Homeschool vs. Public School
As just about everyone who meets me knows, I left the public school system after the first semester of my Sophomore year in high school. There were many reasons for this, though the primary one was that I just didn’t feel as if I’d been learning anything, even with honors classes. I talked to my mom about it, and she was on board, though my dad required a presentation in order to be convinced. He eventually gave in, and we began the next January.
I loved homeschooling so very much. I would read textbooks and do any problems they might have had in them for about 4-5 hours each day, and be done. Obviously, this doesn’t sound like it would really help me retain the information as well as usual schooling, but something about it just worked better, as can actually be seen by my scores on the standardized tests I took at the end of each year–way above average on everything except math computation (which has since come back to me a little, since my Calculus teacher didn’t allow calculators on tests), and they had all the mandatory public school subjects.
I also had a great deal more freedom in choosing what I learned. For Biology, we followed a curriculum similar to that of the public schools; for Economics, my mom got Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics, which is an absolutely terrific read for anyone and everyone. Every course was researched in depth to find the best text with the most of what we wanted. We had a little trouble finding something for Chemistry and Physics, since we didn’t want the usual homeschool Creationism curriculum, but we ended up with those for both courses in the end, since they were the only ones at the level where I would learn the topic, but could still understand what it said. They turned out to be great books, though, and only rarely mentioned God.
My option of electives was also far larger and varied than in the public schools, because I could study literally anything. Perhaps the best example of this is the Ancient Egyptian language. Granted, I’ve forgotten the majority of it since no one speaks it any more, but I still remember a few general things (I remember the phrases “Happy birthday” (which I had to look up) and “I am thy father” (since I read it and though of Darth Vader)). That’s something I wouldn’t have never been able to do if I hadn’t left, and for that I am eternally grateful.
That’s not to say that homeschool is by any means perfect. Probably the most obvious problem is that it doesn’t exactly help with one’s social life. Unless a person is extremely aggressive in keeping a friendship together, it will eventually fall apart if the two don’t see each other every day. I’m never aggressive in anything, so that sort of ruined my social life. There was actually a time, probably about exactly a year ago, when I was in some sort of a chronic bad mood, which was probably due in part to the fact that everyone had since all but forgotten about me. Now, I don’t blame them or want to put them in a bad light because of it, since it’s something that just happens. However, that soon changed a bit. My sister and the B.I.L.T.B. (Brother-in-law-to-be) started inviting me over to their place every weekend, where their two friends (let’s call them M-1 and M-2) also were. So they have all since been somewhat good friends of mine, and have eased my Hermit Syndrome a great deal.
Now, I was speaking with someone a few weeks ago, and I somehow got around to telling him of my Middle School days. I explained that my friends and I would go to the library during our free time after lunch every day, but our teachers eventually barred us from doing so and made us go outside with the rest of the class, so we went in the morning before school from then on. He “laughed” (the conversation was in AIM), and said, “Silly public schools. You were too good for them.”
That was probably supposed to be a compliment, but I got rather angry at his assumptions. The thing is that, no matter how much I talk about how great homeschooling was for me, I don’t believe one bit that it’s more effective or better than public school in all cases. Unfortunately, that’s what every other homeschooler (though more so their parents) that I’ve met seems to think, and therefore they automatically go into “Yay home! BOO everything else!” mode. Well, I often jump to the defense of the public school in these cases, and especially the students who stayed in said system their whole lives.
I’m not saying that there isn’t a lengthy list of things that are wrong with the school system. It’s a government program, which in and of itself often causes ineffectiveness. Foremost, as was mentioned by someone else, is the fact that school is mandatory. This may come as a shock to some, but people on this earth are not identical to one another. I know, it’s amazing! There are those both willing and able to think hard about complicated things. These people enjoy learning and actually want to go to school (to an extent). However, there are also many who don’t have the ability to think in the ways necessary to succeed in the academic world. I know, I should be shot by the thought police for even entertaining that idea. These people then, instead of going ahead and becoming a useful member of society at a younger age, are forced to stay in school and try to be taught things that they know they’re never going to use. Some of these people end up also dragging down some of those who are capable of doing so. They may do so completely unintentionally, such as through complaining amongst the group about how hard classes are, while one who rather enjoys the difficult work might feel left out (I’ll admit that this does take a good deal of insecurity on the part of the singled-out person). However, in *achem* certain communities, this can be done for the sole purpose of holding the person back. As an example, I believe my sister told me of people at the high school we went to yelling, “You tryin’ to be white?” to those of their same ethnicity who answered a question right in class. I’m just saying, one’s community and peers do(es) have a huge effect on how one ends up as an adult. Perhaps things would be better if people weren’t all forced to be stuck in the same building all day with those who don’t have their same interests in mind.
Of course, out of that grows the problem of those people getting good jobs. It used to be that those people could get trade jobs and the like, but there’s no longer much of a market for that right now in America, as all our products come from China and Illegals and such. I know not what to do about that, though there still are places in the lower ranks of the large companies. I’m sure that doesn’t exactly satisfy the meaning of life that people need, but I can’t really fix that.
Another large problem with the schools has to do with the teachers. This is certainly not to say that they’re bad teachers or don’t care about the students or anything like that. However, due to unions and the basic fact that it’s government, their pay or employment doesn’t rest as heavily on how well their students do as it otherwise would. I’m sure the fact that their students don’t always show absolute enthusiasm in class also has an effect on their ability. It’s like the DMV, but not as bad since the teachers started out really giving a crap about their respective subjects and pupils. There are some great teachers out there who don’t really seem to lose any sort of love of teaching, and I have had a few myself, but there have also been some terrible ones. For example, I had Honors Geometry my last semester at the public school. My teacher was a rather good one, but she had a baby sometime in the middle of the semester, so we got a substitute. The substitute didn’t do quite as well. She knew her stuff–I believe she was a physicist at NASA before–but she just couldn’t teach for some reason. My sister actually had had her as a substitute in her physics class and had the exact same experience (“Her? Oh, she does suck at teaching! I thought you were just stupid.”). The thing is that she stayed almost the entire semester until enough parents complained that the principal came and taught for a day or so until our actual teacher came back the last week or so. I’ll admit that I had heard of a shortage of subs back then, but they may have had more incentive to find anyone else sooner if people were more able to ruin the business if they don’t provide the services for which they’re being paid.
I believe those are the two largest problems, and I probably shouldn’t try to fit any more in here. The thing is, though, that even with the school system as bad as it is, there are still tons of people who spent their entire lives in there and turn out wonderfully in the end, and it is to their defense more than anything that I come when a homeschooler gets all uppity about the issue. Obviously, all the friends I’ve made through the years are among those who stuck with public schools. The B.I.L.T.B. is now a Materials Engineer and is slowly working towards a Master’s degree while continually searching for better jobs than his current one (which still isn’t that bad). Both my sister and M-2 are in nursing school at the local tech college and set to graduate in a couple years (though, actually, I believe M-2 went to a private Christian school). M-1 has majored in Psychology and is about to enter into grad. school, while his brother (call him M-3. And yes, all their name’s start with M) is learning architecture. All that, while I’m about to major in History–a choice that I know will not get me a great salary (though I’m going for the BS instead of BA, if that makes it any better), and the only other homeschoolers who can speak of future success (as they are the only ones above the age of 
I apparently know a lot of nurses.
The point is, though, that which type of schooling a person chooses is negligible next to one’s natural tendencies towards academic work. There’s also a bit of a controversy over the political philosophies taught in public schools, but it really seems to me that so long as the parents don’t let the school completely raise their kid, he* should turn out perfectly fine. There are quite enough examples to prove that assumption wrong.
I actually think I’ve finally about emptied my head of this–and at exactly 11:00, too! By the way, I apologize for any typos, but I sure ain’t reading through all this mess to check for them.
*using he as a more or less neutral pronoun because feminists are stupid and he can mean both male and female.
