Brick and mortar schooling programs are not a better form of education than online/home education.

Thank you for accepting! This is my first debate on this site so I ask that you bear with me as I try to figure the technology and format out. Firstly, I wish to state clearly that my position is not strictly against public schooling, and I fully support anyone who chooses to educate their children in that way. However; it is my opinion that homeschooling and online education are equal to or greater than Brick and Mortar. Not less beneficial. 1. Customization and Learning Speeds Homeschooling parents and parents who choose to enroll their child in an online academy are more able to supervise and customize their child's education. They are able to see their child's level of maturity and learning ability more fully, and therefore are able to set curriculum that fits their child's needs perfectly. In most public schools the class runs at a single pace with a specified set of curricula that are typically unable to be adjusted from student to student. This format can cause students to fall behind in their education. If a machine is to function at top productivity and efficiency, it must have parts that fit together perfectly and move in accordance with each others speed. In the same way, an education that does not supply the perfect "parts" it will not be able to function properly. 2. *Quality of Education This topic varies heavily from school to school, however studies do seem to point out that homeschooled/online schooled students are able to achieve the same standards public schooled students. This summery of a 1998 study on the topic seems to show this fact. "In Spring 1998, 20,760 K-12 home school students in 11,930 families were administered either the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) or the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency (TAP), depending on their current grade..... Major findings include: the achievement test scores of this group of home school students are exceptionally high--the median scores were typically in the 70th to 80th percentile; 25% of home school students are enrolled one or more grades above their age-level public and private school peers" (This summery can be found here http://eric.ed.gov...) This is certainly not the only study that shows the same results. Many other credible studies can be found with little research involved. Though the above study is not controlled and cannot prove that homeschool is "better" than public school, it certainly demonstrates that home education is not a "lesser" form of education. Furthermore, history also shows that people who were educated at home are just as successful. Inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and the Wright Brothers were all homeschooled. Numerous US presidents were also homeschooled, as well as many other people in many fields of work. Some more notable homeschoolers include John Witherspoon, Andrew Carnegie, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! To see a more complete list of successful homeschoolers you can look here: http://www.homeschoolacademy.com.... History indeed shows that homeschoolers are just as well off as anyone else. *(In this topic I somewhat switch my terms to "homeschooled" as in anyone educated at home, this includes online education. I don't want any confusion going on here :).) These will be my starting arguments, I will probably add more as the debate goes on but for now I shall leave these as my main points. I look foreword do seeing your response. Good luck!