Education is part of secondary socialization where students learn both formal and hidden curriculum and develop those skills which are requisite in every aspect of life. For this education, students go to schools which vary according to ethnicity, fee structures and most importantly in efficiency. Every human has different perspectives regarding good schools and all parents want nothing but a best school with qualified teachers who focus not only on a student’s formal education but also on their character, etiquettes and hidden curriculum.
Adequate comparisons are there between public schooling and homeschooling. Firstly, in public schooling, there are many students who need to be dealt with and all have different learning styles. Some students would need more time to do a simple calculation whereas others go with mental maths. Such differences tend to be ignored in public schools but can be catered to in homeschooling.. According to Howard Gardner, everyone has a capability of different intelligence which according to him are 9 (linguistic intelligence, logical mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, naturalist intelligence, existentialist intelligence ). Public schools focus on two intelligences i.e linguistic and logical mathematical intelligence but when homeschooling a child more than two intelligences can be practiced and ameliarate to a significant level.
Secondly, a student can suffer multiple problems when he or she is in a public school and these sufferings make parents reluctant to join public schools and prefer homeschooling instead. These problems could be racism, bullying, peer pressure, underachievement, anxiety, specific needs or even a disease that requires more attention such as sickle cell anemia, autism etc. When a student is homeschooled, he or she is saved from the above-mentioned issues and can continue his studies in a cozy and comfortable environment. Ken Brown, in his book ”An Introduction to Sociology” has clearly mentioned the reasons for preferring homeschooling over public schooling. Racism and bullying in public schools is clearly a threat to mental and psychological problems and peer pressure can lead to suicides. Sometimes these peers make youth subcultures and commit crimes. Paul Willis in his research has vividly talked about these peer groups and their effect on the environment and Phil Cohen has named these subcultures as status frustration. Consequently, homeschooling prevents such peer groups from being formed and public schooling encourages such subcultures.
Thirdly, another comparison between them is focus and discipline. R.J.Palacio, a novelist, wrote the book “WONDER”. In this, a child born with facial differences was homeschooled by his mother. This boy named Augustus was incredibly intelligent and ablest and when he went to a real school, his knowledge was above his classmates. This showed that homeschooled children are also very ablest because of the factor of intelligence being improved and he was fully disciplined. This is just an imaginary example. Many real life examples exist. For instance, James Joule, his mechanical theory of heat and joule’s law was incredibly amazing and is used till the 20th century. He had health issues and was homeschooled and later proved to be an amazing scientist by discovering the above phenomena. Many other scientists such as Hans Christian, Blaise Pascal, Ada Lovelace and many others were homeschooled and hold significant positions because of discovering the masterpieces that aided humanity. Thus, the comparison here is that due to the focus given to homeschooled students, they make progress and stand on positions that are seldom held whereas in public schools, this focus given by teachers to a student is reduced because of an augmented number of students.
Fourthly, public schooling is open for all. The poors and illiterate parents can let their children go to a public institute and get a chance of education so that their children would not suffer the way they do. But homeschooling is an option for only those parents who are well educated and can afford private tutors for their children. This aspect discourages a poor father from homeschooling and makes it mandatory for him to go to public schools. Thus they have a comparison of status. The parents who could not afford proper education and are illiterate rely on the government for the education of their child which gives them this advantage that their child becomes educated. If a child requires homeschooling and is also poor, he is neglected with education because of their parents status issues. As a result, homeschooling is for middle and higher class and public schooling is for all including lower class.
Lastly, another comparison could be interaction with society. Public school students, through hidden curriculum, get well acquainted regarding different aspects of school learning. They get to know about competitiveness, punctuality, leadership, etc. Nonetheless, in the homeschooling process, the student does not have any peers to compete with. Sometimes parents show leniency by giving a day break which is a threat to punctuality. As there are no classmates and friends, a child does not get to know about the teamwork and leadership skills which can become a direct problem in their future workplace. The tests taken by schools show public school students to be superior because when the tests are returned, the students compare them with their classmates and get different ways of writing answers to the same question whereas when a homeschooled student gives a test made by parents, he cannot discover these different writing styles of answers. This lack of interaction can result in lack of confidence and the homeschooled children can hesitate when talking to superiors.
In conclusion, it can be stated that both public schooling and homeschooling trains individuals in a way that they can face the upcoming future. Public schooling makes students confident and amazing speakers whereas homeschooling, done by parents or private tutors make students highly intelligent and more focused towards their goals. Many surveys conducted have shown homeschooled students higher in the field of education than public school students. Comparing them makes people well acquainted regarding the benefits and drawbacks they have.
By Aliha Fatima Chaudhry
