TEST 3
65
Reading Passage
8
Home-schooling
A Introduction
In developed countries, compulsory education is the norm for children aged from
around 6 to 16. Even so, in most cases this does
not mean that the child has
to attend a school. Increasing numbers of parents are choosing to educate their
children at home. In the UK it is estimated that up to 100,000 pupils are being taught
in this way, which equates to about 1% of the UK school population. In the USA,
home
education, or home schooling as it is known,
has reached unprecedented
levels with approximately 2 million children, or 4% of the compulsory age group, now
receiving tuition at home. Parents cite various reasons for keeping their children away
from school, ranging from a lack of satisfaction with the school environment to a wish
to provide their own religious instruction. Homeschooling is a controversial issue
surrounded by misgivings, with supporters emphasizing its benefits and detractors
pointing to its limitations and risks.
B
The reasons why parents elect to educate their children at home are often linked
to emotionally charged issues rather than rational arguments that reflect the pros
and cons of homeschooling. Typically, a child is removed from a school following
negative experiences, for example bullying, or exposure to bad influences such as
drugs, discrimination, bad language, or falling in with the wrong crowd. Consequently,
homeschooling is ardently defended by its proponents who are not necessarily best
placed to consider its downsides dispassionately. Whilst the popularity of home
education is on the increase, it remains an oddity, associated more with problems
at school rather than a positive decision to provide a real alternative.
C
Whilst homeschooling of a child is unusual, learning from parents is not, so formal
teaching at home can be regarded as an extension of the parents’ normal role.
However, education in the home environment can have its limitations; for example,
when there are gaps in the parents’ knowledge in key subject areas such as fractions
or algebra. Moreover, teaching is not merely the dispensing of knowledge acquired,
but rather a skill that has to be taught, practised and mastered.
Parents are not
professional teachers and if the outcomes are poor then the parents can only blame
themselves. Homeschooling is both timeconsuming and demanding. Parents can
lose out financially and socially when they are obliged to spend the entire day at
home.