Why Home Schooling Harms Society

Schools are communities that not only emphasize collective learning but also encourage sports and
creativity in the form of extra curricular activities; such activities serve as a utility to instill societal values
into the next generation. These values include public health - required immunizations not only have
concrete benefits but also teach children that their actions have consequences on the greater whole. We
believe that parents that teach their own children have less of incentive to immunize children and
statistically do not[[http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-10-21-home-school-vaccinate_N.htm ]].
Public schooling gives a voice to the government that speaks of the societal values that have been
agreed on by the general public. We believe that both society and the government have a right to
influence the child's development, not only because the government plays a part in protecting the child,
but because of the important role the future adult will play as a citizen of society. We believe that public
schooling is the mouthpiece for the interests of both the government and society as a whole. Naturally,
parents will have the right to influence the development of the child, but homeschooling allows parents to
become sole dictators of the child's progress, which is harmful. While some parents' 'curriculum' may be
aligned with that of the public, there are no safeguards against parents that may indoctrinate their kids
with beliefs that will raise them to become harmful citizens. These beliefs can include gross intolerance
for particular minority groups supported by false information. These ideas can still reach the child outside
of school, but the government has a duty to protect children from a regressive upbringing by at least
offering a more constructive perspective.
The cost of not ensuring that the next generation has the foundation of accepted principals and values of
the society in them outweighs the potential benefits of homeschooling.

Home schooling should be banned.

Yes because...No because...

The Uniqueness of School

When answering the question of whether or not something should be banned, we must look at the what is
being lost in the world of the stakeholders while that action or thing is still being permitted. In the context
of this debate, we believe that there are unique benefits to receiving an education outside of the home
that are so conclusive and so vital that they make school an absolute necessity that every child should
partake in.
A crucial part of an education outside of the home is the interaction amongst the students that is used to
prepare them to have constructive engagements with fellow citizens when their schooling is over.
Interacting with other children who may be taught different belief systems and come from different socialeconomic statuses and religious or ethnic backgrounds prepare students for their future, where the
potential of having to deal with someone who is different is almost inevitable. While there may be
attempts by parents to socialize their children through other means (such as joining sports teams or youth
clubs), these organizations are centered around similarity - all the kids that enjoy the same thing or

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believe in the same values congregate. School is a mixture that does not filter out students, and there is
an inherent social value to such a mix.
We believe that governments have a duty to ensure, or at the very at least, provide children the potential
to interact with other children of different backgrounds at such a crucial time of their development as
active and productive citizens. The only way to do this is to eliminate systems such as homeschooling
that promote exclusivity under the guise of protection. The only way to truly hold the child's interests as a
priority is to to prepare them for the society that they will soon inherit; homeschooling attempts to
construct a world for the child that often does not match reality.

Home schooling should be banned.

Yes because...No because...

Loss of Opportunity
Children can perhaps be best described as beings of potential during their school years, each child is in
the process of discovering their talents and having them be nurtured in an attempt to best reach selfactualization. We believe a self-actualized individual is aware of their own limitations because their talents
have been nurtured from a young age, with their mentors providing for their development.
Under the homeschooling system parents become much more exclusive mentors to a child, and this can
be problematic. Although parents are generally aware of what their child is capable of, their assessments
are not always accurate. This could be for a number of reasons perhaps it may be due to the fact that
their children are predominately seen in the home environment, limiting their chances to show off their
potential in other situations. It could also be because parents sometimes assume that their children will
share the same talents that they had. Simply stated, it would be unreasonable to assume parents could
see the whole picture.
This is why nearly everyone has someone in their life that helped to form their identity or helped them
discover a talent a mentor that is someone other than their parents; very often even a schoolteacher or
a coach who gave them an opportunity to excel that may not have been available in the home. It is this
sort of mentoring that can lead a person from simply having potential to becoming self-actualized, and
banning homeschooling best provides an avenue towards that goal. Governments have a duty to protect
these non-consenting individuals from a severe loss in psychological advancement due to their parents
decision. Governments require parents to feed their child's body, why not require them to feed their minds
as well by partly liberating them from the shackles of their parents' world view?

Home schooling should be banned.

Yes because...No because...

Breeds Separatism
A good question to consider in this debate is why parents choose to home school their children in the first
place. The overwhelming motive is to provide religious or moral instruction. From 2003 to 2007, the

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percentage of students in the United States whose parents reported religion or morality as the reason
they chose to home school increased from 72 percent to 83 percent
[[http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009030.pdf]]. This usually means that these children are taught with only
a single world view in mind that has the potential to go completely unchallenged throughout the child's
development. We have already explained how the probability that this will create a citizen that has not
been taught the sufficient ability to become an active and actualized member of society is far too great to
be ignored. Beyond that, just the practice of home schooling alone shapes the child in a negative fashion.
We believe that homeschooling a child dramatically and adversely alters the way in which the child relates
to the rest of his/her fellow citizens. To home school is not only to physically separate children from the
public but to also mentally separate them as well. We believe the ability of a home schooled child to
empathize with others in society is severely retarded by homeschooling because the child has been
raised to believe that there is something that is so dramatically worse about the rest of society that it
necessitated removal from whatever was going on on the other side. If citizens do not have any sort of
investment in their fellow citizens, how can decisions come about that benefit the majority and the
community?
.

Home schooling should be banned.

Yes because...No because...

Unschooling
Homeschooling can be a guise for unschooling. For ideological, economic, health issues, etc., some
parents will pull their children from school under homeschooling statutes and refuse or be unable to carry
on the education. It is estimated that in the US alone, there are 100,000 unschooled children in the 1.5
million homeschooled population [[http://dailywd.womansday.com/blog/2010/04/daily-buzz-goodbyehomeschooling-hello-unschooling.html]] At least 100,000 adults will enter society without any formal
education. This will severely affect their chances of unemployment and hopes of financial and fiscal
success. Regardless of how important it is tolearn to dance, sing, and play, employment standards are
based upon public education standards. It is important to be formally educated for this reason.

Home schooling should be banned.

Yes because...No because...

Improves Education
When parents are (often rightly) concerned about the state of public education, their concern is likely to
revolve mostly around their own child or children. Given the option of homeschooling, those who have
sufficient leisure time (i.e., time not devoted to work and life functions) to actively participate in the civic
life will be able to homeschool their child. This is clearly not a long-term solution, though, as many
children live in households where both parents work or even if one parent has the time to educate them
has not themselves been well-educated enough to qualify as a home-teacher. If homeschooling was

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banned, those concerned parents could use their political clout to improve the public school system
through democratic reform, producing a better system that is more equitable even for those who do not
have time to take upon large civic reform

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