Each year more than a million children are homeschooled in the United States, and that number is steadily growing. While some parents believe homeschooling is an ideal situation, others fear that a student's education can be severely hindered in such an environment. When making a decision about your child's education, which is the more reasonable school of thought?
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The notion that the public schools are providing students with a quality education is so laughable, I have a hard time believing that the author intended us to take her objection seriously. To say that public schools are failing students on a massive scale is hardly controversial. It is a national crisis.
I understand that many families simply cannot afford for one parent to stay home. The question "Should you homeschool?" is poorly worded to make a positive response sound like everyone ought to be homeschooling their kids. That is not the case. There are other options besides homeschooling for ensuring that your child gets a good education. No parent, though, should be blaisé about sending his child aboard the sinking ship of public school education, where accountability is measured by nothing more than the grades on a standardized test, and yet is still out of the reach of a large percentage of the public schools. Parents who do not have the good fortune to be able to educate their children must be vigilant about making sure that they are doing well in the public schools. In the final analysis, the responsibility is the parents'.
- Ardsgaine
September 17, 2008 7:12PM
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Very well stated. The responsibility should and is the parents whether they choose public, private, tutor or homeschool. Or a combination of these or some other path.
As for the 'one parent stays home' well, even that is not correct anymore. Both my spouse and I work full-time and we know many other homeschoolers in this same situation. It can be done. Not ALL jobs require a standard 9-5 schedule.
- Laughing at you September 18, 2008 7:41AM
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That's excellent that you guys have worked out a way to homeschool while both working.
Incidentally, there is a problem with the poll. I did not answer 'no' to the question "Should you homeschool;" I answered 'no' to the question "Are homeschooled students at a disadvantage." Opposing Views needs to straighten out their poll results.
- Ardsgaine September 27, 2008 1:28PM
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All Students Deserve to Have a Quality Education
- From California Federation of Teachers
By California Federation of Teachers - AFL-CIO
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All Students Deserve to Have a Quality Education
A "Quality Education" is subjective. The state or government has decided what this "quality" is. Is the government right? Do they know anything about children or child development? The politicians have voted as to what a child should know by what grade level. Should children all be treated like carbon copies of each other? This one-size fits all educational model is good for programming robots, but not children.
- karribest
September 15, 2008 11:19AM
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That's the point!
The entire point of public education is to provide drone-like workers. I thought everyone knew that. :)
Surprisingly, I do not favor the voucher system; but everyone should home school.
However, yes... the government has people who do know more than a little about children and child development. To say otherwise is just as ......well, just as uncool as saying all children are the same.
Also, I noticed you're on the NO side. But the question asks "Should You Homeschool?" which means you should have answered "Yes". There's another question that's like that, but I can't remember which one now.
- SocialistBetty
December 24, 2008 11:26PM
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One size does not fit all
As with all major decisions, there are numerous factors to be considered. I don't feel there is one specific answer to this question for everyone. Regarding home schooling, I think some of the factors to be considered are: capability of parents to teach, quality of teachers in local schools, quality of curiculum in local schools, any special needs of a particular student, inter-action with other students, social and sports activities, etc. etc.
Most likely in certain instances it would be better for the child to be schooled at home. In other instances, public or private schools should be chosen. Fortunately in this country, parents have the choice.
- mellis
September 15, 2008 2:49PM
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Questioning "Quality" and "Standard"
My daughter has a very high quality education, she is not lacking in any area. We are lucky that my husband and I have strengths in different areas thus providing her a much better education than she could obtain at school.
Public schools, in my opinion only teach to the tests. It's not the fault of the teacher's, but the fault of those at the administrative level in State and Federal Government. I do not fault the teacher's for the despair of our educational system, they are asked to perform miracles.
I disagree that schools provide a standard quality education. My twelve year old daughter's cousin, who is a year older, can barely read, and even now, does not know how to multiply. This is a child who is in 7th grade in public school. A friend of my daughter's can not spell even the most basic words, words that should have been taught back in elementary school. These two examples are not unusual, they're the norm.
My husband teaches at the collegiate level and colleges all over the country are trying to figure out how to deal with all of the unprepared high school graduates entering college. MANY of these students can't handle a college class and have to spend a few semesters in remedial classes, just to get to caught up on what they should have learned in high school. Not only that, these 18, 19, 20 year olds aren't mentally equipped to handle college either. They don't know how to handle the independence, and many struggle and expect to be led every step of the way.
Most homeschoolers I've met not only can work independently, they can think outside the box better than most adults! Most homeschoolers, have a better understanding of how the world works and why it works the way it works...which is a MUCH better skill than what is taught in public schools - rote memorization.
Homeschoolers get the highest quality education regardless of how they are taught...you can't beat the teacher student ratio at home!
- kashicaat
September 15, 2008 7:12PM
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Where are the parents?
I'm sorry, but I don't know a single 12 year old who can't read. I volunteer at my friend's child's school. There's not a kid in that school who can't read who is mentally able to do so. I think you're either exaggerating, or you know some really dumb kids.
I'm just wondering where you think the parent's responsibility in this is. Apparently, you favor homeschooling.... what has your brother (or sister) been failing to do that his (or her) daughter can barely read and hasn't learned her multiplication tables? If your niece's parents could do such a good job homeschooling you wouldn't see your niece failing to make the grade.
Schooling, to a large degree and no matter where the child is enrolled - public, private, whatever - begins and ends at home. It is the parents responsibility to know how their child is progressing and to take appropriate measures. It is the parents who should be educating their children from the time their children are born. This responsibility doesn't end because the kids are school aged.
I see an alarming trend of parents seeing school as a baby-sitter. That's where it starts and it only gets worse. If parents truly cared about their child's education, they wouldn't leave it to the schools and the schools alone.
- SocialistBetty
December 24, 2008 11:36PM
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Good Question
I'm very happy you don't know any 12 year old kids who can't read - neither do I. I said I know kids who can BARELY read, and yes, there is a distinct difference. But there are twelve year olds who can't read. Their are adults who can't read - if I was exaggerating why are there adult literacy programs?? They're there because many of the above mentioned kids fall through the cracks and never learn to read - they can't read basic job applications, they just don't know what words mean. There is no reason for me to exaggerate and yes, I do know some very unfortunate kids who are very deficient in their skill set. Some of my close friends are teachers and I sympathize with what they deal with on a daily basis.
I homeschool so I feel very strongly that parents should shoulder their share of responsibility for the education of their own children. My brother -in - law had very little involvement and the ex-wife had even less. It's a sad situation but it's not a unique situation. There's very little involvement with some parents in any school - rich or poor.
Yes,education begins at home but at the same time, schools should not pass kids from grade to grade who have not yet mastered the skills of that grade. It happens - all the time! My husband sees it in many of his math classes. He sees it in the emails from students - from students who are so inept at basic spelling skills that he can't even understand what they are trying to ask. At some point, schools are not doing their job, just as the parents are not doing their jobs.
- kashicaat
December 25, 2008 11:33PM
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All students DO deserve a quality education
Time and again, it is proven that there is no formula for providing a quality education. Public (or private) traditional education has become the norm and default that our society follows. So people tend to assume there are no other options. Homeschoolers GET a quality education outside of the traditional schools. They get one on one attention, they get exposure to much more than traditionally schooled kids, when they are failing, it is noticed immediately and they are helped not placated. There are some odd occasions when a homeschooler is neglected and ends up with a less than adequate education, but proportionally there are many, many more people with a public education who end up with a less than adequate education. So the merits of this argument are simply baseless.
- charlene September 16, 2008 10:01AM
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Where is your evidence?
"Home schooling often fails to meet at least some and sometimes all of these criteria."
There is no evidence to support this statement.
- crunchymom September 18, 2008 4:36AM
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The Only Way to a Quality Education is Outside of Public Schools
The government monopoly on the education system has turned it into an unmitigated disaster. The government has been aided and abetted by teachers who believe their job is not to educate but to indoctrinate children, and turn them in to activists for "social justice". Children are not educated anymore, they are brainwashed. After "graduating" they are barely able to read, write and most are unable to think. Even a child with a mediocre home schooled education is better than what passes for education in the state schools. Unfortunately it's not just the state schools, private schools are pretty bad too, but as least they're not the cesspool of gang and drug culture that a lot of state schools are.
My wife is a teacher and there is no way our child will be going to a public school, if we can't find a half-decent charter school or affordable private school, homeschooling will be our only option.
- Nigel
September 29, 2008 1:38PM
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What are you saying about your wife?
.....Are you going to say your wife is the exception and not the norm?
I don't know where you people are, but I went to public schools. I remember every single one of my teachers. Only my third grade teacher was horrible. Mrs. Krupoff, where ever you are, you were downright mean and should never have been allowed near children, much less a teacher. You made me feel insignificant and unloved. Mrs. Hoch, Mrs. Heacox, Mrs. Hook, Mr. Jescarz, Mr. Bjorkquist, Mr. Walker, Ms. Levendowski, Mr. Cedarholm, Mrs. Moore, Mr. Ireland, Mrs. Swanson (formerly Miss Toby), Mr. Cupp, Mr. Homan, Mr. Stickney, Ditto Dave, Mr. Goff, Mr. Brown... the list gets long.
These teachers were wonderful. Every teacher I had with the noted exception of third grade and my 11th grade English teacher who sat on the desk and talked about football and gossiped about students (who is now an administrator in the U.P.) was thorough, and most accommodated my absolute refusal to do the homework provided I kept my test schools high. I was even allowed to pass biology II on the basis of my final exams (A-). They were dedicated. They were normal teachers.
But the most important teachers were my parents. This should be the norm. It was my parents who worked on my times tables with me. It was my parents who learned morse code along with my brothers and I. It was my parents who read with me and to me. It was my parents who taught me shapes and colors. My parents who taught me my alphabet. My parents that taught me how to write. It was my parents who explained homework. If kids are failing, I think it's the parents who are failing. Schools aren't to blame for a child who can't read at age 12... the parents are. Hands down, it's their primary job and instead of performing it, they're handing it off without a second glance to schools - which they look to as a babysitter.
Parents are the primary educators with or without being called a home school. If children are failing so miserably, I don't really think the majority of the blame can be placed on schools. That's all I'm saying.
- SocialistBetty
December 25, 2008 12:14AM
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Responsibility
In Ohio, I went to private schools until third grade, then I went to public schools too. Most of my teachers were good at teaching, but all the curricula were substandard. I was reading comfortably at a 5th-grade level at the beginning of kindergarten, but was placed at that time simultaneously in letter-recognition class, phonics class, and 2nd-grade reading class. My math class was 1st-grade-level but was also too easy. I was drilled in math facts only half-heartedly, and never made to complete addition and times tables. I was taught about 2 years worth of grammar stretched over 6 years, and then grammar instruction ceased. I was made to retake 4th-grade reading when the school I transferred to wouldn’t accept my perfect grades in the course. From nursery school through a BA, I was never taught the slightest bit of logic, rhetoric, elocution, or history of any place outside the U.S. I was never made to read a single sentence of classic literature until I got to “college-prep” high-school classes where we read about one classic per year, a few stories and poems, and a lot of junk.
Public and most private schools are worse now, deplorably so. For instance, the public school here has no gifted program before 4th grade, and no grade acceleration. Here (still Ohio), gifted students are USED much of the school-day as tutors for the illiterate socially promoted, instead of working on academics full time. High school was once exclusively academic and college preparatory, now vocationalism permeates the curriculum. When my grandpa was young (in North Dakota), without having had nursery school or kindergarten, he could read and do addition and subtraction, so he was allowed to skip 1st and 2nd grades, then, because he was smart enough, he was allowed to skip 3 more grades throughout school. This was back when everyone learned Latin, higher arithmetic without calculators, and advanced grammar, before being allowed into high school. Read The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America for a thorough history of the horrible state of our school system.
You say, “Schools aren't to blame for a child who can't read at age 12... the parents are,” and parents are responsible for their children, not the government. But, is it the school’s job or not to teach a child to read, and the rest of the academic components of education? If the parents entrust this duty to the school, believing the school worthy enough, then it is the school’s job to do it with the greatest quality and efficiency, just the same as if the parent hired anyone else to do something for them. If it is not the school’s job, for instance, if the school is not worthy enough, then it is immoral for parents to let their children waste their intellectual potentials there.
- GretaHoostal
March 12, 2009 9:09PM
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I just flat out don't believe you.
Sorry... I don't believe half of that story.
- SocialistBetty
March 16, 2009 3:30AM
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"Quality" and "Public Education" Rarely Go Hand in Hand
Let me preface this with the fact that for half of my life (my elementary school years), I was homeschooled. Throughout other years, I attended private schools and public schools. I am saying this so those reading my comment will know I have had a wide variety of personal experiences, and so I feel I am perhaps more qualified to comment on where I personally received the best education.
For me, public and private education were much the same. Both were highly political (and politically correct), catered to the learning level of the poorest-performing students, and provided stressful and uncreative environments. Homeschooling with my mother had its problems, too. If I had an argument with my teacher, it didn't leave once school was over. During the time I was homeschooled, the 90s, there was not much in the way of good support groups; the Internet has made this problem disappear for today's homeschoolers, however. Those were really the biggest problems I experienced. I was taught by my mother, a person who does not have a college degree, but is certainly just as smart as many who do.
I learned faster and better so much so in homeschooling that by the time I entered public education in fifth grade, I was about three years ahead of my peers; I was given the chance to skip a grade as well, but I didn't take it. I literally did not even have to try; I made A's without thinking. It was as if I went on a very long summer vacation. Top that with the fact that I was actually attending quite a good public school with some nice teachers, and one can see what "quality" usually means in mainstream, standardized education.
Students do indeed deserve to have a quality education, but I am highly skeptical as to whether this can consistently come from a government-regulated curriculum and teaching body. After all, the government isn't exactly excellent at managing much of anything, which is evident from recent events. The few good teachers I did have in public education were those who bucked the system and often, because of that, were fired, admonished or ostracized for their creativity. (Perhaps this happened because it made all the other teachers look lazy.)
Also, bringing up standards is a very bad idea for anti-homeschooling groups, when, in fact, homeschooled children have to take the same exact state and federally-mandated standardized tests as all other school-aged children. We also happen to be just as good, if not better, at them! See https://hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp for documented evidence of this. A quick search about test results and homeschooling will consistently show anyone with doubts that homeschooled children are just as well adjusted as those going down the path more oft traveled.
One-on-one teaching encouraged and nurtured my dreams. While I did have a few very good teachers in the public school system, they were the exception, not the norm. (By and large, I had horrible, oftentimes vindictive teachers who clearly abhorred their job.) What was important in both homeschooling and public education, when it was good, was that I had someone who took notice of my learning in particular, not just what "the group" was achieving, not just what point grades I was getting, but what I was actually feeling, learning and growing into.
I don't know if any significant correlation can be made, but at 19 I packed and moved out not only from my parent's house, but also from the country (from the U.S. to Australia), for a three-year journey of my choosing. I've made some stupid mistakes, but overall, I've done very well. I attribute a lot of that to being taught how to be independent and savvy at an early age. Most of the people I went to public high school with still can't decide what degree they want to go into; when I talk to some of them online now, they are completely and utterly lost.
They are young, and it's not the end of the world, but I personally think that's only happening because they were so brainwashed and standardized that they never actually got a chance to "find themselves." They're struggling, because out of all the standardized tests, pointless hoops that they jumped through, and mediocre teachers, they were never given the real opportunity to develop personally and have their learning be more about them, rather than what the "groupthinking" government and teachers' unions want.
I hope to become an educator in the future, perhaps even in the greatly-dreaded public education sector, but I will certainly be bucking and questioning the system for my students' sake and for my own sanity. I also plan to homeschool my children when they are young, if possible. I want them to have a quality education and be able to grow within themselves. I don't think that is as consistently found in what is considered the norm for education. I know it isn't.
- leliathomas
December 11, 2008 10:49AM
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Psychological evidence...
There has been massive amounts of psychological research published that suggest that children are more likely to retain information from their parents/guardian that they care about than they are from a third party in an institution. Psychologists speculate that because the information received from a loving parent is tied to certain positive neurological impulses in the brain it tends to be well remembered.
People associate feelings with pretty much everything else they do whether they realize it or not. For instance, I have always loved languages - until I learned Pashto. All my Pashto teachers were from Afghanistan and blatantly sexist both in their remarks in the classroom and in their grading styles. I learned to hate Pashto. To this day, I can't stand the language - and I love learning new languages.
Children associate feelings even more so than adults to the environment which they are in. A child who is stuck in math class with a belligerent teacher is likely to associate their contempt for their teacher to math. I'm not saying your child will develop a hatred of learning if he/she goes to public school. I'm not saying that everyone who home schools their children have their child's best interest at heart. But to insinuate that home schooled children lack a chance at a quality education because theirs is not a standardized classroom is in opposition to what the research shows.
If you want statistical evidence, here's a link:
http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp
If you are short on time, I would at least read the conclusion at the bottom of the page.
- Livvy
December 31, 2008 3:30AM
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The only way to stop the drone making is to rob it of victims
This sentiment comes from the book, DUMBING US DOWN by John Taylor Gatto, and it pretty much sums up my feelings as well. It is my very educated opinion that any parent that puts their children in what is known as todays public school system either hates their children or doesnt care if they are victimized.
Another good book is, Character Under Attack by Carl Sommers, another teacher who informs us of what we already know deep down inside, that you can beat your head against a wall all day long but you will not change a corrupt system. While I do agree with him I have seen some changes but too little too late ie read about Cody Enterprise enewspaper on sex ed vote on removing outside venders from teaching sex ed. It took only two and half years but with over 500 parent and student signatures and a task force to evalutate the local family planning office teaching students about sex-ed to come up with the conclusion that hey we just might be undermining any possiblity of teaching them virtues when we have the culprit teach the class and therefore we now have teachers doing the job they should have been doing all along. But as wonderful as this is, its too much to do with a situation as corrupted as we are currently experiencing in public schools today.
I have been home schooling now for over a year and I wouldnt ever go back, not even under threat of jail, my child is more important to me than life itself and family is not worth risking anymore. This is what it was like before schools were ever invented when parents did teaching because its been a great experience for me and my family. Look around if it not violence on the campuses, its students harassing students, if its not that its poor academics and test scores, if not that its poorly maintained buses ie Yuba City High School bus accident of 1976, if not that its pregancies and pornographic images of homosexual fisting in schools, or raping of 13 yo boys with hockey sticks, or teachers seducing students, or professors selling their sons for sex, I could go on and on...When will the parents smarten up and show love and respect to their kids and take them out of hell aka public schools today.
- Hope7
July 1, 2009 7:12PM
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