There is more and more discussion of home schooling. This should come as no surprise; it is at home that we learn most of what we know; and the best students have received their educational foundations at home. The strength of this approach is demonstrated by the rapid progress of many home-schooled children, even though they often spend much less time with textbooks than their peers.
Homeschooling is not yet the universal answer, unfortunately. There are parents who do not themselves have the education to teach their children; many of them are required to work, and therefore do not have the time; and, sad to say, too many parents simply do not care enough.
Given those three, it seems that schools are still necessary. And without a doubt, schools are still important for the foreseeable future: educational attainment in formal schools correlates strongly with every quality-of-life indicator. As it has been said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
Few parents have all three requirements. And even those who do, almost always need some help. Few among us have mastery of visual and acoustic arts, mathematics, language, social studies, etc., that we can teach a child all the way through the high school requirements.
And limits still appear. If a parent could handle all high school coursework, can he/she continue through the college coursework?
Is home schooling our goal? Should we build our lives so that our children are all home-schooled? As our world becomes more sophisticated, and more broadly educated, perhaps so. In the future, we might hope that all families have at least one parent with knowledge, time, and interest to home school.
So home-schooling is very attractive, and perhaps one day will be universal. But for the near future, brick-and-mortar schools are still necessary for most children.
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