Is homeschooling & on-line school economically better for the U.S.?

Question

It would eliminate the cost of bussing and the cost of school nutrition programs ....both very costly! There are many other cost effective arguments.

It would also help to eliminate many societal problems with teenagers.

Is homeschooling the way of the future?

Answer 1

It might help economically, but the majority of home schooling parents are not qualified to teach. If home schooling became the way of the future, I would predict a much lower level of quality education for American children.
Also, if someone is home schooled, then their only source of reference is their parents that teach them. Where as, in a public school, children are taught by dozens of teachers. They are able to gain insights into dozens of different perspectives. All adding up to better critical thinking skills, and a better understanding of our world.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, for most American households there's no parent at home during the day to teach them.
I do see that high school is beginning to offer classes online. My daughter is a junior and only needed two more classes to graduate. She's taking those classes online. We didn't know you could do that.
Homeschooling also fails to teach children how to interact with others. My son had two friends (brothers) who were being homeschooled. They came over when the Lion King was on TV (DVD). They started crying out of fear of the animals. Turns out, they've never seen TV or movies before. They were 8 and 10 years old. These boys are going to have a hard time in the real world.
Of course the parents are radical Christians and the kids think dinosaurs were on the Ark.
I do think the internet will become a major learning tool, allowing gifted students to complete extra classes online, graduate early and begin online college courses. I think most students will have an online Bachelors Degree by age 20.

Answer 3

In some places, yes this would be much more efficient. Whether or not it is more effective is a different question. For some students this clearly would be a better learning environment, but for others this would not be a better learning environment.

While it would save money, I believe that it would be detrimental to the education of our children. Online schooling is no replacement for real in the classroom instruction.

Answer 4

Firstly, you are assuming that one parent is at home to teach and that kids have the dicipline to actually do school work at home. Also, that will put lots of teachers and mantenance workers out of work, hurting our overall economy. (They do spend money and pay taxes after all.) Also, teenagers do learn social skills in school as well, how to interact with others their ages and learn how to take direction from higher authority. Home schooling does have its place, no doubt about it. It should not however take over the role of traditional schooling.

Answer 5

Don't listen to anyone who tries to convince of you the idea that those who are end up uneducated. That's a farcical crock.

Homeschooling could solve a lot of problems in this country, and not only economically.

Answer 6

No, one of the things that makes this country great is the mixing of all types of kids. Rich, poor , black, white, Asia, Hispanic, coming together and learning to get along.

Answer 7

No, school is, in many ways, as much about socialization as it is about education.

Answer 8

Economically, yes. Educationally, most likely also yes.
The amount of money wasted on a mediocre education that is received in public schools is amazing. Of the time a typical student spends in public school only 20% of it is actually spent 'on task.'

Multitude of Independent Studies indicate:
20-37+ percentile points higher score on standardized achievement tests for home schoolers

Many attempt to argue that socialization cannot be accomplished without attendance at public school. This is a hollow argument rooted in ignorance or dogmatic propaganda with no substantial facts to support it and several that oppose it.

Dr. John Wesley Taylor, 1986
50% of home schoolers scored in upper 10% on Piers-Harris Children’s Self Concept Scale, only 10% were below the 50 percentile level.
"Insofar as self-concept is a reflector of socialization..., the findings of this study would suggest that few home-schooling children are socially deprived.".

Delahooke, 1986
Compared home school group to similar conventionally schooled (private) group. Both groups scored in the "well adjusted" range of the Rogers Apperception Test for Children. In addition, home educated children appeared to be less peer oriented than those in conventional school and focused on family relationships significantly more than the conventionally schooled group. This is a trait probably desired by home school parents.

Smedley, Radford University - 1992
Used Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales to evaluate the communication skills, socialization, and daily living skills of demographically matched public-schooled and home-educated students. Smedley's data revealed that "...the home-educated children in this sample were significantly better socialized and more mature than those in public school. The immediate implication is that home school families are providing adequately for socialization needs." "In the public school system, children are socialized horizontally, and temporarily, into conformity with their immediate peers. Home educators seek to socialize their children vertically, toward responsibility, service, and adulthood, with an eye on eternity."

Shyers, University of Florida - 1992
Compared a group of 70 home schooled children with a group of 70 children schooled in traditional public and private schools. The groups scored the same in self-concept and assertiveness on social development tests. Videos of the children at play were analyzed by trained counselors, and the home school children were found to have "consistently fewer behavior problems." The traditionally schooled children were more aggressive, loud, and competitive. The home schooled children tended to talk quietly, play well in groups, and took initiative in inviting others to play. Shyers’ conclusion was that "the results seem to show that a child's social development depends more on adult contact andless on contact with other children than previously thought."

J. Gary Knowles, University of Michigan - 1993
Study of 53 adults who had been home schooled showed:
Two-thirds were married, which is norm for adults for their age. None were unemployed or on welfare. More than three-fourths felt that being taught at home had helped them to interact with people from different levels of society. He found that more than 40% attended college and 15% of those had completed a graduate degree. Nearly two-thirds were self-employed. He stated, "That so many of those surveyed were self-employed supports the contention that home schooling tends to enhance a person’s self-reliance and independence." Ninety-six percent of them said that they would want to be taught at home again.

It would seem to logically follow that uneducated parents would be a dismal failure at homeschooling their children or that those children would be just as, if not moreso, uneducated. But then this would also be true as to public schooling. While there doesn't appear to be any hard data to show one way or the other, the fact remains that are always individual situations that defy generalizations.

"Also of note was the fact that while many home-school families have parents with college education, there was no statistically significant difference in scores between home schoolers whose parents were college degreed and those whose parents were not (Ray, 1994)" - http://www.shsu.edu/~piic/summer2002/Hail.htm

Answer 9

think about all the jobs that would be lost and the lack of socialization of our youth...the only way kids learn anything is to experience it! good or bad, how else will they learn?...home schooled kids lose out on a lot of important social activities that will end up hampering them in the future...its definitely not the future of anything

Answer 10

Yep.