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.