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Education always remains one of the primary needs for the members of any civilized community. The freedom to choose the optimum mode of schooling from among the various ways rests in the hands of the students or their guardians in most cases. In ancient times, students received education at the residential locations of their teachers by staying there as long as the course continued. The trends of academics changed enormously and the requirements and expectations of different streams of learning invite specialized attention of students at specific regions of scholarship. With the availability of various opportunities to students for pursuing their studies standing as significant models, a debate becomes necessary to identify the better one of the models from home schooling and public schooling.
There will surely be a large number of people who support the idea of public schooling for the reason that it is the most common practice for learning known to the public. The supporters of this schooling method highlight the important features public schooling such as collective learning, improved socialization and wider public exposure along with a number of features that ensure personality development. They also claim that high school dropouts constitute a large proportion of the unemployed category of among the population. Mitra supports this claim by stating that the employers are eager to identify the high school graduates as the candidates with desirable potential to be selected for the positions in their respective organizations (10). Apart from the same thing, the general perception about education is that public schooling renders wholesome development to students along with various extracurricular activities to identify and promote their hidden talents.
Even though the list of advantages is long with public schooling, the increasing choice for home schooling seems more beneficial for many reasons. Home schooling at early ages of learning is doubtlessly more advantageous than public schooling. In this pattern, the home-bound supervision of the students’ learning process is possible with a real-time effect. This practice builds an intellectual bond between parents and children and makes the learners feel that education is exciting. Parents indicate quality personal attention as the primary benefit of home schooling which they cannot expect from the public schooling. It is also noticeable that parents can access their children at times of their interest in learning new things and let them relax whenever they feel tired. The possibility of engaging flexible tutorial hours and application customized teaching methods can be considered as the significance of home schooling. Researchers like Chapman are of the opinion that this form of schooling was basically the origin of educational training prior to the colonist era in which parents were responsible for rendering education to their children based on their choice upon particular requirements (19). Even from the historical angle, home schooling was a prominent method of training for both the rich and the middle classes. Home schooling strategy had indeed created the platform for globalised appreciation for education. In the absence of this method, the children across the world would have remained illiterate and a number of developed nations like the United States would not have made an impact. As Lines points out, the studies about home schooling show that this practice began to exist sparsely across the world and became a strong force by the end of twentieth century by when around three percent of the students of America belonged to home schooling pattern of learning (Oxford Bibliographies).
Many claim that home schooling has socializing restraints; however, this idea is just a myth. In fact home schooled children get more time to spend with their peers than those at public schools. Moreover, the character formation taking place at the developmental stages of a child can be brought under perpetual supervision in home schooling pattern. In this regard, as Galen and Pitman argue, a combination of parents and home makes a better academician to a child than a blend of teachers and school (132). Apart from a number of benefits of home schooling, the right of parent to decide the curriculum of the child with the approval of the government authorities makes it a more feasible option for many people. It should also be noticed that, “Home schooling is parent driven with the curriculum chosen, purchased, and instructed by the parent (p.12).”
Methods of transferring knowledge have been various since ancient times; however, the developed world has identified specific models like public schooling and home schooling as commonly accepted routes of learning. Across the arguments for the advantages of either schooling pattern, home schooling stands more beneficial to both parents and the students. The government approval of the legitimacy of home schooling makes it clear that it can overcome the views of critics and prove stronger than public schooling with its performance quality and the growing number of successful students in the near future.
Works Cited
Chapman, Anne and O'Donoghue, Thomas A. Home Schooling: An emerging research agenda. Education Research and Perspectives, (27. 1, 2000).
Galen, Jane Van and Pitman, Mary Anne (Eds.). Home Schooling: Political, Historical, and Pedagogical Perspectives. US: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1991. Print.
Lines, Patricia M. Homeschooling. Oxford Bibliographies. Web 29 Oct 2014. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756810/obo-9780199756810-0046.xml
Mitra, Dana. Pennsylvania’s Best Investment: The Social and Economic Benefits of Public Education. Web 29 Oct 2014. http://www.elc-pa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/BestInvestment_Full_Report_6.27.11.pdf
Moreau, Kathi. Specific differences in the educational outcomes of those students who are home schooled Vs. students in a traditional school setting. Research Paper, Michigan University, 2012. Web 29 Oct 2014. https://www.nmu.edu/education/sites/DrupalEducation/files/UserFiles/Moreau_Kathi_MP.pdf
