Public School vs. Home School

The discussion of the role of parents and teachers in a child education seems to be debated and talked about everyday if you are a teacher. I will honestly state that before the presentations I have always believed that parents played an important role in promoting and guiding a child’s education but I was against home schooling. After the presentations I can start to see some benefits to be home schooled but I also still think that for the majority of students public school environment is better.
In past articles we mentioned how in the work field society is looking for individuals that are prepared to be responsible, work well with others, and have good social skills. Like Hess stated in What is a public School? “it’s the public components of schooling to include the responsibility for teaching the principles, habits, and obligations of citizenship.” I think children can better obtain these skills in a more social setting than being alone or with only a select group of students at home. I think that children who are home schooled are going to miss the opportunity to learn these skills while growing up. I’m not speaking for all home school experiences but for the majority I have heard or seen effects from often these are major skills they are missing. When you are learning at home you do not have to be responsibility for remembering what work you have to complete, or take responsibility for having correct supplies because your parents give everything to you. Often when students are entering a public school system after being home schooled it takes them awhile to figure out how to handle things on their own, take responsibility for the education actions (like turning work in, remembering to do homework, get supplies and much more) and they often do not know how to properly socialize with their fellow peers and work in group settings. It was mentioned in the article Focus education that many people were being home schooled due “to bad experiences with teachers or school bullies to a proliferation of time-consuming outside activities to worries over peanut allergies.” I agree that we shouldn’t just ignore these issues, like bullying, but children also need to learn how to handle these issues on their own. If they are athletes they need to learn how to manage a working life with their sports. Unless you are some outstanding athlete at some point you will have to get a full time job to support you financially when still competing in sports. I mean even a lot of pro volleyball players still have to work normal jobs to obtain their lives financially but they have learned to juggle their schedule. I believe these are skills are important to learn at a young age.
Another situation that often occurs in teaching is that the school is teaching or presenting information in which the parents do not agree with. In the presentation it was mentioned that this debate is often brought up around the topic of evolution. Hess argued that teachers often do teach their own beliefs but I disagree. I think this situation can be handled in various ways, whether that is selecting a preferable setting for your child like a religious or private school, or home schooling but I believe if you really talk to the teacher, and they were teaching with the open mind and all equal approach to how a public teacher should teach, then they will teach the general facts not based on bias opinions. As a science teacher I often get confronted with this issue when we teach about evolution and global warming. One time I was confronted by a parent about whether I was teaching both sides to the global warming issue. I stated that I was a science teacher so I only gave scientific facts about the issue. I taught them about the atmosphere, pollution, greenhouse effect, and what is global warming and the statistical facts behind the concept. They then asked me whether I would put down students who would state they didn’t believe in global warming. My answer to this, and all other science topics that are controversial, is that I let the students state this and say that this was their opinion. I can’t teach opinions or beliefs but rather just facts and that I would be happy to look at any facts and statistics that they would like to bring in to support the statement. Then we often have the lesson on when stating case or point of view you need information or facts to support your ideas. I too may have my personal beliefs on global warming or even evolution but its not my job to teach this but it’s my job to teach the scientific facts. I often give the example that I can tell a kid what the color orange is and show them a shirt that is the color orange. It a known fact in art that orange is orange but if a student is to state well I don’t believe that is true to me that is blue then that is fine. He could hold that belief, there is nothing wrong to that but for my class and teaching the facts is it’s orange. I think it’s important that children get all the facts that are out there and it’s there choice to then decide what they want to believe. I think if you are to really believe in something you should be acceptable to hearing all sides of the story and then making your decision on what you decide is correct. I will never tell a child that what their parents taught them is wrong but I will tell them the facts and let them decide what they want to in the end.
The one thing I did like about home schooling is the freedom to teach what the child would like to learn. In the presentation it was mentioned how if a child should ask a question about a star you can then have a unit about stars and take them on field trips about the topic. Teaching this way you can then get the child excited about learning and further the knowledge on the topic then what can be presented in short bits at school. At the same time though a parent can still doing these things while they are getting a public education at school and support what they are learning with school with activities the family can do at home. In the end I am not as against home schooling as I was before the presentation. I do believe there are situations and sometimes settings, which home schooling would be a better setting than public school. But in the end I believe these students would be missing out on individual growing experiences in their life.