to the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia five weeks ago was focused on the panel's rebuke of District Judge Thomas Penfield for his improper interviews with the press. While overturning Penfield's order that the company be broken up, however, the three-judge appeals panel unanimously agreed that Microsoft had used monopolistic means to gives its Windows system dominance in Internet activity.
Microsoft asked the appeals court to re-examine that part of its ruling, but the appellate judges stuck to their decision that the company had illegally blended its browsing software, Internet Explorer, with its Windows operating system. Legal analysts agree that the U.S. Supreme Court is unlikely to consider an appeal.
Microsoft's contracts with computer manufacturers using Windows prohibited them from substituting Netscape Communication Corp.'s Navigator browser for Explorer. Windows' dominance of the computer industry effectively would have eliminated Navigator as a competing browser. In legal parlance, the Microsoft contract provisions are an illegal "tying" of one product -- Windows -- to another -- Explorer. Internet users should be allowed to choose the browsing software of their liking.
The new decision should cause Microsoft to reconsider its plans to integrate Internet shopping, instant-messaging services and a player for music and video tightly into the next version of its operating system, Windows XP. The system is designed to incorporate those features in a fashion that would preclude similar features produced by competing software companies.
"I think Microsoft could easily undo that if they had a mind to," says David Farber, a University of Pennsylvania computer scientist who testified as an expert witness for the government in the Microsoft case. Further delay could make Microsoft worthy of the abusive language that Penfield used in describing its bully tactics.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, President
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