Do you think mandatory public school is right vs. home schooling?

Question

No, i'm not saying we shouldn't educate our children, and I realize that some people need a place to put their children so they can work, but all that aside, do you think it's right to send your children away for 8 hours a day to be taught by someone else? The way society is today and the way some parents are, I don't know that it is possible to not have a public school system, but here is an interesting quote..
"Control the public education, and you control the state." that my not be verbatim, but it's close, and Hitler said it. i've known several home schooled children (who were well socialized) that had much fuller lives because they spent more time as children bonding w/ their family, learning life skills, and not having to spend as much time in class (many of these kids also graduated at the top of the class compared to the public school in the area) what do you think? (please don't think i think public school is evil! i am just looking for some opinions on the subject)

Answer 1

i have to disagree with you school is essential to a childs growth and development they learn key social skills and develop a sense of self through school without the parents biasness weighing on that people need to interact with other people as much as possible

Answer 2

I'm beginning to wonder if mandatory schooling is right, period, but that's a whole other issue...

Is it right to send our kids away? Only if it fits well with our outlook. Those of us who don't feel it's right will hopefully keep our children home. I was teaching when I first thought of homeschooling. I realized how much more time I spent with other people's kids than they spent with their own kids. I really felt like I was the one doing the most of the raising for a lot of the kids each year. It hit me that that's what I was: I was not only an educator, but a caregiver and because they spent more time with me than with their parents, that made me their primary caregiver. The realization struck me hard and I really began to wonder if I could knowingly send off my kids at a young age to be raised by a different adult each year. And I wasn't a parent yet. (And yes, I do like being with my kids 24/7.)

I feel bad for people who send their children off to school because they feel they have to at least try out public school, but in their hearts they want to keep them home. Why do it? Public school is one education option among many but our society certainly seems to view it as mandatory and treats those choosing non institutional learning as odd.

I think public schools are necessary because there are definitely kids out there who should not be homeschooled by their parents, and there are lots of parents who simply don't want to or can't, but I don't think it's necessary to go to public school nor do I think it's desirable to think that everything else is an alternative to public school.

Related to what I had in one of my Yahoo Questions: why is public school the default? I could add: why SHOULD public school be the default? Why shouldn't private schools be the default? (And actually, they are for a number of people.) Should there even be a default? Shouldn't each parent, as the time approaches, sit down and look at the options and figure out what is best for their family?

Public schools were created not to educate everyone but to educate those whose parents did not have the knowledge or the resources or the time to do so or didn't have the money, or didn't want to spend the money, on private tutors or schools. Most homeschooling parents have the knowledge, or the willingness/ability to learn, are willing to get the resources and have the time. And the supposed socialization "issue" is not an issue at all and is pseudo-psychology at its best.

A long-winded way of saying, no, I don't think public school should be viewed as automatic, and certainly not mandatory.

Answer 3

"Mandatory public school" is a violation of freedom. I cannot believe that anyone would be in favor of it, but obviously some are.

Fundamental to freedom is the right to choose.
Surely something like education would be open to choice by the founding fathers. Ben Franklin would _insist_ on it, expecting that success would drive people to choose the best school they could. Other schools would imitate them in order to compete.
Washington was homeschooled. Jefferson did much research in his own home.

There has never been presented any legitimate reason for mandatory public school (for US citizens anyway). Every "argument" for it is full of fallacious reasoning. It terrifies me that people who claim science is so important, think so irrationally.

But even if these reasons had merit, they still don't trump the notion of freedom.

Do we sterilize the mentally retarded? We used to, with this very same logic: it's for the good of society.

Do we imprison Muslims b/c we are at war w/ them? We did w/ the Japanese, with this very same logic: it's for the good of society.

Again, people who push for mandatory public education are from the same cut as those favoring a master race, or who have imperial views on the world.

Answer 4

Mandatory public school must be what people think is the law. Far from the truth!!!

So, if I follow the rationale of a previous writer: This person doesn't think that children should be taught with the parents biases. That means that we are supposed to give them over to other people for them to learn stranger biases? EEEEWWWW! That is what the public system has done to us for less than 200 years in this Country.

If I am biased toward high academic standards and my local public school teaches a dumbed-down curriculum should I not have the right to choose to home-school?

If I am biased toward manners and responsible and respectful social training and the public school is teaching that "anything goes", and the children fight on the playground, and smoke behind the fence, trade illegal drugs between classes, and tease each other mercilessly should I not have the right to keep my child in a safe environment and choose to home-school?

If I am biased toward keeping the family unit intact and the public school encourages my children to associate with only their age-related peer group should I not choose to home-school?

Everybody has biases. What makes a "mob" think that their bias is better than mine?
:-)

Each parent needs to take back the responsibility that God gave them. We are meant to be the leaders in our own family. I can choose to home-school my child or put him/her in a place where someone else is the teacher. Why should it be wrong for me to be the teacher? I am not better than anyone else and I am not worse than anyone else. BUT I am MY child's BEST teacher. I choose to keep the designation and fulfill the role that I have been given.

Everyone that is considering becoming a home-school family --- find the BEST material available and learn how to implement it. Your children can thrive by becoming excellent students and honorable citizens in your community.

Barb

Answer 5

I was home schooled and I will do everything possible to home school my children when the time comes. You're right about the government controlling the schools. We don't like the government messing around in our lives, we don't trust them with our money... yet we will hand over our children for 12 years just because it's what is accepted?

Answer 6

I've been homeschooled for like 8 years, and I find that some of my closest friends are my family and that is really neat, also with homeschooling the parents can choose how they want to teach their children, my parents homeschooled us because they didn't want us to be taught with an anti-Christian world view, but I understand that everyone has their own opinion, and for some, public school is the best option, but for me, I'm sure that homeschooling is better, and for people who don't think that homeschoolers get interaction with other kids, we do, at least I do, its just at a different time, not while you are in school but after school

Answer 7

i'd vote specific. yet with some skills. #a million it is extra low-priced, as a results of fact each and every of the super container shops like aim, Walmart, previous army etc sell them. whilst uniforms are voted for in US public colleges they are particularly trouble-free. Ie. Khaki or army pants and a polo. you purely desire possibly 3 shirts, 3 pairs of pants and 2 trainers for the 12 months. i comprehend, as a results of fact we've accomplished the two. #2 I do think of it helps with the sense loads of youngsters and adults seem to have now regarding training: it relatively is all approximately my newborn, her each and every whim, and no authority in college can tell her what to do. It evens the enjoying field, as a results of fact they might limit $a hundred and fifty shoes. of path all and sundry is time-honored with who the wealthy little ones are. Their father and mom pull up in the mercedes. notwithstanding it does have a tendency to take the emphasis off of the daily showing off. i comprehend that infants will come across a fashion around it, yet accomplished good, they help. My qualification is that the college community would desire to come again to a call. no longer the associates. no longer a homeschooling mom down the line from the college. no longer the lecturers. the father and mom of the youngsters on the college would desire to come to a call if uniforms are good of their community. in the event that they at the instant are not, then the vote will reflect that.

Answer 8

I think there are, as with everything, pors and cons. With Home schooling you know who you kids are with, you know what they are learning and there is no bullying. With the public system they can develop social skills and intereaction with others beside those of their family.the teachers are trained in teaching and should know how to apporach different sitiuation.
If it were me and i was debating, i would probaly lean more towards the public or private scene becuase of the socoal interaction, besides even though you love your kids, who wants to be around them 24/7??

Answer 9

You know what, I think it should be left up to those involved in making that decision. I am a stay at home mom and I could home school my kids, but I don't cause I don't want to. I love them dearly and want only the best, but I feel like it's better for them to be around other people, to see how others do things and find out for themselves what works for them.