"It is not because things are difficult that we hesitate to do them..."

"... it is because we hesitate to do them that things are difficult."   Seneca, 1st Century AD

I heard a statistic today on the way home from work that staggered me.  Floored me.  Amazed is too small a word.

I was listening to a show on the radio that was discussing the latest news concerning the Pittsburgh Independent School District and its $40 million dollar grant from the Gates Foundation.  You can read the article and follow-up on the story at your leisure, but I am going to continue on the assumption that you know the meat and potatoes of the piece.

In a nutshell, the discussion was on the present failings of education in PA specifically, and the entire US in general, since the turn of the century (i.e. the Bush Administration).  The subjects were many and quite varied, but the part that prompted this post was simply this:

Homeschooling is, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, growing at an absolutely AMAZING rate.  In the 2007-08 school year, 1.9% of all students in PA were being homeschooled.  In 2011-12, that percentage had reached 5.1%... nearly 60,000 students between the ages of 5 years and 18 years were outside of the public education's "brick-and-mortar" system.  In that same 2011-12 year (the last I have hard data for), that same 5.1% of PA students being "home schooled" had more than 91.2% of its membership make the top standardized testing scores acheived by ANY students in the entire State!!!!  These kids are blowing the rest of the "brick-and-mortar" system kids out of the water, if the scores they are putting up are any indication.  (source HERE)

Now, think back... it isn't all that long ago that "home schooling" was what religious zealots and hippies did.  This was NOT mainstream, by any stretch of the imagination.  Now, it is something I am considering nearly each and every day that my 11-year-old continues to go to the "brick-and-mortar" system.

More staggering than all of that though...

(drum roll)

Imagine the numbers continuing to climb, both here in PA and nationally.  When the numbers near (and possibly surpass) 25% of all students... the education system in America can no longer function as it is now.  The system breaks down completely.  The Federal money that goes to the "brick-and-mortar" institutions no longer is enough to fund what must become a greater and more expensive effort each and every year, thus driving more and more parents to take on the duties themselves, and (hopefully) driving the homeschool test scores up and up in comparison to those of the standard systems.

What does that mean?

I really don't know... but the possibilities are fascinating to ponder, aren't they?