December beginner's tournament: Homeschooling is superior to the public primary school system

In this round I’m going to present my arguments for why homeschooling is superior to the public school system. Argument 1: homeschoolers perform better than students from public schools In 2009 the effective of homeschooling was researched. It measured how well homeschoolers performed relative to the public school students on the basic skills: reading, language, math, science and social studies. These were the results: (1) The homeschoolers are clearly performing way better than the students who go to public schools. They tend to score 34-39 percentile points higher than the students in public schools. Since teaching students the basic skills and knowledge is a very important aspect of schools it’s clear homeschooling is doing what it’s supposed to do. So, why is homeschooling so effective? I’ll point out two reasons now, but the other arguments I bring forth also contribute to this. 1. In public school classes the teacher has to divide his (or her) attention between dozens of students. With homeschooling one student gets all of the attention from the teacher. There is quite some evidence that suggests smaller classes have advantages (2). With homeschooling you’re taking these advantages to the extremes since the smallest possible class is a class with only one student. 2. With homeschooling it’s possible to adapt based on the strengths and weaknesses of the student. In classes teachers teach at one speed. If that speed is too low the student gets bored. School is holding back these students. When the speed of the teacher is too high, the student will get confused. Furthermore, mastery helps with learning. In math class you first learn to count and then to add and subtract. If you are struggling with counting and the teachers continues to adding, you’ll almost certainly struggle even more with your math. This often leads to students having to do over the entire year, which costs schools a lot of money and it costs the student an entire year. With homeschooling these problems are eliminated. If a student is learning something fast it’s easily possible to move on earlier. If a student is struggling with a topic it’s easily possible to spend more time on that topic to make sure the student really understands it. Argument 2: homeschooling provides a safe and free environment while public schools struggle with those Public schools have a dark side. Statistics show about 30% of the students in the US is involved in bullying on a regular basis (as a victim, a bully or both) (3). Furthermore, multiple students believe their friends make fun of people who try to do well in school. (4) This is another reason why homeschoolers tend to perform better than students who go to public schools. Homeschooling on the other hand provides a safer environment. Students don’t have to worry about bullies or group pressure. Furthermore, the parents of homeschoolers have more freedom. They can decide themselves when to go on a vacation. Going on an excursion to a museum or a theater is also easier. Another advantage is that parents can decide their own school times. Some students don’t like getting out of bed early, so in that case it’s possible to decide school just starts a little later. Argument 3: Homeschooling strengthens the bonds between children and the family With homeschooling the students are often taught by their own parents. This strengthens the bonds between parent and child. Many parents value this contact very highly. In fact, one of the most common regrets of people is that they worked too much and spent too little time with their children (5). Another advantage that comes by is about religion and culture. Many parents believe their religion and culture are important parts of who they are. They also want to pass those on to their children. This can get better done with homeschooling than with sending children to public schools. Conclusion: Homeschooling has multiple advantages over the public school system. Homeschoolers perform wonderfully, they are in a safe & free environment and homeschooling also strengthens the bond between the children and their parents. I’ll now hand the debate over to con so he is can argue why he believes the public school system is superior over homeschooling. Sources: 1) . http://files.eric.ed.gov... 2) . http://www.classsizematters.org... 3) . http://www.bullyingstatistics.org... 4) . http://www.heritage.org... 5) . http://www.theguardian.com... 6) See comments These sources helped me building my case: A) . http://www.raisesmartkid.com... B) . http://school.familyeducation.com...