How do you think the idea of public education as opposed to home schooling sounds?

Introduction

School becomes a dominating influence in children's lives after the age of five. Whether your children attend a public school, private school, or home school, parental involvement in children's education is critical. Making decisions about children's education is more complicated than simply deciding on the type of school they will attend. Both public education and home schooling offer advantages and disadvantages, and a lot of debate coupled with extensive research relating to efficacies of each mode is present. Ultimately, whether or not public school or home school is the right choice for the children is going to depend upon the individual needs of the youngsters. However, there are still some disadvantages of home schooling which are discussed in relationship to public schools. Among the most notable of these are differences of social settings and quality of education in public schools and education at home.

Thesis Statement

Today's children are better off if taught in schools than at home by a parent

What public schools do easily deliver and what is absent in homeschooling is an important consideration when choosing about the appropriate educational mode. Children in homeschooling have reduced (and sometimes no) opportunities to socialize with children of same age group. In public schools such opportunities are present in forms of both curricular and co-curricular activities (Hill 2000 20-31). A general problem with home schooling is the constant parent / child interaction; children view the world through their parents' eyes during the most crucial phase of development, and this would interfere with the independent thinking process. In addition to this homeschoolers generally do not have access to facilities such as laboratories, school library, sports, drama, choir and clubs common in public schools. While homeschooling might be a good choice for middle class families having good organizational setups, educational backgrounds and income level, it does not offer so much to the less privileged classes. Also, homeschoolers do pay for public school through their taxes and as such buying curriculum materials for homeschooling amounts to the waste of their taxes. It has been observed that children's lose their autonomy much in homeschooling than in public schools. Among children participating in public schooling, children with controlling parents generally show relatively poorer motivational, developmental, and academic outcomes (Y Cai 2002 375-6). That is, children benefit when adults support their autonomy. However, home schooling is preferred to public education for various significant reasons such as to strengthen the bond within the family, allowing for fair education and to encourage religious and moral values (Bauman, K. J. 2002 10-12).

With a decrease in the perception of the educational quality of public schools in America, many parents are coming to the belief that home education can offer their children a better education and lead to better opportunities in later life. This view is further supported by some scholars and education experts (Martin 1997 No. 2). This is backed by some isolated researches showing that Home schooled ...