which is more efficient, home-schooling or public schooling

When it comes to the question, which is better, home-schooling or public education, people oftenly have differing opinions. Some vote for public schooling while others favour home-schooling and each side brings their own analysis on why one is wrong and the other is better. Most of the time these analyses’ come from parents who observe the difference between the two as some use the effects they see in their kids to prove their point. As a student who has experienced both functions, I will analyse both methods of learning although after comparing studying at home and school, I have found studying at home to be more effective for my learning whether academically or socially. I will take arguments that are usually presented by both sides and present why I am on team home schooling.

1)      Social interactions

Many people who believe public schooling is better say that kids who attend school have better social interactions because they are among kids their age. This will enable them to deal with those their age and establish themselves as socially coherent people who can engage with those their age. That may be true to some, that kids will be with those of a similar age group to them and they will learn to communicate that way. However, that is not entirely true, kids may be interacting and communicating but what are they communicating about. Kids today are not what kids were thirty years ago. They speak about things their parents did not know till they were older, they talk about relationships and themes around it that you would not want to hear.

Every boy is talking about a girl and every girl is talking about a boy, they talk about famous break ups and relationships, the latest movies and trends on Facebook. Social interactions for kids today include bullying and belittling another student and getting into relationships they are not ready for and cannot handle when it breaks up. Some are in these relationships to protect themselves from being bullied, thus highlighting that kids do not interact with each other the way kids used to but rather in the manner of adults. Kids used to talk about where their parents took them on their last holiday or visiting their grandparents home or what happened when they played soccer in the park last weekend.

Today that is not advent in kids today, they talk about the other’s haircut, the other’s new phone and spread materialism on each other and intimidate the one who does not have these with labels and tagging him as ‘Mummy’s boy/girl’ or being boring. When I did go to school this was present, if you did not join such conversations those around you would see you different, weird or boring. Your mind can’t comprehend these conversations as you see them improper, but wherever you stand, you can’t hide away from them as these topics I have mentioned above are the talk of the school.

However, when you are home-schooled, you are free from such labelling and intimidation to be what you are not. It helps you live your true age and grow steadily as a child should and it helps you learn how to socially interact in a proper manner than those at a public school. As good manners are difficult to enforce in schools, kids behave in a manner that obstructs them from how to act in the real world.

In public, you have to behave in a manner that does not offend others on the street, your behaviours and language should not intimidate anyone. However, since schools do not enforce the proper manner of how to socially interact with the pubic do to a lack of discipline, kids use the inappropriate manners they have at school in public as it has become a habit. At home your parents spend time sharing with you the etiquettes needed for social interactions with others, they teach you what is okay and what is not. You learn in an environment that keeps offensive language away that has become the lexical choice of kids at school, almost every second you hear a swear word in conversations with other kids. This is not present at home so it will not destroy your language when you engage with others.

2)      How much work gets done?

At school it is very hard to have work done in class. As you try to do your work, you have to be able to deal with the heavy noise level present in the class which is student conversation that does not link to any class work. The teacher has to stop teaching every 5 minutes in order to turn the class room into a learning environment which is usually challenged with rebellion. You miss out on every valuable point the teacher is about to mention due to these interruptions and sometimes that point is crucial for your assessment or exam. School libraries are not libraries anymore where you could quietly get a book for your assessment or just read in peace. Rather they are a place where kids hang out and chat, this leading to confrontations between them and the librarian of the school library as they are not respecting the kids who want to use the library for the reason it was made.

This presents the school as a place where you cannot get your school work done as every place that was supposed to be used for learning is occupied by students who don’t seem to have an interest in learning.

Home-schooling is different on the other hand gives you the flexibility to complete your work without distractions. You have space to complete your tasks without worrying where you want to do them, this is necessary if you want to get anything done. You simply can’t complete and study you work in environment that is not learning friendly, either you complete it with difficulty or you get dragged away and join in what was distracting you.

3)      Child- parent relationship

When kids go to school, they go away early in the morning around 8 am and come home depending on how far your home is away from the school they go to. Usually by 4 pm they would be home, they wash up, eat dinner and have little time before they go to bed for the next school day. This means that you and your kids have limited time with each other and which that the time you spend with each other on weekdays is limited. Sometimes this can have a strain your relationship with your kids as you have limited time to exchange conversations. When your child is home-schooled, they are with you and you can engage in meaningful conversations with them. You have time to find out what are their hopes, dreams and desires and what is going through their mind. When attending school, time is limited, they have limited time to do homework, have small conversations with and get ready for bed. Their life is a schedule and you have to try and squeeze a couple of minutes to get time with them. As they grow older they use the time they are supposed to be with you on to chat with friends as they see them more than you, so basically they see them closer than you. However, when they are with you there is no one that can get in the middle of your relationship, you have all the time to be with each other get to know the real side of each other.

With this analysis it can be seen why many people shift to home-schooling. They see that the structure of public schools has changes and aren’t what they used to be.  Schools are now used as a place of social gathering where kids chat and intimidate each other. Yes, many people argue that home-schooling is expensive or you have to sacrifice your life to be there for your kids. However, isn’t that what being a parent is all about, being to sacrifice and spend on your child to reach their potential. Every parent is willing to do the best they can for their kids and that does include spending and sacrificing their life. To this is why I argue that home-schooling is more efficient than public schools.