According to Wikipedia and I quote:
- Education : “Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next.[1]Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts. In its narrow, technical sense, education is the formal process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills, customs and values from one generation to another, e.g., instruction in schools.”
- Learning : “Learning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences…..Human learning may occur as part of education, personal development, school or training. It may be goal-oriented and may be aided by motivation. “
These two words take on great significance when we balance home school vs public school.
In the public school environment students are being filled with values that society wants them to have. The students thinking patterns are formed to accept what the society “government” wants them to be and the student is programed in what ever way “the powers that be” want them to behave. I debate how much knowledge or skills are being transmitted to the student when you take a look at the falling SAT scores that are a gauge of what the student is actually able to use. How successful are the values of our fore fathers being taught to the students? Our fore fathers were hard working, innovative and able to think for themselves to better their own lives and build an awesome society. What exactly is the student learning with in this type of school? Everyday on the news I hear about another teacher who is a sexual predator, more shootings, rampant drug usage, suicides, and gang problems plus disrespect for God and Country all with in the public school system. The public school system should be guiding our children to learn how to read, write, and do math. But unfortunately according to the declining rate of our SAT score standings against other countries those goals are not being met!
In the home school environment the teacher, usually a parent, is in the position to guide the student in establishing values and customs that have been handed down for generations. According to the recent study released by the US Department of Education Home school students rank significantly higher in all areas on their SAT scores. You can download this fascinating document on The Condition of Education for 2011 by clicking the link. Home school students are Learning at a better rate than their public school counterparts. They are reading and doing math at higher levels. Plus they are learning the values and customs that their parents hold dear. One of the big advantages of home schooling is that the student can be exposed to skills that are not available in other arenas. They are able to try carpentry or work with a wild life biologist, or volunteer in a hospital on a more regular basis therefor exploring the avenues that are interesting to them. They learn valuable skills and can make their own decision on if this is the area that they want to expand their learning in. While working with these experts they are learning science, math, and reading. They will come through the process with more knowledge than they could gather from just reading a text book.
