在美国，许多家长放弃了学校，选择了家庭式教学，他们认为这是一种自然的、对孩子的发展十分有利的教学方式。

　　Bill and Louise Marshall had a feeling that their daughter wasn't being challenged intellectually (在智力上) in school. The Kleins were very angry that their son Robert was being bullied (欺负) on the playground. Ann Price's son spent hours every night on homework that Ann considered pointless.

　　The solution? In the past, these parents might have taken their kids to other school, hoping for some improvement. Now they are choosing entirely. They choose home schooling for their children, and they are not alone.

　　Over 850,000 children are now home schooled in America alone. Until recently, it was largely the education solution for religious fundamentalists (原教旨主义者) and extreme leftists (极端左倾主义者), who disapproved of the value taught in public schools. Now, more and more, it's middle-class parents who are teaching their children at home.

　　These parents all have their reasons. Some have a strong feeling of disliking the shortcomings of public school and the cost of private school. Some argue that the classroom system is bad for children who are especially bright but may have some learning problems, or are, simply, different from other children. Many other parents are fed up with (受够了) new testing laws that they claim merely (只不过) prepare children for tests rather than educate them.

　　Certain social trends have also contributed to the home schooling movement. For example, middle-class women are increasingly leaving careers behind to become stay-at-home mothers. They

　　like spending more time with their children, and they say home schooling gets better results.

　　“My son has piano lessons, math club, the soccer team, you name it,” says one mother. “I realized that the most wasted part of his day was spent in school. Now we do that part at home, and he learns more in half the time. Taking him out of school was the best thing I ever did.”

　　(文/孙淑敏 供稿； 英语辅导报高二版 04~05学年度第25期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)