Our Childrens Future Essay, Research Paper
Our Children s Future
The editorial by David Gergen, editor at large, titled, No Place Like Home , examines home schooling and high scoring of students. Gerger was bias in his presentation stating that home schooling is better than the public school systems. He assumes that home schooled children are brighter and have a more successful life after school than those that are in public schools. His editorial was agreeable to a certain point, but there were many problems that will effect the home schooling that were not brought into the discussion, such as, social contact, uneducated parents, and higher academic scholarships.
Mr. Gregen discusses home schooling but gives a perception that every child within this system will be very intelligent and have a great future when they graduate. These students have outstanding and above average in their median scores. This phenomenon needs further examination. Educators do not have enough data to draw conclusions to determine how much better home schooling is than the public school systems. He also concludes that classrooms are not small enough for students to have individual attention.
I will agree with Mr. Gergen on the high scores. When searching for information on home schools, I discovered that in 1998 the University of Maryland conducted a survey that revealed 20,000 students in home schools scored 85th percentile in math and up to 85th percentile in reading. (Washington Times, U.S. News and World Report).
Children in home schools also have an individual relationship with their teacher-parent. Public schools today are over crowded and the teachers are under paid. They can not spend time with each student as needed. Parents are willing to spend all of their time and energy to educate their children. Therefore, the child gets all of the attention and help that is needed to succeed in their education.
Mr. Gergen also stated that our home schools need further experimenting and evaluation. The kids of today are our future government leaders, presidents, and economists. They are the society that will provide our economy and make our world a better place to live in. We need to keep challenging schools and experimenting with education to fulfill what our children need. These children are much brighter and talented than students ten years ago. There is so much to learn now and they deserve attention on their education.
Mr. Gergen had flaws in his editorial, such as, he did not give the bad points of home schooling nor did he support his ideas. There are many more points that should be given.
Children in home schools do not develop social skills as the children in public schools do. Children in public schools learn to adapt to other kids and make friends. They learn to socialize with others. Making friends and finding role models is a part of growing up. They learn to reach out to other students for help. They learn to adjust to different cultures and learn from people of different nationalities and races. This gives them aspects of life beyond home.
Parents of home schooling have the freedom to teach their children what they want them to learn, such as, evolution and prayer, without offending anyone. However, are parents equipped with the knowledge to teach calculus and foreign languages or harder subjects offered in schools today? These subjects helps them excel in the real world outside of home.
The last problem is evaluating grade averages. Colleges find it hard to determine students grade point averages based on what parents give their children or students. The College Athletic Association has also run into this problem. The military perceives that home school degrees are inferior to high school degrees, which is causing discrimination issues. These are becoming major problems for higher educations and sports officials.
Home schooling may be the best answer for some parents and students, but for others, it would create a hardship for them. Home schooling is now legalized in 50 states. The majority of the states do require the students to take required test and make evaluations on a regular basis to determine the quality of education they are receiving. There are many points that need to be discussed and experimented before a conclusion can be made about home schools. Home schooling allows parents and students a one on one relationship. There are also negative points; home schooled children do not develop social skills that they need outside of their homes. Some parents are not qualified to teach their children certain subjects that are taught in public schools. So what is the best school for our children s future?
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