The Great School Debate

I came across a post recently containing seven life “hot takes” from the point of view of the influencer who posted it. These types of posts are not uncommon on social media: they are meant to cause controversy, advertise the poster’s views and connect with people who share those same views.

I don’t recall what all the “hot takes” on this particular post were, but the one that stood out to me was “homeschool is better than public school." This ultimatum made me pause. As a homeschooled student who eventually went to public school, the idea of one being “better” than the other is hard to grapple with. There are an infinite number of advantages and disadvantages on both sides, and putting one over the other for every single family and every single child is hard to grasp.

I wrote an article last year on the benefits and drawbacks of different types of education: public, private, homeschool, hybrid and online. I have had the benefit of being exposed to all these different forms of education in my life, and what I have to say may shock some people, but there is not one form of education that I like any better than another.

I went to a private preschool for a very (very) short amount of time before being homeschooled until fifth grade. I then went to a fully in-person public school until March of 2020, when life changed for all of us. Everything switched to online learning for the remainder of the school year.

By August 2020, my high school had a hybrid plan set up. Half the students would be in-person on Monday and Tuesday; the other half would be in-person Thursday and Friday. Everyone was online on Wednesday.

Once I got to college, I had the experience of taking some classes online and many in-person. I also worked a year at a private school as both an assistant teacher and childcare staff.

Now, as a graduate student with many different forms of education behind me, I can honestly say that no one form of education was “better” than any of the others.

Homeschool was wonderful. I loved being at home all day with my family; I loved working at my own pace; I loved having my own personal teacher (thanks, Mom!) who was able to help walk me through anything I didn’t understand whenever I asked. I loved learning alongside my siblings. Because my older brother and I were only two grades apart, we did some work together and often met in the middle for subjects like science and history, which meant I was a grade ahead in these areas for much of elementary school. For the time being, I enjoyed being at home.

Public school is by far a different story. You share a teacher with many other students, you have set times and schedules that are rarely (if ever) flexible, you have peers to compete with and you have to learn to take feedback and criticism from people you aren’t related to. You have to learn how to participate in group projects and work with people you may not get along with well. This is where homeschooling doesn’t fill every void. Students should not just be handed a book or a computer and left to their own devices, never to hear feedback from a real teacher. When I was homeschooled, my mom was an active teacher and never simply handed us our homework and left us alone, which made our version of homeschooling far different than many others, and for that I am grateful. Even so, there are certain aspects of learning on your own that do not compete with learning in a group setting.

Peers, group projects and healthy competition are all real-life skills that public and private schools help form.

I could argue about the benefits and disadvantages of private school, online or hybrid, but I feel the main debate right here is whether to attend public school or be homeschooled. And the answer, I can honestly say, is that it depends. It depends on the family, the kids, the financial situation and a million other factors. Homeschool worked well for me and my brother when we were younger. By the time we were high school-aged, we preferred public school with our peers, whch allowed us to engage in other experiences and extracurricular activities and the huge variety of classes.

I liked the structure and the variety. My sister, on the other hand, preferred public school or online classes. Same family, different kids with different preferences.

I understand that many families must pick one and run with it, whereas ours was blessed enough to work with what my siblings and I needed individually. I would never make a blanket statement that one form is inherently “better” than the other. I think kids need to experience a setting where they must work with different people of different backgrounds, learn how to function on a schedule that doesn’t orbit around their own preferences (the real workplace doesn’t work like that) and take instruction and feedback from a variety of people and face healthy competition.

On the other hand, many students need one-on-one instruction, flexible time and flexibility in curricula or class choices. Many people have a misunderstanding about homeschooling and think that families and students can do whatever they want, but this isn’t the case. There are strict state guidelines that families who homeschool must follow, and achievements they must meet in order to pass each grade level. It isn’t the case of kids not doing schoolwork and playing video games all day, every day. A lot of families simply have the flexibility to work around their own schedules, at their own pace, which means eight hours a day aren’t always spent at a desk.

Our family was about fifteen years ahead of its time homeschooling. It's not the enigma it was when I was little. I enjoyed what I had when I was younger, but I am very glad I had the opportunity to experience several different forms of schooling.

In a sentence, each family needs to choose what works best for them. I would avoid giving a conclusion to every scenario when your “best” might not be someone else’s.