Homeschooling Won't Work

Homeschooling isn't a new concept. In fact, it's not even a reformed version of a concept. It was founded in 1977 and has been practiced worldwide. In the world, or specifically in the U.S., homeschooling isn't considered abnormal but still, it's kind of special. In Taiwan, however, we've only got a handful of cases and most people don't even think such education exists. On the contrary of what was mentioned last week, here's why homeschool education doesn't have its place in society in general.

Time+Money=Reality

Let's be realistic here. After choosing "unschooling" your child, the first things that are brought to your face is the lack of time even though it seems like you've been given 8 more hours a day. Since there's no schooling, you got to take up the teaching... and you got to teach everything and beyond.

Back in school, everything required to learn is covered by school curriculum and there's a

team of people who are working on it. Now that it's just you and your child, you're on your own. Nobody shares the responsibility of your child's education but you. There's no school bells to set apart recess so every minute counts. You've got yourself an ultra-full-time job!

Because so, you won't be able to work and that makes you a single-income, triple-cost family, yikes! Your partner has to fully agree on this decision as well and on top of that, be consistent with that agreement. Money... after all things considered, still plays a major role in the picture.

Why isn't homeschooling more popular?

Not having had to send your kids to school may sound like a cool idea, but why haven't more people done it? There's a reason why homeschooling isn't mainstream. In fact, there are several.

Since public schooling is tied to government policies, it knows best what kind of future the country is going towards and what sort of human resources are key to the next generation. What path are homeschoolers heading to? Without being with the rest of the world, will they posses the necessary abilities that they didn't get to experience? Let's face it.

You can't teach everything; some lessons have to be shown to students. Lessons such as peer support/pressure, making decisions in a group without adults and even dating. Socializing isn't all perfect. It does come with bullying, pranking or isolating. However, they're all essential problems we need to learn to overcome.

The One Who Says All

Another problem that comes to this alternative education is the power shift. It doesn't mean that you cannot leave the house and meet other human beings but we all know who need to make the difficult decisions at the end, the parent/teacher. What kind of children doesn't like "snacking the unsnackable(sweets, soda, chips...etc.)", says yes to work or simply makes all the good choices? It's obvious that at the end, the power goes to the caretaker and that, can result in the child's lack of choice. Taking the rule of thumb, the parent/teacher tend to teach only what he/she thinks that are right. But what if it's wrong? Take religion as an example. What happens when you as the teacher is a Christian and teaches your child that doesn't believe its teaching? Is it moral to passive-aggressively force ideas into children's minds? Homeschooling can easily turn into brainwashing children or deprive them of reality.

Who's teaching?

Besides having a one-sided ideology, in terms of being professional, the teaching parent's job is also important. You can learn something from everyone but not everyone is a teacher. A teacher is more than a school subject. It's a position that requires teaching skills, professional knowledge, patience, compassion, empathy, and love. It isn't a career suitable for the majority of people, not to mention that homeschooling is a 24/7 teaching job. It would have driven most people mad just for a few hours/minutes with kids.

In to Darkness

Last but not least, choosing an unconventional education will have unconventional results. To be fair, in public school education, we cannot be 100% sure what the children would turn out to be but there's a pattern that we could follow, there are test results that place students likely careers and professional advisers for guidance. Everything from homeschool education is uncertain and it seems to operate based on chance, the chance of being lucky. It seems to be escaping anything that they don't like from schools but forgetting what good there can be as well.

#education