Home Learning: New Era Essay, Research Paper
Home Learning: New Era
When American’s think of education, they almost automatically think of public
education. Through the years it is slowly changing. Many parents’ today are
deciding to home school their children. Although most people think that a
public education is better, most statistics and facts tend to show that home
schooling is beneficial in more ways. It is estimated that parents are now
teaching over two million children at home, rather than in public or even
private schools.
Education in our public schools has been on the down slope for over twenty
years now. Public schools have lost all values and biblical morality. This
was what our country was founded on and it has been replaced with humanism.
One example of humanism in our schools is that they teach evolution, not
creationism. Some people believe that this problem is happening because of
the removal of God and prayer in public schools; the U.S. Supreme Court did
this 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).
Violence is one of the main factors effecting are schools today. Rape is a
growing problem among juveniles. A juvenile commits one out of every five
rapes that occur in the United States. There is also a higher use of drugs
and alcohol among kids in public schools. Over 80 percent of public high
school students drink alcohol and
45.7 percent have used marijuana. Drugs and alcohol make most people
extremely violent. That is also why our violence and crime rates are so high.
Over hundreds of millions of dollars are spend on the security of our
nation’s public schools. In The Right Choice Home Schooling, Christopher
Klicka says, “In Washington, D.C., drugs and violence were such a problem in
one
Elementary school, that the principal banned regular recess, and the children
are only allowed to play outside in a pit enclosed by eight-foot concrete
walls, or on a small section of playground monitored by the police (Klicka
51).” The disciplinary problems of children usually start even before they
reach public school. In the last ten years, research shows that infants
raised in daycare “are more prone to behavioral problems as young children
than their home-reared cousins (Klicka 124).” If you keep your child at home
from the start, you will be able to discipline and raise your children with
the right morals.
Because so much time is spend trying to clean up and keep our schools safe, we
are more or less falling behind in our education. American’s are farther
behind in educational status than countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and China.
The teachers spend too much time on the little things and forget the real
reason why the children are there. Not only that, but the textbooks hold
inaccurate information and do not contain the whole story. Some textbooks
stated that the atomic bomb ended the Korean War (instead of World War II) and
that only 53,000, rather than 126,000 Americans, were killed in World War I
(Klicka 24 25). One book summarizes Abraham Lincoln’s and George Washington’s
life in approximately six lines each. Not only are the wrong things written
in the textbooks, they teach the children wrong values. In public school
textbooks, marriage is never mentioned as the foundation of the family, and
yet these books are supposed to be the textbooks that introduce the child to
an understanding of American society. Abortion is another issue. Mel and
Norma Gabler’s document states, “Abortion is discussed as an aspect of birth
control in biology and health and homemaking books” (Klicka 56). Not only
that, virtually all sex education textbooks used in public schools throughout
the country teach that any kind of sex is all right; such as premarital sex,
adultery, masturbation, homosexuality, and lesbianism. A lawsuit has been
filed against one Michigan school district after seventh through eleventh
graders received instruction in “Self-Pleasuring Techniques” that involved
techniques in masturbation, and descriptions of sexual fantasies involving
group and homosexual acts (Klicka 56). On the Massachusetts State Board of
Education, in October 1991, they enacted a policy to encourage local boards to
adopt a condom-distribution policy for high school students (Klicka 56). What
is this telling our children? Public schools are more or less encouraging our
child to have sex and expressing to them that it is okay. After all, they
teach our children that if it feels right, then do it.
On the other hand, when adults think about educating their children, they
often forget the option of home school. The idea of home schooling started
many years ago, but it really began to flourish in the 1970’s. For many people
this was the only option, because either public schools lacked or the schools
were too far away for them to attend. In the present day, there are over two
million children being home schooled by their mothers and fathers, over a
fifteen percent rise in home school students each year (Kennedy 1). A
majority of home school students are white middle class families, but
minorities are finding that this option is also better for their children
rather than the public schools. Some of the main factors parents find from
home schooling are: the children often become more independent and more
responsible with their behavior, the influence of peer pressure is reduced,
vacations and trips can be planned at the families convenience, families can
spend more time together, and there is usually less stress because the
children don’t have to rush out of the house every morning. These factors and
many more, are why parents of today’s society are choosing this method.
“Critics of home schooling attack it on many fronts, arguing that children are
not taught by qualified professionals, homes often do not possess the
resources of schools, home-schooled children tend to be isolated from their
peers, and systematic evaluation of children’s learning rarely occurs in the
home (Simmons 1994).” Yet, research does show that home schooled children are
equal, if not better than, those students in public school environment are.
Almost all reports have shown that home schooled students score above average
on standard achievement tests. This could be because children have more one-
on-one experience. Being above average in their curriculum, home schooled
students also have little difficulty being accepted into colleges and
universities. Boston University says, “We believe students educated at home
possess the passion for knowledge, the independence, and the self-reliance
that enable them to excel in our intellectually challenging programs of study
(Klicka 133).” More colleges are even having their own admissions policy’s
for children that are taught at home.
Children that are taught at home tend to have stronger relationships with his
or her father or mother. This is because first, the children only usually
spend, on the average, two to three hours per day receiving instruction. The
typical student at a public school spends 367 hours (more than two hours a
day) in activities such as lunch, recess, and class changing. There is a lot
of time wasted each day that a child could be learning something else. At
home also, the curriculum can be geared to fit the individuals need. The
child can spend more time on what they need help in the most and this leaves
more time for “hands-on” activities for the children to learn by. All in all,
the children have more time to spend, at home, building relationships with
their family.
Many people are concerned about the social factor of home schooled children.
It’s a common belief that home schooled children will not develop the proper
social skills to enable them to interact with others later in life. Many
children that are home schooled today have formed their own social clubs.
There are things ranging from their own basketball teams to 4-H Clubs. Some
children even get together and go on field trips together almost once a week.
Social skills are no longer a problem for home schooled children.
The idea of public education has been debated for years. Students are being
faced with so much violence and crime in today’s public school system that
parents are forced to find a suitable alternative. In the past few years,
home schooling has had a tremendous rise and has proved to be very successful
in providing effective education. Home schooling is just an option that
parents have to get their children away from corrupted public education
system. Though this is not always the case for all students and all public
school systems, it has shown true many times.