Saturday, October 1, 2011

3 Reasons Why You Don't Want To Be Homeschooled

Homeschooling is pretty much school at home with good ol' dad or mom. It's pretty much school, but with more freedom right? You can set your own schedule, eat your own lunch, and even go on "school trips" five times a week right?! Doesn't it sound like the best idea since sliced apricots? But before you throw your bookbag out and get ready to beg your parents to be home schooled, lets look at the fine print.


3. Lack Of Personal Space

Think about it for a moment, where is school located now? In your attempts to avoid school as much as possible, you've brought school into your own home. The instant you wake up, "you're in school", there's no physical barrier between an institution for education and the place you watch cartoons and eat cheerios. It would be the equivalent of sleeping over at school everyday until you move out and get a apartment.

Alternatively, you can place peanuts on a stack of one dollar bills.

Instead of being able to "leave" school to a safe, non-educational environment, you'll constantly be in the threshold of "learning". Your parents could pester you to do homework and study for upcoming tests while you sit in the bathroom pretending to use the toilet or during dinner. The same desk you eat your breakfast on, will be the same desk you do "school work" on. The psychological barriers between work and leisure will slowly interlink, creating an environment that will make it extremely difficult to relax, or work.



2. Teachers Can Teach You Better

Here's a fact for those parents that think they know-it-all, teachers can teach better than you. A teacher's entire career is based on teaching you effectively, a parent that is completely bewildered by a pen isn't going to be able to teach you on the same level a teacher can. The truth is, many teachers have received extensive training on the subject they teach and how to teach it before being allowed into the public school system.

Teachers that have been teaching for long periods of time tend to learn what gives students the most difficulty and how to explain it without blowing up their minds. Parents on the other hand, may have trouble themselves understanding the material that they need to teach you and can result in misunderstandings, misinterpretations and even complete obliviousness. Imagine your dad/mom teaching you about George Washington and the time he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth?

Or that other time when he saved John Connor.

Parents don't need to take extensive qualification test to prove that they are capable to teaching you advanced calculus, teachers do. In any other scenario, would you rather have some random hillbilly off the streets teaching you, or someone with a college degree that's done it for years teaching you? Considering the fact that all students will eventually be evaluated in the same standards of other students in public schools, you'll pick the guy that knows what he/she's talking about.

1. Lack of Socialization

One of the perks of school is making friends and learning to live in the outside world. Wouldn't it be a shame if you were locked away in a dark closet, without access to the outside world and suddenly thrown into society after 18 years of life? The thing is, socialization isn't all about hanging out with friends and throwing crazy parties, it's learning how to live and work outside of your mother's house.

Without learning how to not get beat up by bullies in sixth grade, you may find it extremely difficult to deal with adult bullying in the workplace if you've never encountered it before at home. You may also find it difficult to make friends, find jobs, and even express emotions and ideas properly. You might find yourself in loss of words when someone asks you "How are you?"

The fact is, you will eventually have to encounter the outside world, the training that comes along with school will help you adapt and grow along it. Also, you never know if you'll encounter the son of a technology monopoly in school that can get you the dream job you've always wanted. Not something your everyday-parents can do.

You never know.