Academic results
The academic effectiveness of homeschooling is disputed. While homeschooled students generally do extremely well on standardized tests[5], critics argue that such students are a self-selected group whose parents care strongly about their education; such students would also do well in a conventional school environment. Increasingly, colleges are recruiting homeschooled students; many colleges accept a GED as well as parent statements and portfolios of students work as admission criteria; others also require SATs or other standardized tests.
Opponents argue that parents with little training in education are less effective in teaching. However, some studies do indicate that parents income and education level affect home educated students performance on standardized tests very little.
Homeschooled childrens curricula often include many subjects not included in school curricula. Some colleges find this an advantage in creating a more academically diverse student body, and proponents argue this creates a more well-rounded and self-sufficient adult. Opponents argue that homeschoolers eclectic curricula often exclude critical subjects and isolate them from the rest of society, or present them with ideological worldviews, especially dogmatic religious ones.
The results with gifted and learning-disabled children is particularly controversial.
Social development
A common concern voiced about homeschooled children is they lack the social interaction with peers that a school environment provides. Many homeschooling families address these concerns by joining numerous organizations, including independent study programs and specialized enrichment groups for PE, Art, Music, and Debate. Most are also active in community groups. Homeschooled children generally socialize with other children the same way that school children do: outside of school, via personal visits and through sports teams, clubs and religious groups.
ERIC, the Education Resources Information Center of the U.S. government, has published multiple articles on homeschooling. Heres an excerpt from one which examined several studies on homeschool socialization:
"According to the findings, children who were schooled at home gained the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to function in society...at a rate similar to that of conventionally schooled children.
"The researcher found no difference in the self concept of children in the two groups. Stough maintains that insofar as self concept is a reflector of socialization, it would appear that few home-schooled children are socially deprived, and that there may be sufficient evidence to indicate that some home-schooled children have a higher self concept than conventionally schooled children."
Proponents argue further that the social environment of schools:
eradicates individuality and creativity.
sinks to the standards of the lowest common denominator
involves bullying, drug use, early sexuality, defiance, criminality, materialism, and eating disorders.
and that socialization in the wider community:
leads them to use adults as role models rather than peers
better prepares them for real life
encourages them to be more involved in youth organizations, church organizations, and sports
helps them develop an independent understanding of themselves and their role in the world, with the freedom to reject or approve conventionial values without the risk of ridicule.
Opponents of homeschooling offer the following criticisms concerning socialization, pointing out that not all homeschooling families participate extensively in community activities:
Interaction with peers and different social groups is essential to learning to live in society.
Schools are a unique environment that provide students with necessary social networking skills that help them succeed in the workplace and in the politics of high-level business. Real life includes school as well.
Homeschoolers tend to live in an insulated world where they arent exposed to a variety of ideas, which can prevent any personal growth and independence later on in life.
If children are insulated from unpleasant social situations, then they will be left unprepared when they are inevitably left to make their own way in the world. Children should be allowed to live and learn from their mistakes rather than sheltered from reality.
Some persons oppose homeschooling because they fear that children in such homes could be trapped into a cult-like atmosphere and raised entirely without a view of the larger social world. These persons say that there is a pronounced risk that religious or social extremism could be taught to children in the sheltered environment of a homeschool.
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