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Homeschooling and Private and Public Schooling

Margaret Otieno

PHIL415 BAKE-BSNA 20 B3 S6C1-PHIL415

Mark Arandia

Unitek College

09/25/2022
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Introduction and Background

Parents face the decision to take their children to private or public institutions or allow

them to study at home. The traditional school setting involves children and students walking to

school environments away from home. However, the rate of parents preferring to educate their

children at home is growing in the United States and other countries. In 2009 alone, about 1.5

million parents in the United States chose homeschooling over traditional education. Such is a

considerable growth, given that 850,000 students got educated at home in 1999 (Boulter, 2017).

However, the homeschooling growth rate is declining.

Another noteworthy fact is that homeschooling is legal in every state, with varying laws

and standards that regulate it. Such legalization proceeded after the Supreme Court decision in

1985 that homeschooling could be allowed under established private school law. Parents must

decide whether to adopt the traditional way or settle on homeschooling. The current paper

demonstrates that homeschooling is better than public and private schooling due to better

academic achievement and improved social, emotional, and psychological development among

homeschooling children.

Analyzing the current state of decision making

Resistance to evidence

Most parents’ decisions rely on thoughts that are not critical. For instance, the traditional

school setting has prevailed fo centuries, and these same parents were most likely to school in

conventional stages of private and public systems. Resisting evidence is possible by denying,

ignoring, or interpreting evidence that serves prejudices and prevents the search for knowledge

on homeschooling and private and public schooling (Vaughn, 2018). If any schooling decision

may be based on traditional practices and beliefs rather than evidence, then the concept of
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resistance to evidence could cloud our minds. It is improper for policymakers and parents to

resist any contrary evidence that contradicts societal beliefs.

Subjective relativism

Other decision-making practices orient toward subjective relativism. When you relate

schooling decisions to persons, you fail to think critically. Such approaches cause individuals to

evade the difficult task of critical inquiry through reliance on a subjective fallacy (Vaughn,

2018). Parents should not make decisions because their opinions about schooling vary. For

instance, such a scenario occurs when homeschooling is true for a few parents but not other

parents.

The fallacy of appeal to popularity

A final state of thought used in schooling decisions revolves around the fallacy of appeal

to populations. The argument that public and private schooling is true since most people believe

in them is a fallacy. It deprives parents and practitioners of the ability to think critically and

review contrary schooling opinions like homeschooling. As Vaughn (2018) describes, such

arguments are fallacious since they assume arguments are true due to the large number of people

believing and practicing them. What people believe is irrelevant.

Positive outcomes associated with homeschooling

Better academic achievement.

One basis for comparing homeschooling to traditional alternatives is students’ academic

performance. One may imagine homeschooled children likely perform lower than those taken to

private and public schools. However, research proves that homeschooling is overally associated

with positive learner outcomes. On average, homeschooled children perform better than their

peers attending private and public institutions (Ray, 2021). Such performance is visible in their
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academic achievements, emotional, social, and psychological development, and success in

adulthood.

The positive outcomes associated with homeschooling are adequately documented in

literature. Ray (2017) conducted a comprehensive systematic review of the empirical research on

selected aspects of homeschooling as a school choice. Of the 14 peer-reviewed studies reviewed,

11 (78%) showed positive academic outcomes for homeschooling students. Such a majority of

positivity on homeschooling provides even strong evidence. Parents should realize that

homeschooled children perform better academically, develop better socially and emotionally,

and develop better through adulthood compared with alternatively educated peers.

Improved social, emotional, and psychological development

Opponents of homeschooling believe that students learning at home cannot access

various people from diverse backgrounds. Having reviewed all peer-reviewed studies on social

development, Ray (2017) found that 13 of 15 studies covering homeschooled children and adults

indicated positive developmental outcomes compared to conventional education. Again,

homeschooling children are not isolated from the outside world as one may imagine. They

engage in social activities outside families and participate in organized clubs, groups, and

religious and play activities Ray (2017).

They also acquire cultural capital much better than non-homeschooled children. Culture

consists of information transmittable socially within a given population to affect behaviour and

cognition (Kashima, et al., 2015). Such information could be practices and ideas represented in

the body and brain, or people create artifacts. Cultural dynamics refers to the evolution of culture

over time through three distinct processes, as outlined by Kashima, Bain, et al. (501). Culture is

firstly introduced and made available to the human population through invention or importation
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from another population. After its introduction, cultural information is socially transmitted

among individuals. The last process involves changing cultural prevalence as it is transmitted

throughout the population and across generations.

Rather than merely copying cultural information, homeschooled individuals actively

interpret the information. Cultural learners search for the meaning of actions by active

transmission. After interpretation, some aspects can be discussed between the sender and

receiver, while others are eliminated. Accepted cultural information is committed to memory for

future use. Through micro-level interactions, cultural information gets transmitted at an

increasing prevalence, leading to macro-level courses in the long run.

Homeschooling, therefore, preserves practices and ideas among populations and

generations. This is made possible by the social transformation of cultural information by

vertical, oblique, and horizontal means. The mechanisms of cultural transformation occur at

micro-levels and macro-levels that shape cultural dynamics across generations.

Arguments against homeschooling

Critics argue that since children do not have access to the outside world, they lack the

opportunity to gain the required social interaction skills (Romanowski, 2001). Though

proponents believe homeschooled children can acquire socialization skills, opponents hold that

they are not exposed to various backgrounds and beliefs available in conventional institutional

setups. Again, despite the integrated curriculum available for homeschooling, opponents argue

that the home cannot host numerous and diverse enrichment of activities (Romanowski, 2001).

Extra curriculum activities like forensics, bands, choral activities, and orchestra are lacking in the

homeschooling environment (Romanowski, 2001).

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Against these viewpoints, Students’ academic performance is empirically proven to be

better than conventional schooling. Though there have been contrary findings, most studies

support that homeschooling is associated with positive academic outcomes. The controversial

development issues surrounding the social, emotional, and psychological development among

homeschooling children are properly addressed and documented by supporting research.

Conclusion

Based on critical thinking and careful reliance on scientific evidence, it is right to

conclude that homeschooling is much better than private and public schooling. Evidence proves

that homeschooled children perform better academically and develop better in their social,

emotional and adulthood stages. Opponents’ views are unrepresented by adequate research.
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References

Bosswell, A. R. (2021). Homeschooling and Learners’ Academic Achievement: Evidence from

the United States of America. Journal of Education, 4(5), 25–36.

https://doi.org/10.53819/81018102t40014

Boulter, L. (2017). A Comparison of the Academic Achievement of Home School and Public

School Students. International Journal of Business and Social Research, 7(3), 01.

https://doi.org/10.18533/ijbsr.v7i3.1037

Hendajany, N. (2016). THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC VS PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN

INDONESIA. Journal of Indonesian Applied Economics, 6(1), 66–89.

https://doi.org/10.21776/ub.jiae.2016.006.01.4

Kashima, Y., Laham, S. M., Dix, J., Levis, B., Wong, D., & Wheeler, M. (2015, July). Social

transmission of cultural practices and implicit attitudes. Organizational Behavior and

Human Decision Processes, 129, 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2014.05.005

Ray, B. (2021). Should educators promote homeschooling? Worldwide growth and learner

outcomes. Journal of Pedagogy, 12(1), 55–76. https://doi.org/10.2478/jped-2021-0003

Ray, B. D. (2017). A systematic review of the empirical research on selected aspects of

homeschooling as a school choice. Journal of School Choice, 11(4), 604–621.

https://doi.org/10.1080/15582159.2017.1395638

Romanowski, M. H. (2001, November). Common Arguments about the Strengths and

Limitations of Home Schooling. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational

Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 75(2), 79–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/00098650109599241

Vaughn, L. (2018). The Power of Critical Thinking: Effective Reasoning about Ordinary and

Extraordinary Claims (6th ed.). Oxford University Press.