This essay will explore whether homeschooling is a better option for parents and their children compared with classroom establishment. The essay will concentrate on homeschooling as a whole including educational perceptions and family matters arising from the debate. This topic is highly fascinating especially the issues that arise from the debate like the teenage aspect of the debate.
Homeschooling was at first considered a highly abstract idea but it is now gaining prominence. In one hand, parents are tempted by the desire of choosing a curriculum that fits the needs of their children and provides an opportunity for their children to progress faster and to explore new additional subjects.
On the other hand, some parents oppose the idea since it will isolate their children from their contemporaries in elementary schools and also miss an opportunity to explore other extracurricular activities that are only practical in traditional school environment. This argument will explore both parts of the debate and advocate for the views of the opponents of homeschooling.
Solution
Those opposing the idea of homeschooling base their argument on the following factors: scale of undertaking involved, incapacity of home schooling to accommodate all the obligatory subjects, its limited communal contact. Those in support of the argument argue their facts based on relevance, high costs, and school indoctrination by government.
Discussion
Homeschooling was only reserved for those children who suffered from certain medical condition that hindered them from attending regular schooling. But in recent times several parents have opted for homeschooling since they consider it beneficial and a better alternative.
Those arguing in favor of homeschooling credit it for its individualized manner due to the one on one interaction with the teacher which enhances learning quality. This individualized learning however is costly in terms of money, time and energy in both sides of the teacher and parent thus making its execution hard, and also individualized learning can be achieved in traditional schooling based on the teacher-student ratio.
Flexibility and freedom regarding learning is also an argument in favor of homeschooling. This is particularly in the aspect of curriculum and educational needs. This argument however contradicts the fact that it is the government who has the responsibility to define school curriculum and education system. This renders homeschooling ineffective since it may not conform to government’s policy.
Modern information and communication technology has made homeschooling a reality since learning resources can be obtained online. However, bringing to fore the notion that schooling is about acquiring knowledge which is all rounded, there are other aspects of education that are not found in homeschooling for instance social life and extra curriculum activities since children tend to be isolated from their peers.
It is also argued that homeschooled children come out as academically excellent but this can not be qualified since they lack important parameters for accessing excellent performance like competition and universal examination which are missing in homeschooling.
Conclusion
Since education forms the cultural aspect of government that generates identity, the government should discourage all cases of homeschooling. The responsibility of the government is to ensure universal education for all and this universal and conventional education should be guarded to ensure that all children undergo the right system of education in order to give the country an identity.
The points forwarded by the proponents of homeschooling like flexibility, excellent performance and individualized learning should be disregarded since it is not in conformity with government’s policy on education.