The worst argument against homeschooling

It’s not the first time I’ve heard this argument against homeschooling, but I guess I kind of forgot about it because it’s so, well, ridiculous. Yet another person is arguing that people should not send their kids to private school (which includes homeschooling) because if your kid’s not in the public system, you aren’t in it, either—and it needs parents to improve it. The author even goes on to say that parents who do what’s better for their kids than what’s better for everyone are bad people.

Wow. The weird thing to me is that this is the frequent “liberal” argument against homeschooling. As a liberal homeschooler, I have to say that I’m not impressed with this argument at all.

Could you imagine if we lived our whole lives this way? Don’t get a raise, because you’ll be making more than your coworkers. Don’t move out of the radius of a radiation-spewing plant because it won’t improve without you there! Every scenario I can imagine is disastrous with this kind of excuse for logic.

There’s also the fact that our country’s arts, sciences, math skills and overall creativity are heavily dwindling. Employers are noticing it; nobody can critically think anymore since they’re stuck in these standardized testing centers known as public schools. Can we really risk continuing to raise our future workers and leaders in this manner? It’s already had horrendous results as we fall behind our developed country counterparts and suffer economically, scientifically and in so many other ways I can’t even begin to list them.

Parents who sacrifice for their children to give them the best lives possible are not bad people. Parents have been doing this since the dawn of time and will continue to do so until the end of the earth. It’s a natural instinct for good reason; it’s how we’ve survived and thrived to this point.

Photo courtesy of Sara S.