Argumentative Essay
Traditional Schooling vs. Homeschooling
Nowadays, many people choose homeschooling instead of traditional schooling. Homeschooling is a new way of learning that appeared in recent years. Compared with traditional schooling, students just need to study at home instead of going to school. They rarely go to school for academic purposes. Also, homeschooling students can enjoy many customized courses and extracurricular activities. The advantages may sound good for some students. However, homeschooling is not a perfect learning way. Although homeschooling seems to have many advantages, traditional schooling is better than it in several aspects.
To begin with, traditional school students have more chances to interact with their classmates. According to Alawode (2021), homeschooled students can learn social skills by joining many extracurricular activities. That is because homeschooled students usually stay at home to study. They don’t have many chances to interact with plenty of people. Compared with homeschooled students, traditional school students can make many friends on campus. They don’t need to spend much extra time to meet new people. Take one of my classmates in elementary school for example. She became a homeschooled student when she was 9. She spent most of her time studying at home. If she wanted to interact with us, she must come to school when our school or class held some activities. As for my other classmates, they didn’t need to go to certain events to interact with people. They can meet a lot of people in school. In this case, traditional schooling is more convenient for students to interact with people.
Another advantage is that traditional school students cost less money than homeschooled ones. As stated by The Time4learning Team (2018), homeschooled students’ parents not only need to pay tuition, but also gas money for activities, grocery bill for snacks, and supplies cost for certain events like science experiments. As for traditional school students, they don’t need to spend that much money for schooling. For instance, schools often provide facilities and chemicals for experiments, free courts for sport activities, and discounts on lunch fees. When it comes to extracurricular activities, schools can usually get some discount from the companies they tender Traditional school students can enjoy the beneficial sources schools offer to save money. Although traditional school students still need to pay some fees for certain courses or activities, their expenses are still lower than those of homeschooled students. In this situation, traditional schooling can be a more cost-effective educational option for students.
Although traditional schooling provides students many convenient services, some people may argue that traditional schooling cannot give students many chances to modify their course schedules. Take homeschooling for example, homeschool students can modify their study schedule by their parents or on their own. They can even add some customized courses. However, to many people’s surprise, traditional schooling can also provide customized courses, too. To illustrate, Taiwan’s government provides high school students “self-learning courses”. According to the K-12 Education Administration, Ministry of Education (2019), high schools must provide high school students 3 period “self-learning courses” per week. In these courses, students can decide a topic that they want to look into. Traditional school students also need to upload their learning outcomes to the regional government. In this situation, traditional schooling can give students a chance to experience a self-learning environment while providing convenient services.
To conclude, although homeschooling provides many advantages to certain students, traditional schooling is still a better way of study. Traditional schooling can have many chances to interact with their fellow students. They can also spend less money on some necessities. Parents and students don’t need to pay too much attention to self-discipline issues. All in all, traditional schooling is much better than homeschooling.
References
Alawode, O. (2021). HOW TO HELP HOMESCHOOLED CHILDREN GAIN INTERPERSONAL SKILLS. nomadinternet.com. Retrieved from https://nomadinternet.com/blogs/countrynomad/how-to-help-homeschooled-children-gain-interpersonal-skills
The Time4Learning Team (2018). How Much Does Homeschooling Cost? time4learning.com. Retrieved from https://www.time4learning.com/blog/homeschool/how-much-does-homeschooling-cost/
K-12 Education Administration (2019). 108 Ke Gang Tansing Syuehsi Kecheng Jiaoyubu Bujhu Syuehsiao Gaishan Zihjhu Syuehsi Kongjian. Ministry of Education Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved from https://www.edu.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=9E7AC85F1954DDA8&s=39B7B15D7BD47004&fbclid=IwAR3nIXjs_DOLvAKZYZ8zGWxSky602M4eAIvu5EIIzhaCySrrDES5qYw4n5w