Ethical Considerations Concerning Homeschooling Children

Many years ago, every parent was fascinated by the ideas of educating his or her children in educational institutions, since it was considered to be a great advantage in the society. Soon after schools became accessible and affordable for masses, both religious and secular parents have turned to homeschooling their children. Surprisingly, this tendency toward home education progresses every year. Thus, if in early 80s around ten thousand children were educated at home, today this figure stands for over two million ones. Such increasing tendency to homeschooling has many negative aspects regarding the educational materials, children socialization, and teaching competency of home educators. Thus, the main purpose of the report is to explore the statement that homeschooling is unethical. The issue of the topic is widely discussed among the educators, social workers and parents, being scientifically proved. Thus, there is a lot of materials concerning the topic in a free access. Today we will study reasons why homeschooling is so popular among families. In addition, I encourage you to consider the ethical aspect of the issue.

On the one hand, homeschooling can be considered as an advantage for children with special needs or those, who live in isolated parts of the country, far away from any public school on legislative basis. However, the majority of contemporary homeschoolers are devout children and fundamentalist Protestants, who make such a decision on religious and secular purposes. Hence, in 1980, when homeschooling was illegal, many parents struggled for the right to obtain the homeschooling status for their children with special needs. Thus, legalization of alternative education was implied in many states, and children acquired an opportunity to be educated at home. According to the Supreme Court, parents have a fundamental right to manage home education of their children. Additionally, religious and secular parents appeal to statements of the First Amendment that assumes that their children can be educated in accordance with their views and beliefs, in private. Thus, fundamentalist parents may address their constitutional right to believe without worrying about the way their children will be educated.

There are different motivations for turning to homeschooling, and many parents have a lot to consider before making the decision to practice it with their children. Thus, lots of them are concerned about the school environment that often may corrupt their religious instructions of moral codes. At the same time, there are many of those, who are also unsatisfied with the school instructions and demands that seem to be too difficult of too primitive for their children. Many parents insist on effectiveness of their nontraditional approach to education that they consider to be more effective. Finally, the supporters of homeschooling are worried about their children with special needs or those with physical and mental problems and do not want the traditional schooling process to damage them. However, the homeschooling approach to educating children is harmful and unbeneficial in most of cases.

There are many reasons to consider the ethical part of homeschooling and its unfavorable effects. Therefore, homeschooled children are more likely to become victims of moral and physical abuse, being completely isolated in their homes. In this regard, such approach completely removes children from the social interactions, where acts and consequences of home abuse may be identified. There is also a greater public health risk, since physical abuse often includes different physical and mental illnesses that cannot be distinguished in a closed environment. Additionally, the homeschooled children are not required to have immunization, which increases the risk of numerous diseases. Surprisingly, many parents decline immunization due to their personal considerations or religious reasons.

Another good argument against the homeschooling is that the school environment is more similar to the real adult life that the family one. Educational institutions support the independence and individualistic approach in educating, that results in children, being able to resist oppression and possess needed personal characteristics. In comparison, family love supposes patience, hierarchy and maintenance of the nature of family ties. Thus, at home a child is respected for being a member of a family, while the school environment manifests respect towards a student, teaching children to try different social roles.

Finally, homeschooling is unethical due to numerous political, ethical, educational and economical harms. Hence, fundamentalist Protestant adults, who were schooled at home, have a tangible and troublesome political feature, being involved in different political events and military service. Thus, there is a risk to introduce some radical secular views into political thinking and army. Educational harm insists in the fact that home schooled children have worse group performance than those being educated in classes. Obviously, only the minority of parents possess necessary educational skills and methodologies, which limits their children performance. Finally, most families that follow home education principles are low-income ones. In most cases they consist of a lot of children, a mother, who is responsible for household and schooling, and the one, who is responsible for earning money for the family. All these points reveal an unethical side of homeschooling and display possible problems with those, who are involved in this educational approach.

In conclusion, homeschooling should be considered as an unethical way of educating because it insulates children from the society, enhances their vulnerability and causes a lot of economical, educational and political damage. Besides the fact that parents and their children have the right for homeschooling, those children also have the right to socialize, which is often violated by this approach. Therefore, parents should think twice before making a decision in favor of homeschooling for their children.

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