You mean smart people DON'T go to school?

To begin this short argument, I would like to quote the words of a certain anonymous Piedmont sophomore. “Home-schoolers are weird.” I must say, I absolutely, completely, and unquestionably agree. Home-schoolers are different. Most of the time we are drug free, happy, healthy, intelligent, and above average students. This is, most definitely, a contrast from the majority of students enrolled in public institutions. However, The question of the day is not whether we are weird or strange, but rather, whether or not home-based education is an advantageous alternative to public school. Unfortunately, there is no completely right answer. Childhood education is such a complicated topic and each child is so unique, that no single unconditional answer is possible. 

If done correctly, home-schooling can be tremendously advantageous. If done wrong, it can leave the student both academically and socially inept. How can I say this? To be perfectly honest, I was home-schooled from birth until fall of last year. This fact means that I have approximately fifteen years of first hand experience, and can therefore be considered and expert in the field. I can personally attest to both the advantages and detriments of family based education. 

The pros are easy to see. As a home-schooler you have a highly flexible schedule, nearly exclusive teacher attention, and free choice of curriculum. Also, you have the ability to learn at your own pace, an idea that is often misinterpreted as learning slower; in practice, it nearly always means accelerated learning. As an example, while my sister began reading quite a bit later than normal, she is now within the top seven percent of children her age nation wide. At present she is 12 years old and reads possibly more than I, a mass communications major of Piedmont College. 

  And what are the possible problems surrounding home education? The greatest of course are lack of both social exposure and academic accountability. However, these disadvantageous ineptitude's arise only when the educational process is conducted in a parentally inept fashion. If parents chose to isolate there child, then the inevitable outcome is a social abnormality in the child. If parents choose not to make the effort to teach their child, the child will be academically impaired. The bottom line: parents have to be responsible. In the case of academics, responsibility obviously means setting high scholastic goals and insuring that they are met. In the case of social development, responsibility means supporting and encouraging children in extracurricular activities. Whether, those activities are sports, clubs, churches, martial arts, home-school co-op classes, trips to the Caribbean, horse back riding, or just neighborhood friends (note: I experienced all of these), they should always be supported by the parents. 

Interestingly, the majority of home-school families do not fall in the category of negligent or overbearing parents. Rather, they are parents with serious doubts on the public school systems ability to teach. (This information comes from knowledge of the families involved in Currahee Home Educators, the home-school organization based in Steven's County Ga.)  They see the statistics reporting american students being beaten out by the third world in standardized testing of math, reading and science, and chose to look for a better way. Therefore, the majority of home-schooling parents are in fact, extremely supportive of their children.  

Parental non-involvement, regardless of school format leads to maladjustment. Likewise, active parenting inevitably leads to healthy bright kids. Period.