The School System: Useless? Or Important for Other Reasons?

      I attended both Catholic school and Public school growing up. I have experienced both educational systems and discovered that once I graduated Catholic School and attended Public High School that I was smarter than half the kids there. I shouldn't say smarter because I had a terrible time with math (I failed it a few times except in the case of money). Yet I still received higher grades than most of my classmates. Upon more research and observation, I discovered that children who were home schooled had a higher grade point average than children who attended public school with other children. What's the difference? Why are United States' public schools ranked lowest in not only the country but in the world? Several factors could be: our lack of commitment to giving schools funds, our religious leanings, etc. Yet I would also point out that children who attend Public School are more likely to be social and have a larger circle of friends than children who are Home Schooled.

      Here's my opinion: Public Schools when it comes to Academia are useless when it comes to book education, Yet they are highly valued in their use for teaching social skills and the how to behave in public. Interacting with people outside the family allows for children to try and form healthy, sometimes romantic, and platonic relationships, or forming families not bound by blood when one's blood-related family is a disappointment. We learn that there's a social hierarchy (Jocks, Cheerleaders, Geeks, Goths, etc.) and how we can either grow out of that or stay within the broken system.

      When children are home schooled, they don't have the daily distractions of "Who's popular and how can I be in their click?" or "Does he/she like me?" or "What can I do to be noticed?". Instead, these children are concerned with 5x8 and who George Washington was. Without the interaction of other children their age, children form close bonds with family that can seem co-dependent, making it harder for the children to socialize successfully with others once they reach an age of adulthood.

       Some have argued that because we are in a digital social age where one can meet someone via Face Book & Twitter, but that is small consolation for how a home schooled child can withstand or protect themselves from scam artists. With social inter action, like in high school if someone steals from you or if some one hurts you, you would know how to handle it or how to avoid confrontation. Someone home schooled may trust too easily and result in either a broken nose or an empty wallet, or both.

      A public high school is a jungle where only the tough and strong may survive, not without a few scrapes and bruises but that hardens them for the road ahead. Home Schooled children may get higher marks in the class room but poor ones on the playground. Children need social interaction. Humans are social creatures by nature like the Serengeti Lion, whose life is as precarious and full of pit falls as our human society, where the bigger fish eats the little fish.