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Thus the argument. IF its done right, public schooling is fine to.
This is, of course, true. However, home schooling can be made right, quite readily. But public education carries a great deal of inertia, which must be overcome to make even the slightest adjustment if and when needed..
In general, kids who are home-schooled are much better prepared for college than publicly-schooled kids. They tend to be better-rounded than kids attending dumbed-down classes aimed at the lowest common denominator in ability. They know how to work on their own, and are better at research. They have the freedom to develop their own interests and learn as much as they want about their favorite subjects, while still being required to cover all the basics. There are exceptions to this of course, but that's generally been the case.
I think that ideally, all kids should go to decent quality public schools and with the addition of having their parents getting involved with their homework and extra curricular activities like taking them to museums and the zoo. I think that parents can help give real life relevance to the academic studies by pointing out certain subjects helped them in their work and daily life. Parents can give that extra attention to their kids in regards to their schoolwork in case they aren't getting enough individual attention from their teachers. All along, parents should be encouraging their kids to think about possible careers.
Otherwise, I don't like the idea of children being only home schooled. I think that children need the social interaction they can only get from going to a regular school. I also think that parents must take part in the schooling of their children also, whether it's only discussions about their schoolwork at the dinner table or at a weekly family meeting.
Unfortunately home schooling is seen from the extremes like a Woman from India with a PhD in Quantum Physics who stays home and schools her kids, or a family who lives in a small rural Missouri town of 10 thousand who thinks the schools are too full of bad kids who don't know God, Having had all my kids do very well in public school ,I would have to say you need to do both. Take advantage of the public system (you're paying for it) but when they get home give them as much additional instruction and help as you can.
In general, kids who are home-schooled are much better prepared for college than publicly-schooled kids. They tend to be better-rounded than kids attending dumbed-down classes aimed at the lowest common denominator in ability. They know how to work on their own, and are better at research. They have the freedom to develop their own interests and learn as much as they want about their favorite subjects, while still being required to cover all the basics. There are exceptions to this of course, but that's generally been the case.
Your generalization is not true. It is just as false as the contrary woudl be. I ahve seen home schooled kids in my UVA classes who were the top of their class and excelled heads and shoulders above the rest. I've also seen the same from kids who went to the worst public schools. Excellence in education cannot be simplfied to a one variable equation.
My daughter had a friend who was home schooled and had a terrible time with socialization and you could tell she had no idea how to play and interact with other kids. She was in my brownie troop and really had a hard time. She was also very attached to her mother and couldn't work independantly at all. However her older brother did not have those same problems.
I think the conclusion can be reached that not all kids can do well with home schooling and not all kids are meant for public school. I will say that I believe that public/private/charter schools can be appropriate for many more types of kids the home schooling can. But alot of that has to do with parents involvement, even if it means hcnaging schools/classes until you find the right match. But there are kids and parents who can make home schooling work and for those few, it can be a wonderful thing. But I think it takes a parent who isn't extremist about home schooling and comes at it with an attitude of what is actually best for their child.
And just to add an element of contraversy to this thread I think that that whole "unschooling" movement is ridiculous and nothing but lazy home schooling.
Im not saying that this applies to everyone that has been homeschooled, but of the dozen or so Iv met in my life, they tend to be a little socially weird. Like a party trick I can identify someone who has been homeschooled after a couple of minutes of talking with them.
I've taught a variety of home-schooled kids over the years. Many of them have come in a grade level behind what their parents have claimed they're at according to our placement tests. Some have come in ahead. Having met the parents involved in both scenarios their level is absolutely related to the ability of the parents. The last two h.s. kids I dealt with were brothers and both had to be removed from school due to gross misconduct. The older brother had very good social skills while the younger one was totally inept with both students and staff.
There is more to getting an education than just learning facts. The child that goes to school with others of different social and economic levels, learns about PEOPLE. He/she learns to take turns, wait patiently in line and be polite, even when they don't like the person. He learns how to cope with a bad teacher and learn in spite of it.
But most of all, I think that the public school child learns early how to cope with boredom. That's something that is worthwhile for everyone to learn, and sadly, not everyone does.
The best solution is a public (or private) school education that is enriched at home. Too many parents expect the school to do everything.
Generally, homeschooled kids have higher ACT and SAT scores than the average public school kids. But that's due to a LOT of factors that homeschoolers refuse to talk about.
What would those be? Just curious.
I homeschooled a mildly autistic child but that's because I felt like I had no choice. The school system was severely deficient where I lived. I was nowhere near prepared to be a teacher, let along for a learning deficient child, but I had to make it work.
I'll agree with everyone else on both fronts. They benefit from the socialization, but they can also have this when they are being homeschooled. There is always the Y or Boys & Girls club and other afterschool programs you can enroll them in. My son's grades improved significantly when he went back to school, A/B honor roll.
I homeschooled a mildly autistic child but that's because I felt like I had no choice. The school system was severely deficient where I lived. I was nowhere near prepared to be a teacher, let along for a learning deficient child, but I had to make it work.
I'll agree with everyone else on both fronts. They benefit from the socialization, but they can also have this when they are being homeschooled. There is always the Y or Boys & Girls club and other afterschool programs you can enroll them in. My son's grades improved significantly when he went back to school, A/B honor roll.
I've had some ultra-religious folks be flagrantly insulting to me for having our 3 kids in public school. They pull out statistics about ACTs and SATs, Standardized Tests, etc.
It's almost inevitable that homeschooled kids score higher. But there are multiple factors involved.
First, homeschooled kids tend to come from upper-middle class two-parent homes, where mom & dad heavily invest themselves in their kids' educations. That's a great thing! But if all public-school kids were also from those kinds of homes, public school scores would rise drastically.
Second, public schools have to admit all kids in their district. In many high schools, this includes a high number of developmentally challenged kids, as well as kids with every behavioral disorder imaginable. Not only do those kids' scores bring down the average of the school, they can sometimes prove to be very distracting.
There are other factors that I'm aware of, but those are the two most obvious ones.
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I think that that whole "unschooling" movement is ridiculous and nothing but lazy home schooling.
