Home Schooling Is the Best Bet for a Quality Education
School System Is Too Standardized
Anyone who takes an objective look the state of American public education today will agree it’s hindering the future of our country. School systems are faltering, focusing more on standardized testing than educating our youth. Teachers, for the sake of keeping their jobs, “teach to the test” – and students graduate with a half-baked understanding of the world, sub-par skills, and an incomplete education. Aside from academics, the public school is no place to learn. It has become more like a prison – where violence, crime, and attention-seeking behaviors are too prevalent. But this is the worst possible recipe for a classroom. There is always the option of homeschooling one’s children, which is an ideal way for our youth to obtain a quality education.
To begin with, homeschooling is an ideal way to obtain a quality education, especially if the teacher has an extensive education. Any parent or home-schooling teacher should have at least a Master’s degree in Education, along with several years of teaching experience; however, a Ph.D. is best – a true expert with in-depth research, a thorough understanding of, and an insightful perspective on, homeschooling. This way, they will objectively teach the home-schooled students, in turn providing them a strong academic and intellectual foundation. This is much better than the everyday teacher who most of the time just has a Bachelor’s degree; rarely in the public education setting would any student, grades Kindergarten through the 12th grade, get educated by such an expert in the field. Also, homeschooling is an ideal way to obtain a quality education if the parent brings in expert consultants and tutors to teach the children a wide array of topics.
A Quality Education Is about Being a Well-Rounded Student
There is more to the picture than just time in the classroom – even in the home classroom. In order for a home-schooled student to obtain a quality education, they must also be encouraged, maybe even forced, to attend lectures, seminars, and museums from quite a young age, maybe even 10 or 11 years old. A quality education is about being a well-rounded student who is exposed to different areas of thought from various individuals. These extra-curricular activities are perfect for this.
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Too often in public education, students are held to a rigid course structure, where they learn information on a superficial level. This is detrimental to the student’s education because they are not learning; rather they are remembering information for the “test.” Homeschooling offers a student a quality education if they get to broaden their intellectual horizons by learning from experts who offer their findings to people. This way, they learn more than just what is on the test – they learn information that will remain with them the rest of their lives.
Home-Schooled Children Should not Be Cut off from the Rest of the World
Homeschooling is an ideal way to obtain a quality education if the student is not cut off from the rest of the world, including other children their age. A home-schooled student may already be seen, and conditioned to be, a sort of outcast; usually, these kinds of students are less social in the company of other children their age, so they must learn to assimilate in the company of others. Any student can stay at home and be a brainiac, a straight-A student who knows everything. But then they get into the real world and choke, unable to be around others with contrasting experiences, beliefs, and education. To fix this, home-schooled students should be encouraged to be social – even with non-home-schooled students. This will broaden their idea of the world, and from this, they will be well-rounded, well-educated individuals.
In conclusion, there are of course many naysayers who feel a home-schooled education is the worst possible thing for a children: they say it isolates them; they get an incomplete, subjective, limited, sub-par education – one that will ultimately, in their lives and professional careers, hinder them from success, happiness, and fulfillment. But this argument is quite weak, and it generalizes all home-schooled educational endeavors. For whatever the reason for homeschooling one’s children, it can work to the children’s advantage in obtaining a high-quality education if it is done right and thoroughly and responsibly. A home-schooled education like this, with the aforementioned characteristics, would certainly change all the stigmas attached to homeschooling. This is, of course, is the perfect scenario, and unfortunately may not be the case with most home-schooled students.