Homeschools are better than public schools

First and foremost, I attended public schools for my entire life, and have little knowledge of what it is like to be home-schooled other than hearing stories from a few people I have known in the past who were home-schooled. I will split these first round arguments into a hierarchy of concerns about why I believe homeschooling is less than ideal. These arguments pertain to students who attend school either public or private; any land marked educational institution that is not a private residence. I Networking: For the vast majority of students, they generally tend to form solid groups of friends throughout their career. These groups can grow increasingly large as they meet friends of friends or introduce their own friends to new people. A student will also become much more adept on deciding who or who not to be friends with, and learning what it takes to be a friend. Everyone needs to establish personal guidelines on how to treat others in order to not burn bridges. A student will learn what it takes to piss somebody off or what makes them happy, and then experience the consequences of either. While all these phenomena certainly could happen to a student who is home-schooled by other means, the direct exposure simply isn't as regular or equal in scale. Furthermore, many relationships formed as a student navigates K-12 will not die off as their school career comes to an end. Some of these relationships are the most sacred bond anyone could have. There is arguably no other place or time in anyone's life where they can accumulate such a large amount of friends whom of which they share so many impressionable memories with. These are the people you do everything for the first time with, and its likely that you will continue to make memories with these people for the rest of your life. II Work Environment Typically, on a regular basis, students will learn to wake up at a scheduled time, conduct all their usual morning preparations, and finally head off to school. As do all of their classmates. All students will arrive at the same time and conquer the same endeavors. This introduces the concept of having a common enemy. Not only does this entail much closer ties among students than a student who is home-schooled could form with anyone their age, it also shows students that working together can be extremely efficient and synergistic. They can also learn not strictly from the teacher, but also from fellow students, as well as teach their fellow students themselves. It also introduces many concepts in which they will encounter throughout life such as: specialization, cooperation, survival of the fittest, responsibility, work ethic, and time-management. Among infinitely many other important concepts. Getting used to the work environment is most crucial in our society, and it is important to expose children to this at their most impressionable stage. III Inferiority Complex On a daily basis, students will be exposed to an environment in which they all share equal opportunities that have been provided by the education system. As time progresses though, these opportunities will oscillate between students. The amount of benefit that any given student can take from school is extremely volatile. While this may seem unfair, it is a fundamental component of human interactivity. A student who is home-schooled receives maximum benefit from their educational opportunities. This may seem like a good thing, but it is simply unrealistic. In home schooling, there is no honor roll, no band, no athletic awards, no relative grades, no popular crowd, no geeks - there is absolutely no one else to consider yourself stronger or weaker than on certain aspects. A home-schooled student is the strongest at everything! IV Extra-Curricular Activities Typically, all public schools will make all of their clubs and events available to home-schooled students in their town, but it is a fundamentally different experience for either. First off, even though these things are available, home-schooled students generally don't participate. I mean, why would they? If they chose to participate, this would be their first time exposed to a large crowd of individuals who all have known each other for long periods of time, and who can feel the presence of an outsider. For the students who actually attend the school, only they can receive maximum benefit from participating in extra-curricular activities: Sports, band, clubs, school dances, evening events, and later on the most sentimental of all - prom. To wrap things up for this first round, I will say this: Referring back to the people I have known in the past who were home-schooled, I will admit that these were some of the finest individuals I have ever encountered. In my town, there was this family of three children, all of which whom have made numerous achievements both academically and extra-curricular. They ran cross-country at my middle school and high school - all three. All three of them were multi-time state champions. They all played instruments proficiently. The oldest one had his own ten-minute story on our local news station where he demonstrated his skills with the violin, and spoke about how he balances all his endeavors. However, these people were awkward in nature to some degree. They were not casual about their social interactions. They dressed differently and spoke differently. They even ran sort of weird! Now one may argue that these things shouldn't matter - they without a doubt impose noticeable and measurable consequences. They were called "the home-schooled kids" and were referred to as that when frequently spoken of. Certainly this has an impact on how they could interact with the rest of us students. I rest my case for now. I have other examples of people that I knew who were home-schooled on reserve. As well as some other points I wish to make. Good luck.