Home Schooling vs. Institutional Education

By Joseph N. Abraham, M.D. in Children on March 18th, 2008

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by Joseph N. Abraham, M.D.

More and more parents are turning to home schooling as an alternative to traditional education. Doubtless, this makes sense. Our homes are where we learn most of what life requires of us; and no teacher can do as much for a student as a parent does by talking, reading, and otherwise instructing a child. Home schooling extends this, and does so quite effectively: in fewer hours per day, home-schooled children frequently cover more material than students in traditional schools.

Societies, unfortunately, have found it necessary to generate educational systems in order to address three situations: those in which parents do not have the necessary knowledge to educate their children; those in which they haven’t the time; and those in which they haven’t the interest.

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.”

It would be wonderful if all parents had those the three fundamental educational resources, knowledge, time, and interest. But it is rare that parents have all three. And almost no parent has the comprehensive educational mastery necessary for a complete education. Even the best-educated parents frequently seek teachers for some subjects, whether the arts, math, sciences, foreign language, or some other.

And for the handful of people who can do it all, everyone has limits: who has the mastery to educate a child through all the necessary college courses?

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.

Quite often, home schooling is superior to institutional education; when done right, it definitely works. Unfortunately, we are not yet to the point that it will work for all children, and for all parents.

About the Author:

Joseph N. Abraham MD is president of The Acadiana Educational Endowment and booksXYZ.com, the Nonprofit Bookstore Supporting Education. booksXYZ.com lists over 2,000,000 paperbacks, hardbacks, and audio books. Dr. Abraham is also the author of Happiness: A Physician/Biologist Looks at Life, an innovative self help book looking at Zen, biology, and fulfilment.