Essay on Education: Formal Schooling

It is safe to say that all parents want the very best education for their children. Therefore, regardless of whether that training is found at school or not, if a parent deems it fit, that is the option that they will go for. Before the introduction of formal education, children were taught by their elders at home. The kind of education that did not have a syllabus and parents were the ones to decide on what to teach and when. In the U.S.A., formal schooling started shortly after the 19th century. Homeschooling is my preferred education style because it offers the child an opportunity to learn at their pace without having to compete with others. Formal education, on the other hand, creates unnecessary competition among the learners that it drifts their focus from learning to winning. Homeschooling gives the tutor an opportunity to understand the educational needs of the child and focus on ways to improve them academically without interference from other students.

In formal schooling, especially the public sector, a tutor is tasked with an upward of 50 students in a class to teach. Needless to say, due to a large number of children and the limited time in a day that they spend in a classroom, the teacher is mostly overwhelmed. They lack time to learn, observe, and understand all their students. There are cases where the teacher does not even know the names of some of their students let alone their academic performance, challenges, and progress. In such a case, the quality of education of those students is highly compromised. Comparing this to the homeschooled children who receive the full attention of their tutors, it is a significant challenge to the formal schooling.

Secondly, there is the issue of peer pressure and undue influence in the official system of education. In a standard classroom or a school in general, there are different students from different backgrounds. As much as this promotes diversity, it is important to note that some of these students come from very hostile families which could be a source of their irrational behaviors and perverse thoughts. When they associate with other children, they tend to influence them into their poor habits. Perhaps this explains why some parents always warn their kids of the company they keep at school. However, because they are not there to keep an eye on their children, some end up adopting these habits, and they become the bad company that their parents were protecting them from.

However, formal education could be a good idea because it helps develop the children socially. Homeschooled children spend a lot of time alone at the expense of their social life. They lead lives of solitude and miss out on important activities such as sporting, making friends, and interacting with their peers.