"School" Implies "Out of the House"

So, this following topic was not on my previous list of upcoming tidbits, but I thought it was quite worthy of a post. Part of the motivation for this entry comes from across the street, where our nosy neighbors with overactive imaginations have decided that home-schooling their daughters is the way to go.

Since the beginning of time- or since I have been aware of it- families have participated in home-schooling as an alternative to public or private education. This institution is certainly beneficial in a variety of ways, especially if the students are unable (because of a physical, social, or mental condition) to participate adequately in a public education setting. Also, parents who feel very strongly that sending their children to a school might in some way interfere with their parenting goals can fall back on home-schooling to educate their offspring. Thus, let me reiterate... there are advantages.

However, I'm not sure I am a huge supporter of the process. I am most vehemently opposed to it simply because of my neighbors. I know that sounds foolish. It is. But I can make an extremely good argument for public education by using them as an example.

From what I can see and have heard, they have basically limited their daughter's interactions with other kids to home-schooling play-groups and dance lessons. The girls don't play with any of the neighborhood children, and although they are out in the yard at times, the family still has the reputation of hiding behind their curtains and spying on their neighbors.

This is the wrong way to go. Why do I say this? Because school isn't just about classes, homework, and teachers. Rather, it's also about the millions of lessons that are learned by social interaction in the hallways and at the lunch table. Children learn to socialize, analyze, and mature by talking, laughing, and observing. When you don't allow a child to attend a social institution such as a school, you are robbing them of important lessons which are absolutely vital to being a successful person later in life.

I want to address two hypothetical (and yet predictable) complaints towards my opinion.

1). Schools contain a high percentage of negative social lessons that will damage both my child's moral code/proper development and the methods by which I have raised my child.

Yes, I cannot lie. There are plenty of negative lessons in school. Whether it's wrong information about sex, tough lessons about adolescent relationships, or the complicated inner-workings of teenage friendships, your children will encounter a good deal of hardships. However, if your children never encounter these obstacles and situations, they will be unprepared to deal with them as adults. School is an opportunity to hone social skills and learn to function appropriately in mainstream society. Keeping your child out of school deprives them of the "trial and error" part of his or her life, and arguably they will be much more naive and unprepared to deal with other adults who had the chance to mature socially.

2). My children can learn all of their social skills by interacting with other home-schooled children.

True, some social interaction is better than none. However, I must ask: what type of children are being home-schooled? I ask this because, if these children all come from similar families (for example, let's say middle-class orthodox Christian), then they are simply reaffirming the lessons they learn at home. Homogeny doesn't allow for an appropriate spectrum of experiences to help children grow into citizens who can deal with the many different components of an adult life. Schools increase the chance of interaction with students of varied backgrounds, which expands the child's social knowledge. Sure, not all schools are heterogeneous either. But it's a better bet than home-schooling.

There will always be reasons to home-school. But it is perhaps more compelling to consider the richness of a public education.