by Marsha Welch

Created on: July 08, 2008

There are benefits and disadvantages to both home schooling and public education. The first consideration in a viable comparison of these two methods of education is to determine the desired result. The unfortunate dilemma is that education means different things to different people. Communication and mathematics skills seem to be the most important basics of a practical education in the everyday living of our lives, but other courses covered in the average public school are questionable to some people.

SCENARIO #1
PUBLIC SCHOOL

I took courses in public high school from which I have never received any perceptible benefit. As a matter of fact, I might even be compelled to say that some things I learned (or was discouraged from learning) have been to my detriment. For example, I learned very early on that although Mother and Father worked diligently to teach me the proper way to speak, this difficult-to-master skill was not at all appreciated by my teacher. Sit down and shut up was the norm, if my memory serves me. That really dampened my enthusiasm for learning, as I am sure it did others.
Then, of course, came the rude awakening that I, as a chubby girl was at the bottom of the barrel when it came to friends, valentines in my little paper bag and check yes or no' notes. They were not forthcoming. Not only for the chubby girl, but also for the girl with the glasses, the boy with freckles, and the child who got the 'special' lunch ticket. Is this the socialization so many people are touting? What about the child who can't afford a class ring or prom dress? Is it really necessary to pressure an adolescent with this inconsequential minutia?
I felt that my education was a stream of nerve-wracking events, having nothing whatsoever to do with my skills and abilities outside of learning my place in the pecking order.
What did this all have to do with my future? I got a little decorative certificate stating that I was ready for the 'real' world. Only one potential employer ever asked to see any evidence of it, and they didn't hire me. My elective classes are the only ones which benefited me, as far as learning something valuable other than the communication and basic mathematics skills mentioned earlier. So if a public education was so important, to whom was it important? The factory appreciated my rule-following ability and my ability to keep my mouth shut, my head down and my hands busy making them wealthy. After they had accumulated enough wealth at my expense, they

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