by Lucius Trae

Created on: August 30, 2010   Last Updated: April 23, 2012

People are often misinformed about the differences between home schooling and public schooling. In both cases, a specific technique is considered to be inferior "in general." So no matter how it's done, home schooling causes children to be poorly developed socially. This is false, but it's believed by many people. Similarly, some people believe a public school system can't adequately educate children. This might be true in some situations, but it isn't always true.

When debating homeschooling and public schooling, people generalize. The reality is that the benefits a child receives from a specific system will vary depending on how that system is run. A poorly funded public system will probably have a negative impact on a child's ability to succeed in a competitive world. Similarly, a parent who chooses to homeschool may not take their child's education seriously. This might seem counter-intuitive, but it can occur. Many people are not properly qualified to be teaching their child about certain subjects. It may be due to a lack of ability or background in that area (or a variety of other reasons). Furthermore, homeschooling can be a means for some families to keep children home to work on the farm. Others want to preserve religious values first and foremost. These things aren't necessarily bad, but a child is legally entitled to a certain quality of education. They don't always get it from home or school.

If we generalize the statistics on homeschooling and public schooling, it will provide some information that some believe allows conclusions to be drawn; others disagree. Contrary to what might be suspected, homeschooled children appear to be equally or more socially adept than those children raised in a public school. Furthermore, they have been shown to report high self-esteem, on average, and perform better academically on standardized tests (parents aren't administrating these). That seems to suggest that in many cases, a homeschooling experience is better.

But what about private schools? Well, they still appear to, on average, score lower than home schoolers. They still appear to do better in testing than public schools. However, the lack of research on this matter can make drawing a conclusion rather rash. Religious schools don't always poorly educate their students. Nonetheless, students attending a private, religious school will be tasked with duties outside the standard academic realm. Time that might have been spent on mathematics in spent on biblical

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>