Getting rid of home schooling in America

My opponent attempted to defend a system that sees unqualified parents using videos to try to substitute for a real education and qualified teachers. This debate has come down to three issues: The right to homeschool The academic effects on homeschooled children The social effects on homeschooled children 1) The right to homeschool This was something my opponent only addressed indirectly, through his discussion of the convenience and flexibility homeschooling brought. My opponent claimed a right to homeschool children existed because it "MAY be more convenient". My opponent's logic that for people who moved houses frequently it would be more convenient to homeschool their children was faulty because curricula are not that different between states in the US and special language or special needs schools are an openly available option, and because, contrary to my opponent's claims that children with special needs could be bullied, children are not simply bullied because of their background, and, even if they were, this option of special schools is still available. Con only responded to this by saying that: "It is actually a great convenience to be homeschooled. When I moved to America from South Africa we were so busy, it really helped for us to be home schooled. " This personal experience is simply not enough; my opponent never responded to my reasoning, and his experience is not at all representative. Furthermore, even if this right did exist, it would not overrule the government's responsibility to ensure every child gets a decent level of education, as I discussed as my first argument. This responsibility exists because education is a basic human right; all children should receive a high-quality education, something that, as I will argue later, homeschooling does not provide, academically or socially; we can see the government's responsibility to provide a decent level education in the very fact that school is compulsory. This was something my opponent never responded to. My opponent asked during the debate why I support the right to abortion but not to homeschool. Leaving aside the fact that this was well beyond the gambit of this debate, this is because a woman has the right to autonomy over her own body; whereas a parents has no right to stop their child from getting a decent education. It was established in this debate that the right to homeschool children did not exist as it did not offer the advantage my opponent claimed of conveniency; furthermore, even if it did exist, this right is incredibly unimportant compared to the government's responsibility to ensure every child receives a decent level of education. 2) Homeschooling's Academic Effects The next issue in this debate was how homeschooling affects a child's academic potential. In round two, I put forward three (originally four, but two have merged) reasons why. These reasons and my opponent's responses to them are: In round two, I argued that parents who are homeschooling their children would not be as good at teaching as teachers. Teachers have had extensive training both in their subject and in teaching as a whole; they are better trained than parents, especially when knowledge in some subjects, especially science, have changed greatly since parents were at school. Con refuted this by saying that "you don’t need a teacher. For example, for my Algebra I watch a video every day. " A video will never be able to teach as well as a real person; a video can't be asked questions, can't tell the student where they've gone wrong, can't give them the individual help and advice that students need. The relationship between students and teachers is one of mutual respect and even of fear, something that can't be emulated by a parental relationship; squabbles between a teenager and their parents will spill over into poorer academic results. This was something my opponent never responded to. Homeschooled children don't have access to the range of opinions and subjects schooled children do. Homeschooled children are likely to be only taught one side on issues such as creatonism against evolution, while these ideas are taught side-by-side at a school; an important part of learning is exposure to different opinions and learning to make your own decision, independant of their parents. My opponent responded to this by claiming that "I think home schooled parents make sure their kids have knowledge of other ideas. I just took a course that concentrated almost completely on other religions, And I’m taking one next year too. " Again, my opponent's personal experience isn't representative of the broader population; parents are much more likely to expose their children to only their own view. My opponent claimed that current government regulations on homeschooling mean that the work of homeschooled children is kept to a certain standard. There are several problems with this; for one, governments have no current ability to compel a parent to send their child to a regular school; homeschooled students could be failing without the government being able to do anything. Secondly, even if homeschooled children pass, they could still do better in a regular school. The example my opponent gave here of a missionary whose children would be academically better off when, after moving to America, they were homeschooled. He never explained this, so I presume it was a question of language barriers. In this case, being homeschooled would mean that the language barriers are never conquered, as the missionary too would have difficulty with English. However, going to an ESL school would solve this problem. Homeschooling hurts children academically; a video is never enough to teach a child. 3) Homeschooling's Social Effects In round two, I argued that children who are homeschooled aren't exposed to other children their own age; as such, their social development is harmed because they can't learn to make friends and have relationships with those outside their close family circle. My opponent's only response was that "Most home schoolers go to more events then a regular school boy. Thus they meet more kids their age, ad [sic] socialize . " He never explained this; homeschooled children have school alone with their parents while children who are not homeschooled have school with their peers. Homeschooled children's social development is greatly harmed because they don't spend enough time with their peers; while children at regular schools receive genuine socialisation, homeschooled children interact with those outside their family circle only rarely. The government has a responsibility to stop homeschooling because all children deserve a decent level of education, a basic human right.