Importance of Regulating Homeschooling in the United States of America - Essay Example

? The Regulation of Homeschooling ? The Regulation of Homeschooling Introduction Over the last few decades there have been debates on the legality of the legality of regulating homeschooling. The debates were majorly based on the quality of the education that is offered in homeschooling as compared to those offered in public schools. Those arguing for the regulation emphasize on the issues of the outcome of this form of education and possible abuse. This paper aims at critically analyzing the importance of regulating homeschooling in the United States of America. The argument in this paper is based on the assumptions that homeschooling can be taken advantage of by violent parents, through homeschooling the quality of education can be compromised, and homeschooling does not enhance natural science education. Looking at the nature of homeschooling it can be noticed that it seriously needs regulation. The regulation comes with challenges. The regulation of homeschooling has over the years had various critics criticizing its necessity. As much as there are various points that successfully explain the lack of necessity for homeschooling, there are arguments with bigger intensity explaining the need for regulating homeschooling. The arguments mainly proves the necessity of regulation of homeschooling to ensure its productivity. Discussion One reason why home schooling should be regulated is because of the high rate at which its rising and the high possibility of it being abused. Some parents might take advantage of homeschooling to serve their own interests. This is a possibility in cases where parents are trying to hide some aspects of their current or past lives. For instance, violent parents might take advantage of homeschooling to hide the inhuman things that they do to their children. This way they will be able to hide the bruises that result from the mistreatment that they subject their children to. This will create a scenario where the children will be having their basic rights violated, but no one will come to their rescue because no one knows. This can also be used by parents with criminal records to serve their own interest (Kunzman, 2009). However, it is clearly evident that this can have very minimal effect on the overall effectiveness of the productivity of homeschooling. Homeschooling should also be regulated because of the quality of education that all individuals are entitled to. Researches have it that, without proper regulation, the quality of education given to homeschooling students can easily be compromised. As much as there is always a fixed curriculum to be followed by both homeschool and public school teachers, it is hard to tell whether the homeschool teachers effectively cover the curriculum. This will mean that, in the end, the students would not have attained the intellectual maturity that is expected of a student that has gone through the United States of America’s education system (McMullen, 2002). The ultimate result of this sub quality education is that the students will not be able to keep up with the students going through the standard type of education both at higher levels of education and in various professions. Students who have gone through homeschooling through their high school years are less expected to major in the natural sciences than the non-homeschooled students, and that more attention has to go to this because of the growing number of homeschooled students in the United States of America. Homeschooled students are not exposed to professional science teachers and labs and so do not have as many options, with their growing number this could be a threat the education system (Phillips, 2010). This will definitely call for regulation because the increase in the number of people being homeschooled will, therefore, mean that there is a significant decrease in the number of professionals in natural science, a factor that might affect the country economically, politically and socially. Taking a look at the motives that parents usually have when opting for homeschooling, one will definitely notice that most of the parents have the intention of making sure that their children get the best from education. According to a research carried out to determine the motives behind the parents who prefers homeschooling for their children, it was observed that 85% of the parents were concerned about the quality of education offered by public schools. As much as it might sound like the government has the ability to monitor the quality of education that is offered in public schools, parent can do this perfectly. Cases of neglect have also been on the rise in the recent past in public schools. This is a clear indication that homeschooling can be more productive than public schooling especially because homeschooling can allow students to be keenly attended to as opposed to public schools where this kind of attention is not assured (Reich, 2008). Conclusion It is clearly evident that regulation is vital for the success of homeschooling. This is particularly because of its ability to ensure quality of education and curb abuse of home. The regulation will be necessitated by the possibility of the quality of education being compromised and the high rate in which abuse cases have been realized in the past. This confirms the point that regulation of homeschooling is definitely important. However, the abuse rate argument can be countered by the high rate of parents who opt for homeschooling as a result of their concern of the learning environments in public schools. Regulation of homeschooling should, therefore, be made in a way that it does not affect individuals who opt for it with the right intention. There has also been many cases in which quality of education has been comprised too, a fact that can make the argument on quality a general one. The relevant stakeholders might also consider introducing an education system which is a fusion of both forms of education. This will enable individuals who opt for homeschooling to major in natural sciences in the advanced levels of education. This is because the system can enable homeschoolers to access facilities that they cannot access from home. This way homeschooling might become a very successful education system. References Kunzman, R. (2009). Understanding homeschooling A better approach to regulation. Theory and Research in Education, 7(3), 311-330. Technology and home-schooling.(1996). Policy Review, (79), 61. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.aus.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/216361546?accountid=16946 Phillips, L. (2010). Homeschooling is an art, not a science: The impact of homeschooling on choice of college major. Sociological Viewpoints, 26(2), 19-25. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.aus.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/870329519?accountid=16946 McMullen, J. G. (2002). Behind closed doors: Should states regulate homeschooling. SCL Rev., 54, 75. Reich, R. (2008). On regulating homeschooling: A reply to Glanzer. Educational Theory, 58(1), 17-23. Read More