Originally published at freedomproject.com.
Members of Generation Z are almost twice as likely as previous generations to want to educate their children at home, according to explosive new polling data. The new survey found that the trend is especially pronounced in big cities such as New York, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Portland, and Miami.
Interest in homeschooling has been soaring for decades now following a brief period in human history when governments sometimes forced parents to hand their children over for “education.” But the latest numbers from Generation Z — people between around 12 and 26 years old — is shocking analysts.
An education technology (EdTech) company known as “Age of Learning” commissioned a survey of over 1,000 parents and people hoping to become parents. Nearly HALF of Gen Z parents and aspiring parents said they were considering homeschooling their children.
By contrast, the same survey should that just over one third of “millennial” parents and those who hoped to be parents were homeschooling or considering it. Among Generation X, those born from the mid-60s to the early 1980s, just 20 percent fell into that category.
Unfortunately for existing homeschoolers who fought for decades to protect and expand educational liberty, Gen Z respondents were far more likely than other generations to support government mandates on testing and subject matter.
Among just aspiring parents — those who do not yet have children but hope and expect to have them — the results were even more shocking. According to the survey data, six in 10 said they were more interested in homeschooling than government or private schools.
When asked why they were interested in homeschooling, the most common response at 66 percent was providing a safer environment. Other popular responses included flexible schedule, preventing “toxic socialization,” providing “individualized instruction,” and more. Religious reasons were low on the list.
Analyzing Google search data also revealed interesting results. “The term ‘home-schooling’ was searched more than 1.1 million times over the past year, an increase of 150%,” explained the study by Age of Learning, with “home-schooling online” seeing a 365 percent boost in searches in that period.
The Covid hysteria caused many families who never would have considered home education to look at it, the study authors said. “Many who felt they couldn’t balance a job with being a home educator discovered that not only was it doable, but it was preferable for the flexibility and increased time spent with their children.”
The new data showing surging interest in homeschooling comes as polls show public confidence in government schools has never been lower. In fact, only about one fourth of American adults surveyed by Gallup have even a “fair amount” of confidence in government schools, and confidence continues to plunge.
As interest in homeschooling surges, the establishment and its propagandists are foaming at the mouth. Fringe leftwing TV host John Oliver, for example, just released a long monologue demonizing home education, clearly aiming to turn the tide among impressionable young people. Many more such attacks will come.
Despite the endless pronouncements by the establishment that Generation Z would finally lead America forward into a brave new globalist world of Big Government and ubiquitous control, there are encouraging signs. These new numbers on homeschooling suggest Gen Z may actually help pave the way back to freedom.