Local Council and the Lack of Primary Schools Essay

Dear Sirs,

The problem of the lack of primary schools in the area has recently become a point of wide discussion. Students have problems with getting to school and have to get up much earlier in order not to be late for the classes. This issue raises some problems with children’s inability to get to school, their becoming unsociable, and their parents’ subjecting them to homeschooling being the most critical ones.

First of all, children who live far from school have to take a school bus to get to school. This often causes resent among the parents for some children who have been enrolled in primary schools are no more than five years old. Most parents do not allow children of this age to even walk the streets by themselves, let alone sending them to school on a bus. Parents usually try to make sure that their children boarded the bus when they send them to school, but not all of them have a possibility to pick them up after the classes. Older children usually get to the bus station by themselves; this sometimes may result in their “missing the bus and having to get to school some other way,” (Katz & Chard, 2000, p. 70) which is rather dangerous. This is not the only problem caused by the lack of primary schools in the area.

Another problem is that children who live far from school often become unsociable. They are deprived of almost all the possibilities which other students have. They cannot go home on a luncheon break because they will not be able to come back in time. In addition, they rarely take part in extracurricular activities which usually take place after the classes. If they stay at school after the classes, they may miss the last bus and they have no time for going home and then returning to school for extracurricular activities later. Children who live far from school suffer from a lack of communication with their classmates or, as it is often called, “socializing during leisure time” (Dennis, 2004, p. 33). This may result in the child’s isolation from the rest of the class and, with time, his/her isolation even from the society, because “lack of communication may inhibit social play and lead to isolation from others” (Friedman, 1998, p. 416). Thus, the insufficient number of primary schools is not only a matter of parents’ fear for their children, but a matter of social development as well.

Finally, lack of primary schools in the area more and more often leads to the parents’ refusing to send their children to school and giving preference to homeschooling. Those parents who are too much concerned with their children’s safety choose homeschooling as an alternative method of giving education to their kids. The number of students who are taught at school keeps increasing since 1999. The survey conducted by the National Household Education Surveys Program in 2003 has revealed that “the number of students being homeschooled in the United States in the spring of 2003 was 1,096,000, a figure which represents a 29 percent increase from the estimated 850,000 students who were being homeschooled in the spring of 1999” (Lawrence, 2007, p. 2). Perhaps, the fact that there are not enough primary schools in the area cannot be regarded as a reason for such an increase, but there is no doubt that at least several percent of these students are being homeschooled because their schools are too far from their home. Of course, homeschooling has certain advantages and even may result in better academic performance, but it is not fair to deprive a child of socializing with peers only because there is no primary school in the neighborhood.

Therefore, lack of primary schools in the area causes discomfort for children and their parents. Young students risk missing the bus and being late for classes, they do not take part in extracurricular activities or communicate with their peers often, and some of them have to study at home because of the parents’ unwillingness to let them visit the school which is far from home. The number of primary schools in the area can and should be increased for only then such children will be able to receive appropriate education and socialize with their peers.

Reference List

1. Dennis, J.G. (2004). Homeschooling High School: Planning Ahead for College Admission. Seattle: YWAM Publishing.
2. Friedman, H.S. (1998). The Encyclopedia of Mental Health. New York: Academic Press.
3. Katz, L. & Chard, C. (2000). Engaging children’s minds: the project approach. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group.
4. Lawrence, F.M. (2007). Home Schooling: Status and Bibliography. New York: Nova Publishers.