There has been a surge of interest in home schooling. Home schooling is, without a doubt, the origin and foundation of education: most of what a child will learn, she learns at home; and what our schools teach is most effective when it extends the interaction of a parent with a child. And many home schooled students easily out-pace their institutionally schooled peers, despite spending less time at formal studies.
Societies, unfortunately, have found it necessary to generate educational systems in order to address three situations: those in which parents do not have the necessary knowledge to educate their children; those in which they haven't the time; and those in which they haven't the interest.
In these three situations, it is in a society's best interests to provide education for those children. And this appears to be a prudent decision for those societies who do so: there is a strong correlation between every desirable attribute of a citizen and a community, and institutional education. As one group put it succinctly, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
Few parents have all three requirements. And even those who do, almost always need some help. Few among us have mastery of visual and acoustic arts, mathematics, language, social studies, etc., that we can teach a child all the way through the high school requirements.
And even if the rare parent were able to cover all of the necessary disciplines, limits still exist: there are no home-schooled college students.
Should home schooling be the ultimate target of our educational systems? Should we begin designing a community wherein one parent stays at home, not so much as to cook, clean, and do housework, as to home-school future generations? Whereas the current trend is for educational systems to intervene earlier and earlier in our children's education, perhaps as we become better educated, we should instead encourage parents to take over more of their children's early education. Perhaps in some future day, we will have a situation in which the majority of our parents have the knowledge, time, and interest to educate their children all the way to adulthood.
Quite often, home schooling is superior to institutional education; when done right, it definitely works. Unfortunately, we are not yet to the point that it will work for all children, and for all parents.
Societies, unfortunately, have found it necessary to generate educational systems in order to address three situations: those in which parents do not have the necessary knowledge to educate their children; those in which they haven't the time; and those in which they haven't the interest.
In these three situations, it is in a society's best interests to provide education for those children. And this appears to be a prudent decision for those societies who do so: there is a strong correlation between every desirable attribute of a citizen and a community, and institutional education. As one group put it succinctly, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
Few parents have all three requirements. And even those who do, almost always need some help. Few among us have mastery of visual and acoustic arts, mathematics, language, social studies, etc., that we can teach a child all the way through the high school requirements.
And even if the rare parent were able to cover all of the necessary disciplines, limits still exist: there are no home-schooled college students.
Should home schooling be the ultimate target of our educational systems? Should we begin designing a community wherein one parent stays at home, not so much as to cook, clean, and do housework, as to home-school future generations? Whereas the current trend is for educational systems to intervene earlier and earlier in our children's education, perhaps as we become better educated, we should instead encourage parents to take over more of their children's early education. Perhaps in some future day, we will have a situation in which the majority of our parents have the knowledge, time, and interest to educate their children all the way to adulthood.
Quite often, home schooling is superior to institutional education; when done right, it definitely works. Unfortunately, we are not yet to the point that it will work for all children, and for all parents.
About the Author:
Joseph N. Abraham MD is president & founder of The Acadiana Educational Endowment and booksXYZ.com, the Nonprofit Bookstore Supporting Education. booksXYZ.com lists over 2,000,000 books, including paperbacks, hardbacks, and audio books. Dr. Abraham is also the author of Happiness: A Physician/Biologist Looks at Life, an innovative self help book looking at Zen, biology, and fulfillment.
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