Introduction
Education is a vital phenomenon for every person in the modern society. It is a great need and an integral right of every human being to get education and use for the building of his or her own career and further life. However, the recent research shows that more and more people fail to get educated due to some reasons. Scholars, like Howard (2008), Karimi (2006), McVey (2007) see the main issue in the numerous drawbacks of public schooling as the institution that does not allow people from different social groups and of different income levels to study at the same level of performance (Behrens and Rosen, 2006).
Therefore, scholars stress the advantages of home school education as the alternative to the public schooling, and although the opinions are divided among those supporting home and public education, the unifying point here is that according to the research home-schooled students display higher scores and better educational performance.
Home School Education
Pros and Cons
As far as numerous scholars support home school education as the best method of educating children, especially at the younger age, it is not surprising that homeschooling displays considerable advantages (Behrens and Rosen, 2006).
First of all, homeschooling presents students with freedom in all the contexts possible “including physical, emotional, educational, and religious alternatives. Homeschooling opens up the door to a balanced lifestyle, and a limited requirement of homework” (Karimi, 2006). Children studying at home have more free time and are placed in a friendlier environment which facilitates their focus on purely educational matters instead of solving some outside issues, psychological barriers, etc. Finally, homeschooled children are more successful students:
This means home school students performed better than approximately 77% of the sample population on whom the test was normed. Nearly 80% of home school children achieve the individual scores above the national average 54.7% of 16, 000 homeschoolers achieved individual scores in the top quarter of the population, more than double the number of conventional school students who score in the top quarter (McVey, 2007).
These data show that homeschooling, if carried out properly and with the necessary attention of parents, facilitates the academic success of children and provides for their higher scores in tests.
Nevertheless, scholars see certain disadvantages in homeschooling, which is natural as no phenomenon in the world is perfect and devoid of drawbacks. First of all, Karimi (2006) stresses the financial side of the homeschooling as every individual family busy with educating its children at home has to buy textbooks, computers, and other academic matters with its own funds. If some families can afford this they are happy, but those who cannot home-educated their children have no other choice but a public school.
Time restraints are also included in the drawbacks of homeschooling: “Time restraints mostly involve the parents; if they both have full-time jobs, it is unlikely that the child will receive the necessary time and attention they’d receive as an at-home student” (Karimi, 2007). As well, limited social interaction and “overdependence on parents” (Karimi, 2007) are drawbacks of home education. However, given the positive influence of homeschooling on academic performance of students, the aforesaid drawbacks are overcome by the advantages of home school education.
Public School Education
Pros and Cons
At the same time, the conventional public schooling preserves numbers of its supporters as well. The main arguments that serve to protect the traditional institution of public schooling include the purely social character of public schools and the opportunity presented to students’ families to educate their children at lower costs than at home and with the greater degree of social interaction provided (Howard, 2008). In more detail, public schools are viewed as the social formations that allowed the overall access to education to those social groups that were earlier deprived of this access. Racial and religious minorities, the poor and the homeless were granted the access to education and the integral right to it and these were public schools that started educating the whole society (Howard, 2008).
Moreover, the costs of public school education are actually lower than of the homeschooling (McVey, 2007). Families do not have to buy books, computers and other equipment to provide their children with proper educational environment as public schools are responsible for this. Time of parents is also saved as they do not have to control the educational process of their children throughout the day and can spend more time on work, etc (McVey, 2007).
Although public schools have long history and are accepted as the necessary institutions in the human society, the recent research works and statistical data evidence the gradual and steady decline of their usefulness for educational purposes. This happens due to the number of facts that show the small role of public school in forming educated personalities who are properly prepared for the real life. Scholars stress this and recommend parents to choose homeschooling in case if such a choice stands for them. McVey (2007) for example states the fact that public schools are absolutely useless:
Facts are facts, but common sense dictates that the public schools just do not work. They keep throwing money at the problem, working on self esteem and incentives, while passing out condoms. They took our morals and replaced it with acceptance. They took out accountability and replaced it with food stamps (McVey, 2007).
These facts combined with the generally accepted tension that students have communicated with each other, and the very academic pressure from their teachers as well, allow the scholars to definitely place homeschooling above public school education in the modern society. But anyway, it is up to parents to decide what type of education will most fit their children based on their talents, skills, likes and dislikes.
Conclusions
Education is a vital phenomenon for every person in the modern society. However, the recent research shows that numerous people fail to get education, and scholars like Howard (2008), Karimi (2006), McVey (2007) explain this by the decline of public education and the need for the society to change for the home school one.
Scholars stress the advantages of home school education as the alternative to the public schooling, and although the opinions are divided among those supporting home and public education, the unifying point here is that according to the research home-schooled students display higher scores and better educational performance. I support this point of view but think that only parents can choose the right way of education for their children based on their talents, skills, likes and dislikes.
Works Cited
Behrens, Laurence, and Leonard J, Rosen. A Sequence for Academic Writing. Longman, 2006, 3rd Edition.
Howard, Kim. “Home School Versus Public or Private Education: Which is Better?” Society. 2008. Associated Content. Web.
Karimi, Sabah. “The Pros and Cons of Home Schooling.” Society. 2006. Associated Content. Web.
McVey, Brandon. “Home School VS. Public School.” Alternate Education. 2007. Education Articles. Web.