Home schooling versus public education

Essay by sissiCollege, UndergraduateA+, June 2002

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Many families are turning to home schooling as the solution to the decaying public school system. However, home schooling is not a new idea. Until the early 1900's, home education was the predominant form of education in our country. As more and more people become aware of the advantages of home schooling, the number of home schoolers continues to swell.

One of the main objections of home schooling versus public education is that there are no socialization skills acquired by the children. However, home schoolers interrelate with more children than do those in public schools. Public school children are confined to a classroom 180 days a year with little opportunity to go on field trips, or explore an education outside of the classroom. They are trapped with a group of children their own age while their talents are stifled. Home schoolers have more involvement with community activities, music and art lessons, sports participation, and church youth groups than do public school children.

Nearly every community in the country has a local home schooling support group. These groups meet weekly for socialization, field trips and other organized activities. Also, home schooled children can be protected from adverse socialization such as peer pressure and drugs.

Similarly, home schooled children are being taught with the most effective method of instruction: the tutorial method. It is clear that one-to-one instruction by parents is far more efficient than in institutional schools. As a result, home schoolers only need to spend half as much time receiving formal instruction than publicly educated students. Furthermore, not only can home schoolers compete academically, but they excel. Generally, they perform well above average.

Another reason for the bias against parents who home school is the lack of education of the parent, or, teaching without a degree. Most education officials publicly...