There is a growing trend among American families to abhor the traditional education model where students studied in groups and general classrooms. Families with such apathy for traditional classroom model prefer homeschooling, which is a new concept in the American education system (Lubienski, Tiffany & Jameson378-392). The U.S. Department of Education postulate that there is estimated about 1.1 million school going children who would rather be educated at home as opposed to attending the traditional classrooms (Cooper, Bruce & John 110-131). Some experts who argue against homeschooling postulate it as a threat to the traditional education model; however, it is a growing concept that needs attention. This research paper shall discuss the effectiveness of homeschooling in the American education system.
Proponents of homeschooling argue that it is a concept that has been tested over time. They cite that great American personalities, and most important American Founders received their education from home, including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington (Clements 23). Despite, homeschooling, having been a tool used to educate these great Americans, the emergence of compulsory education laws slowly began to erode the possibility of entrenching home instructions. Nevertheless, coming from the 70s, homeschooling is gradually gaining ground and becoming accepted as a proper instruction method (Lubienski, Tiffany Puckett & Jameson378-392).
Those advocating for home schooling have gone ahead to institute legal actions for their children or those of their peers to forgo the traditional compulsory schooling. However, there has been instantaneous opposition, for instance, the National Education Association proposes that tougher restrictions need to be designed to control and manage homeschooling (Lips & Feinberg 42). It proposes that individuals who possess licenses from state education licensing agencies must discharge educational instructions (Clements 28). Besides, the instructors should use curriculum that the state department of education approves. Nevertheless, tightening the noose by instituting tougher homeschooling rules has failed tremendously. For this reason, homeschooling is receiving strong support in nearly all states (Cooper, Bruce & John 110-131). A nonprofit organization dubbed Home School Legal Defense Association that supports homeschooling argues that in ten states, parents using this model are not required to notify the state while in 15 other states, regulation levels are not tight, and the parent is only required to notify the state. On the contrary, about 20 states have instituted moderate regulatory procedures for homeschooling, while just six states have watertight regulations for homeschoolers (Duvall151-166). From the preceding, it is apparent that even policy makers across the nation, a majority of them support homeschooling.
For purposes of strengthening support for homeschooling, many states have established legal homeschooling rights to guide and facilitate the conduct of homeschooling. However, homeschooling is so decentralized in a manner that it makes it challenging to approximate the number of homeschoolers, outcomes and academic achievements (Lippincott 39). In fact, the challenge of determining the effectiveness of homeschooling is the fact that there are no available evidence-based studies, making distinct conclusions regarding the effectiveness of instructional methods used in homeschooling or even the outcomes concerning the general classroom. Nevertheless, some milestones can be used to compare the two models (Cooper, Bruce & John 110-131).
Regarding academic performance and achievement, available data show that homeschoolers perform fairly better than those in the traditional classroom do. According to a study conducted by the University of Maryland led by Dr. Lawrence Rudner, the study results concluded that academic performance of the 20,760-homeschool participants was exceptionally high (Lubienski, Tiffany Puckett & Jameson378-392). Most of them scored to the regions of 70-80 percentiles. While these studies may not be a conclusive demonstration of the superiority of homeschooling, they serve as a revelation to the fact that students in a less controlled environment can perform better (Duvall151-166).
According to the Journal of College Admission published by Dr. Gene Gloeckner and his colleague Dr. Paul Jones, the authors demonstrates that there is, evidence to prove that students undergoing homeschooling performed in a similar manner as those that attended traditional public schools. The Journal reports the performance of students in college preparatory exams or admission of students in colleges (Bell 30-32). Therefore, homeschoolers performed with similar scores as those students coming from the compulsory education model. In this regard, there are no statistical disparities between homeschool graduates in comparison with their counterparts. The conclusion in the journal is that homeschooling students are equally ready just like those from the compulsory model and perform well when it comes to national college assessment exams (Gold & Zielinski 90-93).
Regarding life outcomes and preparedness to face life, evidence-based research indicates that those students that attended homeschooling come out with better and positive life skills and outcomes in comparison with their counterparts in the traditional model (Duvall151-166). A survey conducted by the National Home Education Institute on students who had passed through homeschooling since their junior grades shows that homeschoolers had a higher prevalence to engage in community activities and civic processes compared to their counterparts (Suarez 54-57). Despite the fact that the study was not scientific, it lays a glimpse to the fact that homeschooling learners achieve significant life skills that translate to better life outcomes in comparison to those that attend general classroom education (Bell 39-42).
Homeschooling fosters positive family orientation, which is a unique character to its great success. Researchers in the field of homeschooling indicate that it inculcates positive family characteristics of the child, which is a fundamental principle in modeling learners for academic achievement (Weldon 12-18). In essence, parents who support homeschooling, most of them attained college education and are more likely to assist the learners in parent partnerships and shaping moral behavior (Suarez 54-57). In essence, the traditional model of learning does not ultimately inculcate family values and parent partnership is a major challenge (Lippincott 49).
Concisely, homeschooling has a fiscal impact of the parent. It saves the parent, taxpayer resources that would have been used to educate the child if children enroll in the traditional model. Usually, federal, state or local government using taxpayers’ resources fund public education (Bell 30-32). However, if a parent chooses to educate the child in home schooling, the resources that the government allocates to the child in the compulsory education can be dedicated to other uses (Cooper, Bruce & John 110-131). It is agreeable that it is a difficult pursuit to determine how much a parent saves if they do not enroll their children in compulsory education because the government using sophisticated formulae to determine how much the government allocates to each child. However, the baseline is that the parent saves a significant amount (Lubienski, Tiffany Puckett & Jameson378-392).
While homeschooling is exceedingly becoming effective, some may argue that it does harm to compulsory education. In particular, those opposed to homeschooling argue that it limits the number of students enrolling for compulsory education and in effect, the amount of money allocated by the state government to schools reduces (Cooper, Bruce & John 110-131). However, it should be notes that homeschooling eases the burden placed on compulsory education schools, especially in regions where there is high pressure on growing demographics, demand for staff and new structures. As opposed to public schools, the new concept does not push for an overt transfer of public funds (Duvall151-166). However, critics argue that homeschooling weakens the very fabric of entrenching uniform civic enterprises that is promoted by traditional schools. That traditional education is necessary in inculcating shared national values to students, which, is a prerequisite for unifying the country. Nevertheless, the potential harm created by homeschooling is insignificant (Clements 27).
Finally, parents who adopt homeschooling, ideally, dedicate energy and time to education activities that solely rested on educators. For purposes of parent involvement, and drawing from states with tight homeschooling laws, it is encouraged that parents involve themselves actively in learning what teachers teach their children at a certain age (Gold & Zielinski 90-93). As such, homeschooling offers parents the opportunity to scrutinize the materials, skills, children productive and the projects that their children are involved (Weldon 17). Evidence shows that homeschooling promotes parent involvement; in fact, most parents who were involved in homeschooling have a likelihood of seeking ideas, applicable performance standards and materials. For instance, many homeschooling inter-web pages, posts materials and ideas used for teaching specific subjects such as drama and Sciences (Suarez 54-57). As such, parents have an opportunity to discover the programs that apply for their children and can interact with other parents undergoing the same challenges (Cooper, Bruce & John 110-131).
In conclusion, there is a growing demand for homeschooling among American families. The effectiveness of homeschooling draws from the fact that learners express better academic outcomes and performance. Besides, it offers students an opportunity to learn family attributes, and it saves the parents monies that parent spends on public education. Also, it promotes parental involvement in child education and helps grow the child’s life outcomes.
Works cited
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Cooper, Bruce S., and John Sureau. "The politics of homeschooling new developments, new challenges." Educational Policy 21.1 (2007): 110-131.
Lubienski, Christopher, Tiffany Puckett, and T. Jameson Brewer. "Does homeschooling “work”? A critique of the empirical claims and agenda of advocacy organizations." Peabody Journal of Education 88.3 (2013): 378-392.
