Public Schooling vs. Homeschooling The number of homeschooling families has been steadily increasing over the past several years, but is it really a better alternative to public schooling? This disagreement over schooling systems has been the subject of the ongoing debate covered in many journals, magazines, and articles. Many parents and families believe that it is because most homeschoolers argue that the curriculum in public school is not taught well enough, but those who support public school argue the opposite. Those who are in favor of public schooling argue that the standard curriculum is not covered adequately in home education. Parents are also concerned with the possibility of social isolation that comes with homeschooling. The majority …show more content…
Income is a great limit on the quality of students’ education. Wealthier families often provide better homeschooling education than families who have a lower income. The majority of families who are able to homeschool their children have a yearly income of $25,000-$75,000 and above, while only about 18% have an income of $25,000 or less yearly (Romanowski 79-83). Homeschooling is extremely costly, while public schools are funded for by the government. Public schools in Colorado are promised a “thorough and uniform system of free public schools” (Hudak). While public schooling families can have two steady workers in the household, to homeschool students effectively, most families have to give up a job, cutting their yearly income and causing struggles for families who are not yet settled (Musiime). The cost of home education makes homeschooling inaccessible to families with a lower income, while public school is accessible to families from all financial backgrounds. Because of the constraints of inadequate income, public schooling is more logical, and a better alternative to …show more content…
Homeschooled students suffer greatly from the limitations of their teacher’s, and adversely are helped by their teacher’s strengths (Bell). These inconsistencies cause a discrepancy in homeschooling, and many students aren’t as well versed in subjects. Homeschooled students are often not held to the same standards as public schooled students as they “are not required to demonstrate academic achievement on the state assessments, and their curriculum is not compelled to include any standards” (Hudak). The lack of requirements means that Homeschooled students may not always receive a well-rounded education based on standards. This could cause students to be lacking in areas where most public schooled students are well versed. Homeschooled families argue that standards are covered, but are done so freely and based on the student’s maturity and interest in the subject (Musiime). Since the rate at which subjects are covered is more fluid than in public schools, many of the subjects covered in homeschools are based around the student’s interests. To be able to incorporate these subjects into the homeschool curriculum, time is cut in many other subjects to allow time for the preferred courses. This means many of the core subjects like math and science are lacking in instruction (“Homeschooling”). Another one of the major inconsistencies
According to Gretchen M. Wilhelm and Michael W. Firmin, in their article Historical and Contemporary Developments, the Department of Education found that over 1,700,000 students are homeschooled. That’s 3.4 percent of all school age children (304). Homeschooling is defined as an education that contains less than twenty five hours of public school teaching each week and is based out of a household. The earliest forms of education were originally taught from home, then later developed into public schools (Wilhelm and Firmin). Homeschooling not only affects the students taught, but also fellow Americans in the race to advance a nation. Homeschooling needs to be understood in order to revise education into a better and
Before the beginning of American public schools in the mid-19th century, home schooling was the norm. Founding father John Adams encouraged his spouse to educate their children while he was on diplomatic missions (Clark, 1994). By the 1840's instruction books for the home were becoming popular in the United States and Britain. The difficulty of traveling to the system of community schools was provoking detractors. At this time, most of the country began moving toward public schools (Clark, 1994). One of the first things early pioneers did was set aside a plot of land to build a school house and try to recruit the most educated resident to be the schoolmarm. This led to recruiting of graduates Eastern Seaboard colleges to further the education oftheir children beyond what they could do at home (Clark, 1994). As the popularity of the public school movement began to rise behind Horace Mann many states soon passed compulsory-education laws. These were designed primarily to prevent farmers, miners, and other parents form keeping their kids home to work (Clark, 1994). Ironically another factor behind public schools was the desire to use them to spread Christian morality, with its concern for the larger good over individualism (Clark, 1994). Massachusetts enacted the first such laws in 1852 requiring children ages 8-14 to be at school at least 12 weeks a year unless they were too poor. The laws proved to be effective, from 1870-1898 the number of children enrolling in the public schools outpaced the population growth. Except for certain religious sects and correspondence schools home schooling remained limited for most of the 20th century. During the 1960's the hippie counterculture exploded into the s...
Patricia Lines describes homeschooling in the abstract for her article Homeschooling Comes of Age, as “one of the most significant social trends of the past half century.” This trend has sparked debate over its effectiveness and the quality of the students it produces. Roy Lechtrek, in The Case for Homeschooling, and Lines argue in favour of homeschooling while Benjamin Gorman, in An Argument Against Homeschooling, argues against it. All three of them agree that isolation in education, whether social or academic, is not beneficial to students. They also believe that religion plays a major role in the decision to homeschool students. The differences they have are a result of their agreement on these fundamental principles of education. Disagreement is over the execution of these principles and so the common ground is often implied through their ideas of the ideal method.
Homeschooling is probably one of the least known and least understood issues in education. Many people tend to think that most homeschoolers are religious conservatives or extremists. However, the truth is that people from all walks of life are joining the homeschooling bandwagon (Ray, 2004). The main misconception is that homeschooled children don’t get the same academic and social education as traditionally schooled children. Contrary to popular perception, homeschooled children have the same, if not better academic opportunities, social opportunities and college admissions prospects than traditionally schooled students have.
An estimated 4 million children are currently home schooled with a 15-20% yearly growth rate. According to a California study by researcher Dr. Brian [D.] Ray, 92 percent of school superintendents believe that home learners are emotionally unstable, deprived of proper social development and too judgmental of the world around them. The latest claim against home schooling suggests that home schoolers are potential child abusers. Mr. Ron Barnard, a Holly High School teacher says that he would prefer public schooling for his children because of the peer socialization, extra curricular, and mandated curriculum. Public schooling is more efficient in educating our youth than traditional home schooling.
In the recent times, home schooling has been the most sought mode of learning by the American parents. In fact, it estimated that over 1 million children in America are now undergoing home schooling (Cooper, 2005). Although this form of learning is legally acceptable, parents are entrusted with teaching and coaching their children in all subjects. In addition, parents can also hire private tutors for their children as part of home schooling. This form of learning is aimed at ensuring that parents commit themselves in ensuring their children are able to learn like other kids in public schools.
Studies have shown year after year that homeschooled students consistently perform just as well as (or in many cases better than) traditionally schooled students on standardized academic exams. But very rarely does anyone ask why this is, or what caused the student to do so well, because they are usually too concerned with questions about the student’s social life or if they would be able to handle the transition into college. Therefore, my thesis statement is: Homeschooled students often achieve higher academic success and are more active in their communities than traditionally schooled students, due to a personalized approach to learning that emphasizes individuality. My research paper will debunk some popular myths about homeschooling, and give the real reasons why homeschoolers are so successful.
Homeschooling vs. public schooling is seen by many as a hot debate in the recent few years. The debate, for some people, is very hot that you only have to type homeschooling on Google search engine to find results of people accusing each others of being “inhuman” from both parties. However, rational debators in both parties claim that their way of educating is more beneficial for children in social, pyscological, and academic way. This makes it harder for parents to choose what is best for their childern. This essay is written to show the reader why, after all, the ancient method of homeschooling is better for you and your children.
from high school or have completed less than two years of college, they do not
Nowadays, education has an important role in people’s life. People always should learn something new to go forward. It is necessary to to have an acceptable profession for a comfortable life in the future. If one wants to have a well paid job, one must get perfect education. Some people believe that homeschooling gives good education while others think that it can be get in public schools. Nowadays, interest in homeschooling is more than in the past . According to the Department of Education, in the United States of America in 1999 there were 0.75 million students who studied at home, but in 2007 this number increased by 100 percent and reached 1.5 million (Steward, 2013, para. 2). Nevertheless, the number of people who prefer public schools is not less, because public schools have more advantages. People can get colourful education by choosing public schools. Thus, public schools is a better option than homeschooling.
The primary goal of homeschooling is to educate children. In this, homeschool excels. Because of the many advantages offered by homeschooling, simply there is no better way to educate a child. Many of these benefits are easy to understand and the positive impact they have on children are obvious. Homeschooled children perform better on standardized tests. For example, in a recent comparison of SAT scores, homeschooled children averaged 568 on verbal test and 525 on math, the national average was 506 on verbal and 514 on math. While those differences might not seem significant for individuals, as differences in averages for populations of students, they are very significant. Factor that is known to be extremely important to educating a child effectively is the teacher-to-student ratio-that is, the number of students for which a teacher is responsible. Other factor...
Today, many parents are homeschooling their children. A U.S. Department of Education’s report shows that approximately 1.5 million children were being homeschooled in 2007 (Lips & Feinberg, 2008). This is almost 3 percent of all school age children (Lips & Feinberg, 2008). A private researcher, the National Home Education Research Institute, estimates 2.5 million children were being homeschooled in the 2007 – 2008 academic years (Lips & Feinberg, 2008). By either count, homeschooling is growing exponentially.
In today’s American society, quality education is important for one to succeed. Without proper education, a person will find it extremely difficult to apply for college, a job, or to pursue his or her dream. Typically when Americans think of education, public education is the first to come to mind. Public education has been around for centuries and is provided to most children throughout the United States. Due to this fact, public education has been the go to education source for years. Though, this trend is slowly changing with many parents deciding to home school their children instead. Many factors are the cause for this issue, but the common arguments arise from a certain few. For students, public school provides many opportunities ranging from social connections, school sports, and the exposure to teachers who are experts in their fields. But homeschooling is often superior because it offers additional time for students to participate in various extracurricular activities and community service, allows for more individual attention, personal character development, and it offers less exposure to discrimination that is received in the public school environment.
As the population in public schools increase, the problems in these schools are also on the rise. These changes are leasing to the way parents are schooling their children. Many parents are leaning towards homeschooling as a solution to this problem. This increase in homeschooling can be directly related to an increase in school violence, the offering of a lack luster curriculum, and lack of student teacher interaction.
All children in America have the right to a quality education. Most students receive that education through conventional means, going to a public or private school. There is another option for today's children, home schooling. Home schooling is a controversial issue. While it does have its benefits, some people believe it has too many downfalls to be an effective method of education. In this paper, topics such as academic impact, social impact, and parental opinions of home schooling will be discussed.