Argumentative Essay

Paula de Diego
11 (2)
25 de enero de 2015
Argumentative Essay
Some people state that public school is not efficient and that the results that come out of those schools are not at the level of most universities. As most people are obsessed with universities nowadays, they would achieve to get better results, so that they can get access to more colleges. For this reason more people start looking into studying at home, because they can open their opportunities when it's time to apply to colleges. That is why homeschooling should be considered a viable option for education, due to the fact it is as effective, than public education.
A lot of people are always complaining about their schedules and how they could do so many things if they didn't have to go to school. That is why with homeschooling they could take advantage of the educational freedom that it gives the students, because they can set their own schedules and organize themselves in a better way so that they can do more things instead of sitting around in school doing nothing. As the blog patheos.com, who is known for been the premier online destination to engage in the global dialogue about religion and spirituality and to explore and experience the world's beliefs, says "Freedom from the constricting schedule of a formal school, freedom to go at your own pace, freedom to choose what to study and when to study it, freedom to go on educational trips or randomly leave formal homework unfinished and head outside to a more experiential classroom. Freedom." This refers to the educational freedom students get when they study at home, how they can study what they want, at the pace they want and how they want to study it. This website also says that "It gives freedom to the homeschool parents—freedom to assume full control over their children's education, schedules, and social lives. The only freedom children get as a result of being homeschooled is the freedom their parents give them. [...] Some homeschool parents give their children a great deal of freedom, including the freedom to set their own daily schedules, their own academic goals, and their own social calendars. [...] Homeschooling in the hands of good parents can serve as a tool for children's liberation; homeschooling in the hands of bad parents can serve as tool for children's oppression. [...] The only individuals who are guaranteed greater freedom after the decision is made to homeschool are the homeschool parents. The homeschooled kids only get what freedom their parents decide to give them. [...] Homeschooling doesn't give kids freedom—it merely gives their parents sole control over their education, social life, and emotional development." This means that not only can the students benefit from the homeschool program, but also their parents. It says that they can help sorting out their schedules and how they manage their academic lives, along with their social calendars, in which the majority of the homeschool students have to rely on as they usually are dancers, players, actors or models. As an article in the website home-school.com written by Sam Blumenfeld, who has written eight books on education, including several that are considered homeschool classics, says "Educational freedom means getting the government out of the education business and the idea of compulsion out of education. It means parents providing for their children's education in the same way that they purchase any other service in a free society." That could be a clear definition for the meaning of educational freedom. To add to that, an article in the website school.familyeducation.com written by Isabel Shaw, who is a freelance writer who has been a homeschooling mom for some 15 years, says that "Most homeschooled students have the choice to study and learn what they want, when they want, for as long as they want. This is not to say that all the basics (and more!) aren't covered. But those basics may be covered at age six for one child, and at age ten for another, depending on ability, maturity, and interest levels." A lot of schools cover thing in second grade that they would later learn again in eight grade, this means that if a homeschooled kid learns something at the age of seven they don't necessarily have to learn it at the age of twelve.
There have been studies made that say that homeschooled students get better results than those who study in public schools. An article in the website parentingscience.com written by Gwen Dewar, who is a graduate of UC Berkeley, who received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where she was trained in anthropology, behavioral ecology, primatology, and evolutionary and comparative psychology, says that "In 1999, Eric Rudner analyzed the test scores of over 20,000 American homeschooled students and found them to be "exceptionally high—the median scores were typically in the 70th to 80th percentile"." Which gives proof that homeschooled american kids can get much better results than those who study in the public system. From the same website, they tested if the results were true and it said "Participants were recruited from a special subset of the homeschooling population--families who subscribed to a fee-based testing service. [...] Compared to their peers in the public schools, these kids were more likely to have affluent, well-educated parents." Without going anywhere, the same website says that "To find out [How these groups compare], researchers administered a 45-minute achievement test in the children's homes. The questions—which were borrowed from the popular Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement—covered seven distinct academic areas, including reading comprehension, science, and mathematics. [...] Overall, the structured homeschooling group performed much better than the public school group. And the margin was pretty dramatic. [...] In 5 of 7 test areas, (word identification, phonic decoding, science, social science, humanities) structured homeschoolers were at least one grade level ahead of public schoolers." This shows that by studying at home, the results you get can be much better than those you would get you by simply studying at a public school, where you can get easily distracted and don't manage their time wisely.
Another reason why a lot of parents choose to put their children in the homeschooling system is because both, them and their kids, have more physical freedom. They don't have to stay at school for long hours, instead they can just study for 4 or 5 hours and then do whatever you want. As an article from the website debate.org, who is the premier online community where intelligent minds from around the world come to debate online and read the opinions of others, written by Phillip & Crystal Ferreira out of a special passion for politics and debate, says "Without the strict schedule of school hours, homework and school trips, families have much more freedom to vacation at odd times, visit museums during the week and other such activities." It also gives families time to spend more moments together and have family bonding,while they can also have more time to spend with their friends. According to an article in the blog thehomeschooladventure.com, which is written by a family of five who have personal experience with homeschooling, "With your lives no longer revolving around school hours, homework, and the school calendar, your family can plan off-season vacations, visit parks and museums during the week, and live your lives according to what works for you- your OWN adventure!" Usually families that have homeschooled kids in the house are much closer and know each other more than those who study at a public school, as they spend more time in the school and doing their homework than with their families. This freedom doesn't revolve just around the students, it also involves their parents as they don't have to take them from and to school all the time. According to the website school.familyeduction.com, "After the initial shock of leaving the school system has passed, parents who homeschool say they experience a real sense of freedom. With their lives no longer revolving around school hours, homework, and the school calendar, these families plan off-season vacations, visit parks and museums during the week, and live their lives according to what works for them." That gives them time to not stress out and live their lives more relaxed.
However, homeschooling also has its disadvantages where it can affect the lives of the students. A lot of the students who are homeschooled have their reasons, which could be that they have been bullied in the past and fear that it could happen again, therefore they choose to study at their house and feel more comfortable, while not worrying about if they are going to attacked them or not. Being bullied could leave that person with a depression or worse could possibly mean that in the future they could commit suicide. This means that they could lose concentration while studying and get worse results than if they actually studied at a public school. Another disadvantage is that they have limited social interactions, because when you go to a public school you get to know more people and can have a lot of social events to attend to. Meanwhile, if you are homeschooled they don't meet new people, don't have as many friends as you would if you studied in the public system.




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