Hey i am starting a reaserch paper. it is about the differences of public school system and homeschooling, each different but equal in value. as of now this is a rough draft, ( very rough) and i am looking for any feedback. thanks!
Turn- of- the- century Americans are posed with difficult questions about their child?s education: location, teachers, material, etc. Public school used to be adequate educational environments, but as American?s has progressed, so have our ideas about educational systems. Through the years they has been slowly changing. Many parents today are deciding to home school their children. Now families are conflicted between the two school environments; they ask, should my child go to school in the closely reigned, family environment of home schooling, or should my child go to school in a larger public school system with more interaction and variety of classes?? Although most people think that one system is better than another, most statistics and facts tend to show that home schooling and public schools systems are each beneficial in a unique way.
Simply stated public school systems are educational organization, funded with tax and administered by the government. They offer the basic classes - math, English, history, and science - as well as offering a wider variety of classes such as cooking, engineering, AP courses, and sport academies. The population of students is often times a higher number, enhancing the diversity on a campus. The benefits of the busing system and libraries public schools provide even have an impact on the housing market and how our neighborhoods are shaped. ?Piedmont Calif.?is known for its top-rated schools?.homes in Piedmont run at least $100 K more than Oakland home of the same size and quality located directly across the street?(great schools). Often times more than not, higher ranking schools increase the price on surrounding neighborhoods and as well as bring a population of people eager to utilize the possibilities of growth a public school offers. As immigration rates are increasing all across America, the dire need for bilingual teachers and more language classes persists. ?The Census Bureau projects that by the year 2100, the U.S. minority population will become the majority with non-Hispanic whites making up only 40% of the U.S. population? (Census Berea). The Public school system is required by law, to accept any student, even one with language barriers.
Conversely, many parents are coming to find home schooling an equal substitute for the public school system. Although the teachers are more limited and student population condensed, parents approve on the one-on?one attention home schooling provides. In a home school environment teachers and students have the power to study what classes they need for any length of time as well as monitor what exactly their children are taking in. ?Concern about the school's environment, dissatisfaction with the school's academic instruction, religious or moral reasons, child has a physical or mental health problem, child has other special needs, and to develop character/morality? (NCES). Due to the growth of home schooling some schools will also allow students to enroll part time; students can study core subjects at home, and then enroll in elective classes at a nearby public, private or charter school. Almost every state has home school support groups where parents can go for ideas and resources; some even structure field trips and activities. Today home schoolings offer social interaction, longer study time, and more flexibility in a home.
Consequently, some Americans believe that the science curriculum in public school systems have replaced The United States of America?s values and biblical morality with humanism.. The U.S. Supreme Court banned God and Prayer in public school in 1962. ?Beginning in 1962, SAT scores plummeted. Teen pregnancies, teen sexual diseases, teen suicides, teen alcohol, drug abuse, pornography, and illiteracy rates abruptly increased 200 to 300 percent? (Klicka 48). It is also believed that there is a higher use of drugs and alcohol in the public school system. ?Over 80 percent of public high school students drink alcohol and 45.7 percent have used marijuana? (Gabriele).
On the contrary, by not preaching one religious view to a large school system of various ethnicities, the public school systems are establishing an environment where all students can feel relief of religious pressure. Schools do in fact have no power of prayer; it is a right of free speech. A child can pray on the bus, in the halls, and even at a flag pole if it chooses too. Some schools are even adopting extracurricular bible classes and religiously driven sport groups. Also a great concern to educators is the effect of drugs on student learning. According to Hooper, "scientific research has shown that many drugs, even when taken in small doses, can cause permanent damage to the learning centers of the brain-damage which increases with increased drug use." ?Responding to the drug crisis, more than half of the states require local school districts to implement comprehensive substance abuse programs?(Cashman).
On the other hand, others argue home schooling is a poor learning environment. Student isolation, failure to properly teach, and lost tax dollars are all negatives of home schooling. ?Education, after all, is typically described as a core, and possibly the core, state responsibility (West). Parents do not have a teaching degree, so what gives them the right to teach their children. ?U. S courts do not recognize the fundamental right of parents to raise their own children, and by extension the right to home school.? It is suggested abuse is common in home schooling, and is a leading factor is why home schooling is not a safe route. It was also brought when home schooled your parents cannot force immunizations on you. Sometimes because of safety, religious objections, or family history. Never the less people are skeptical of the rights parents receive when they choose to home school their child.
Education is not mentioned as a state?s responsibility in the U. S Constitution. Thus it is logically to believe parents have the right to home school their children over public school. Parents do have the right to teach their children as shown through years of the U.S Supreme Courts favor. ?The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right and high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations? (Pierce v. Society of Sisters). ?This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established as an enduring American tradition?( Wisconsin v. Yoder). ?In 2000, the Court declared that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children? (Troxel v. Granville.)
Considered, both public school and home schooling environments show to be equally accessible. Neither is higher than the other; just others work better for certain children. While home schooling may offer flexible timing, academic liberty, and family time public schools offer transportation, extracurriculars such as band and after school programs. "The most promising alternative to top-down efforts to create accountability is school choice. School choice is accountability. When parents have the power to remove their children from a school that is failing them, without financial penalty, not only are they better served, but so is the school they abandon. The threat of losing funds gives failing schools an incentive to improve"(Michael Van Winkle).
