Homeschooling: Broadening Horizons or Narrowing Minds?

Homeschooling is a widely argued topic amongst everyone from families, politicians, teachers, professors, and students. The concept of homeschooling seems like an alienate idea to those who have never been exposed to it fully. In regards to homeschooling, depite what advocates try to argue, students are severly lacking in several parts of a traditional education such as learning from peers and are brought up in a hypocritic situation.

Homeschooled children are deprived of the education they recieve from their peers in a traditional education setting. Students learn and wide variety of their knowledge from their peers. Primarily, this education is not in regards to academic achievements but social knowledge, also known as "street smarts." Though adovocates for homeschooling may argue that homeschooled children are frequently participating in sports, youth groups, etc. These situations only present the homeschooled child with specific socialization, "per week the average homeschooled child participates in at least five outside activites" (mother.com). Most outside activities have one very specific thing in common, adult supervision. Whether it be a youth group leader, a den mother, and troop leader, or a coach; all have some kind of adult involved in the group. Children act differently around adults, and will not fully socialize to the extent they want in front of an adult. Therefore, the homeschooled child is only getting the easy, carefree version of his or her peers.

Homeschooled children are also less exposed to differing ideas. The parents of these children feel customization will broaden the child's learning. But really they will be narrowing the child's mind to the bias and ideas the parent chooses to expose them too. In a traditional education setting, students are around their peers in less formal places like lunch and recess. There they are exposed to the ideas and diversities of their fellow peers. Keeping a child away from these scenarios will ultimately "sheild them from the vibrancy of a pluralistic democracy" (Bielick). If more students are homeschooled, the future leaders of our societies will ultimately be unaware of the people around them due to be educationally secluded from their fellow peers.

Homeschool is also an extremely hypocritic situation. Take for example, a high school English teacher. If he was to teach without proper credentials, he would cause both a legal and moral uproar. Yet a parent is allowed to teach their child without any higher education? The law is simple, "if instructors teach without credentials they will be subject to criminal action" (time.com). So why are the teachers of the traditionally educated so harshly critized about cridentials yet homeschooling advocates are not?

The ideas of homeschooling seem good but ultimately may cause more harm to a student than good. The lack of peer-to-peer learning and the hypocracy of the entire situation are just some reasons that homeschooling is harmful.