The public school system is academically and socially superior to homeschooling

Thank you for participating in this debate. To summarize your argument, you made many points. While some of them 1) reference private, non-public schools, which is out of the scope of the debate, and 2) deal with religion, which is not necessarily related to the debate—except when dealing with the interaction of others—the main point I want to make concerning Pro's points is the subject of theory. By "theory," I mean using reasoning to predict an outcome, as opposed to experimentation.The problem with Pro showing the proposition to be true in theory is that such can also be used to show it to be false! For example, I can reference the ability of homeschoolers to pick their own material: One way it can be done now is via computers, which for example can have lectures as well as video solutions prepared by high-level teachers with PhDs and/or with an education at Harvard or Yale for every math problem on the course,[1] rather than having a public school force its material and teachers on students. I can then argue that this results in students getting better grades. I'm not saying that reasoning doesn't work, by any means; it does work, so long as it is done soundly. I'm just saying that the reasoning used in Pro's points seems to make sense at first, but other factors could be involved also that we are not seeing.So how can this debate be settled if not by theory? The answer is by using statistics, as they are experimental and deal with real students who really have undergone homeschooling or the public-school system. Pro did give statistics, but they only dealt with reasons why people chose to homeschool. No statistics were given in regards to how academically and socially superior one method was over the other. However, Pro's second reference, if gone to, does have statistics on the students. It says that "On average, homeschoolers scored an average of 1.7 points higher on the ACTs (36 is the max. score) than non-homeschoolers" and that "Limited tests have shown that homeschoolers have above-average social and psychological development through their exposure to many different age groups and other activities to boost their social development."Other statistics show that on average, homeschoolers did 37 percentile points better on standardized achievement tests than public-schoolers and that "In all areas of life, from gaining employment, to being satisfied with their home-schooling, to participating in community activities, to voting, home-schoolers were more active and involved than their public school counterparts."[2] In addition, another source shows their test scores to be "exceptionally high—the median scores were typically in the 70th to 80th percentile."[3] Homeschoolers have also been shown to be more mature: Homeschoolers entering a public highschool would hear "16- or 17-year-old kids talking about getting drunk and who’s sleeping with who, and they’d be like, 'Get real. Get a life.'"[4]Again, thank you for accepting the debate. I will remind you that you will not be able to respond during the last round.[5] Also, I will remind ourselves that the burden of proof is on Pro to show that "The public school system is academically and socially superior to homeschooling." Since statistics show homeschoolers to be more academically and socially prepared than their public-schooled counterparts, the proposition must be false.References[1] E.g., http://www.teachingtextbooks.com...[2] http://www.washingtontimes.com...[3] http://www.parentingscience.com...[4] http://www.pbs.org...[5] Rule 8, given in Round 1