Most parents who send their kids off to public schools assume that their children will receive a decent education that will prepare them for a bright future. Parents often neglect to truly critique the public school system or even consider other options for their children. It’s important that parents carefully consider the disadvantages of being in public school and the advantages of alternative options such as homeschooling. This article offers a critique of the most common reasons why parents send their children to public schools and outlines the disadvantages of such a choice.

Socialization is hailed as one of the greatest advantages of being in the public school system. People generally believe that school is the place where children pick up basic social skills that they will use in many areas of their lives and that are crucial to their success no matter what field they choose to pursue. Although attending school exposes children to other children of varied ages, most school children only interact with kids in their class, or at most kids who are in the same grade level as them. School kids rarely learn how to interact with kids of other ages. In fact, they often bully younger kids and spend a good amount of effort avoiding older kids. As for adults, school kids get very little opportunity to interact with them. In fact, they will rarely have the chance to have one on one interaction with an adult. On the other hand, a homeschooling environment brings in a more natural social environment and provides children with more varied opportunities for social interaction.

There are several other disadvantages to being in public school. The public school system creates an atmosphere of artificial busyness that has many negative effects. This type of atmosphere creates short attention spans. This is why we find that most kids can not concentrate on any one thing for more than a few minutes at a time. They also have difficulty achieving sharp focus or deep thought. Another disadvantage of the public school atmosphere is that it causes children to feel like they constantly need to be in motion. Most public school students have trouble sitting still for long periods of time or quietly contemplating a topic. On the contrary, homeschooling provides children with ample opportunities for quiet solitude and time for deep thinking. This results in a better ability to focus and concentrate for longer periods of time.

One of the biggest disadvantages of being in public school is that there is little long-standing knowledge among regular school goers. School children often memorize information last minute for exams and forget what they have learned moments after the exam is over. There is little correlation of facts with real life. Children in public school may accumulate a large number of facts but they rarely retain that information because of the nature of how they acquire that information. Furthermore, knowing many things does not necessarily mean that you understand them. Being in public school predisposes children to this disadvantage. Children memorize lessons that teachers scribble onto chalk boards but often they do no really understand the concepts or they may not understand how the concepts relate to a bigger picture or to their lives. Parents of homeschooled children often go to great length to allow their children to learn from experience rather than from a text book.

It’s easy for parents to send their children to public schools because that is what the majority of people do and most people don’t feel a sense of obligation to critique the norm before jumping on the band wagon. But if you are one of the growing number of people who are starting to notice glaring gaps in the public school system, then you will likely consider homeschooling as an excellent option to combat the disadvantages of being in the public school system.