Negative Aspects of Homeschooling, Speech Example

General Purpose: To Persuade

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that shortcomings of homeschooling outweigh its benefits

Thesis Statement: Homeschooling may have certain benefits and may even be a better choice given the unique circumstances of the parents but its shortcomings usually outweigh any potential benefits.

Introduction

Education is one of the most important rights we are born with and the economic development of the nations is positively related to their citizens’ access to education. Even though parents or legal guardians determine the education choices for children, the adults should not make such decisions lightly. A child’s education doesn’t only shape his/her personality but also has everlasting impact on other aspects of life such as career choices and earnings. Most of us start our academic career in formal education settings such as schools but some parents or legal guardians choose homeschooling over formal schools. Approximately, 1.5 million students were homeschooled in the U.S. in 2009 (Education Week).

Today, we will address children’s education needs that are often inadequately addressed by the homeschooling system. We may also look into reasons behind parents’ choice to skip traditional schools in favor of homeschooling.

Body

Organizational Pattern: Problem – Solution

Homeschooling is becoming more mainstream but parents who don’t enroll their children in a traditional school are often judged by their peers and accused of making the wrong choice (Mitchell). It is often observed that children who are homeschooled are considered weird and mocked by their peers. This has a negative impact of the self esteem of homeschooled children.   Homeschooled children often lack socialization skills and don’t have the opportunities to learn to interact effectively in a multi-individual environment; skills that are necessary in post-secondary education and essential in the workforce (Boardman).  It is a well-known fact that academic qualifications alone do not guarantee access to good opportunities and someone with a great personality and well developed people skills will have advantage over his/her peers.

Transition statement: Now that we have addressed certain disadvantages of homeschooling, let us examine why some states do not officially recognize homeschooling.

Many states do not provide a high school diploma for homeschooled children and require children to attend a high school to obtain diploma. When these homeschooled children attend traditional schools, they may be ahead or behind other students in the classrooms which could negatively affect their morale. They may also have difficulty getting along with other students and may not be used to the teaching methods employed in traditional school settings (Boardman).

Transition statement: After addressing the justifications behind certain states’ reasons to encourage traditional schooling, we will look into reasons why some parents prefer homeschooling.

While some parents anxiously wait for the summer vacations to be over so that their children will be back to school, homeschooled children never leave the home.  They are with their parents round-the-clock which causes them to form a strong bond and sense of dependency with their parents. These childhood habits are difficult to break and later cause problems in life. There are several reasons why parents choose to homeschool their children. The parents control the home environment while they have no control over the school environment. Eighty three percent of parents homeschool their children due to religious and moral reasons (Education Week).

Conclusion

Homeschooling has both advantages and disadvantages but the disadvantages often outweigh the advantages. Parents should carefully consider the consequences of homeschooling their children because the education environment has lifelong consequences for the children.  Homeschooling is not a bad option if parents can create ideal education environment at home though not everyone may be capable of doing so. Better homeschoolers score higher on national tests than do their public school counterparts. While the public school students scored in the 50th percentile nationally on all subjects in the academic year 2007-2008, the better homeschoolers scored in the high 80th percentile during the same period. But this result doesn’t take into account social skills that are often as important as academic performance in the real world.

References

Boardman, Tracy. A look at the negative effects of homeschooling. 3 August 2010. 28 October 2012 <http://www.helium.com/items/1911620-a-look-at-the-negative-effects-of-homeschooling>.

Education Week. Home Schooling. 13 July 2011. 28 October 2012 <http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/home-schooling/>.

Mitchell, Stephanie. What Are the Negative Aspects of Homeschooling? 28 October 2012 <http://www.ehow.com/info_8223855_negative-aspects-homeschooling.html>.