Friends, Raiders, Countrymen, lend me your ears. After much thought and discussion, I have come to a conclusion that you may not want to hear, but I think should be said. As college students, we are all in the high teens to low 20’s age bracket. For some of us, we may be five to ten years away from possibly having children. With that in mind, I implore you: don’t homeschool your children. Let me say that again, don’t homeschool your children. I want to point out that it’s not that I don’t trust you or your future adult judgement, it’s just that homeschooling is not the tool that will best help your future children, or the future children of your friends succeed.
Let me break this down into a few arguments. The first is that of experience. Yes, I’m aware that for some families, there is that chance that the homeschooling parent is a former teacher or a former mathematician, etc. It should be stated though that many teachers train for years to be proficient in the field that they are going to teach, and they are taught to give students the best education that they can. Even if you have a college education, the reality is that you can’t master all subjects under the umbrella of education. And if you think you can, well then, I would argue if you even have enough time to have a family. The point is that in school, especially within the high school age, there are teachers who are specialized in all of the subjects that our future student will be a part of. Wouldn’t you want to have your students within that environment, where they can learn from teachers who have a good knowledge of their subject area? Personally, this hits home for me, as I believe that unless you’re a history teaching major, you can’t teach your child as well in history as I can. That’s not me being proud, that’s just me leveraging my four-year education.
Secondly, I think there is a good aspect of social interaction that comes with being in a school. I know that there are a few good rebuttals to this part of the argument, so I’ll address these first. I understand that if a student is having a really rough situation in school due to bullying or a sickness that keeps them out. I think it’s fair to homeschool in that situation. And I’ve heard about the fact that there are homeschooling cohorts within cities where you can connect with other students, which sounds great. My argument against that, however, is the fact that your parents are controlling your social interactions by deciding and picking your cohort. Schools give you the opportunity to be challenged by people who don’t think or believe the same things that you do. It gives you a greater understanding of the world and helps prepare you for real life. If your parents’ control who you interact with, how are you supposed to build your own identity?
Listen, I understand that some of you were homeschooled and you thought it was amazing. That’s awesome, I’m happy for you. That doesn’t change the issues with homeschooling. Yes, I understand that the public education system is flawed to an extent. That doesn’t change the fact that it still provides kids with a varied, multicultural education that prepares them for life in vastly better ways than homeschooling. That, my friends, is a hill that I’m willing to die on.
