Proper education is the basis of success for most of the great men and women who can earn a good life. Any decent parent will stretch to their limits to ensure that their children get the best education that they can or that their means can allow. In the United States and other developed countries, the incidences of parents preferring to get a teacher who will school their children at home are on the rise (Bauman 1-26). Several factors such as security reasons, political and economic class and other factors influence parents into the decision to either educate their children at home or take them to schools. The question on the non-formal education that students acquire in schools is one of the factors that has been used by critiques of homeschooling. The attention given to the students schooled at home counts as one of the benefits of shunning traditional schools and having children taught at home. Educating students at home has adverse consequences to the child development mentally, physically, spiritually and socially, with these being the main factors that define a human being.
One of the primary challenges of schooling students at home is the lack of competition hence denying the learner the chance to hone their resilience and develop a competitive edge. For success in life, whether in business, politics or the forces, the essential factor that keeps one going is the ability to sustain pressure by developing a competitive edge. In traditional schools, learners are presented with the chance to compete since their early ages, growing in such an environment helping the student to develop the right mental attitude to compete. Bauman notes that one of the challenges of having a child schooled at home is that they lack the competitive mentality as they are mostly under the guidance and protection of their parents (5).
One of the significant positive impacts of traditional schooling is socializing and learning to appreciate new cultures that are different from the ones practiced in one’s home. In traditional schools, students come from varied backgrounds and the learners are afforded the chance to interact with each other and learn to appreciate each culture (Maybin 58-59). This is not the case with homeschooling where the teacher is the only outside person that the child spends time. Learners in traditional schools are also presented with the unique chance of making new friends from diversified quotas of the population, unlike the home schooling. With raising children in the environment provided by the traditional schools unlike the home where the child spends its life most of the time, it sees the chance in scenery hence psychologically associating school with learning.
Considering that no human being can exist in a vacuum, teamwork is an essential factor in life as often in life, forming teams is the best solution to overcome daily hurdles. In traditional schools, operating as a group is emphasized through reading groups, assignment group, groups for sporting activities and even sometimes forming groups to perform tasks. In these teams, the learners do not only learn the efficiency and speed of working as a group but also the role of teamwork in life is highlighted (Bauman 6). Considering that in home education one is exposed to his or her teacher, family and a small group of friends make it hard for learners in this system of learning. Lack of similar activities in family members due to age differences and difference in priorities make it hard to make groups in families that would help strengthen the child’s perspective of group loyalty, dedication, and trust, all essential in ensuring the learner becomes a good team player.
One of the efficient modes of learning for human beings is imitating other people and hence taking their behaviors. In institutes of learning where students from different backgrounds meet for academic purposes pose a favorable environment for students to learn from each other (Maybin 58-59). This is essential in the development of ideologies such as religion and followership to a certain professional basketball team. There are a lot of traits that are learned in public schools that would have proved hard if the student was set to only learn at the home.
Despite the different merits of traditional schooling, there are still demerits for this mode of learning which inform the decision by various people to have their students educated at home. One of the merits is the ability to control who the student is associating with, as traditional schools present the biggest chance for children to be negatively influenced by the other students. Another reason why one may opt to hire a teacher to teach his/her at home is the security of one’s children, mostly based on the social status of the parents such as the children of the president of United States (Blok 42). When the children are schooled at home, it becomes easy to protect them as there are fewer people able to access the homes, unlike traditional schools where students are open to associate with other students from all walks of life. Cases of radicalization in traditional schools are often due to the exposure of students to people with sinister motives in their classes.
In conclusion, traditional schools allow better growth of students physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially, and hence presenting them with the chance to become better people. Unlike the homeschooling practice where children’s performance is stressed, and integration with other children is strained, traditional schools offer learners the chance to integrate with people and become better team members. The presence of competition in traditional school helps the students develop a positive attitude towards competition and also the grit to be able to fight positively to be the best. Traditional schools are rich in cultures hence presenting the learners with the chance to understand others and become better. Mostly, it does not mean that traditional schools are so far behind homeschooling in terms of performance and incorporating the two would work well to create healthy learned and competitive citizens.
Works cited
Bauman, Kurt J. "Home Schooling in the United States". Education policy analysis archives 10.0 (2002): 1-26. Web.
Blok, Henk. "Performance in Home Schooling: An Argument against Compulsory Schooling in the Netherlands". International Review of Education 50.1 (2004): 39-52. Web.
Maybin, Janet. "Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional Schooling". Literacy 40.1 (2006): 58-59. Web.
