TOEFL® Essay: home-schooling

[Snoopy_Blah_Blah]

Children should never be educated at home by their parents. Do you agree or disagree?

Education is very important for the future succes in life. But it's not the single factor for getting a well-paid and interesting job with good perspectives of building a career. There are many other skills that child requires to be a well-adjusted person. And while sometimes home-schooling is justified, in my essay I will discuss pros and cons of going to school and being educated at home.

I think that going to school gives much more to a child than just education. A child learns to communicate with his peers, develops interpersonal and social skills that are as valueable as the education itself. A childs learns to defend his point of view, to articulate his own thoughts and ideas. On the other hand, if a child somehow becomes an outcast or is being bullied by his less sensitive classmates, then going to school becomes a nightmare, which definitely affects his desire to study, his marks and could be a major trauma for the rest of his life. This is when both parents and teachers must intervene.

Regarding home-schooling by parents, I wonder how educated a parent must be and how much of free time must he or she have? I reckon in this situation a child will probably have less possibilities to acquire new friends, develop essential above-mentioned social and interpersonal skills, the lack of which will later affect his life, his years in college, his chances of finding a proper job.

So what are the pros of being educated at home? I believe in special situations when child is either mentally or physically impaired, then home-schooling is appropriate. But once again not only by the parents, certainly they must provide love and support and believe and understand their child, anyway no matter how educated a parent is, additional help from psychologists, doctors and teachers for children with special needs is mandatory. In my opinion this is the only situation when home-schooling is justified.

Childhood is an extremely important part of our life, this when our personality, character traits, self-esteem, the sence of self-worth is shaped. For all that any child needs unconditional love from their parents, education and a possibility to interact with other children.

As a conclusion I'd like to emphasize that though I disagree that children should never ever be educated at home, I think that whenever it is possible for a child to go to school, he should go there.

Could somebody, please, correct my mistakes and point out what is wrong with this essay structure and grammar-wise? How would you grade it?

Thanks a lot in advance :)

TOEFL listening lectures: A lecture from a life sciences class (4)

[Pippi1.0]

I understand that this essay was posted years ago, but once I saw it, I couldn't NOT write a reply.

*Ahem*

Obviously, you have never been homeschooled and never known a homeschooler. The implication that they are socially inept is a laughable stereotype, though one that is made very often.

Homeschooling is a great form of education. I was homeschooled my entire life, and I'm so very grateful to my parents for making that decision. When you homeschool your kids, it's like giving them a private tutor all through school. One that actually cares about you, your grades, what you are going to do with your life, and one that is absolutely dedicated to making sure the education you receive is the very best.

It's true, you're right, if you choose to homeschool you must have a lot of time to devote. But if you do have the time and you're committed to the education of your children, why not? Why are parents not allowed to teach their children how to read and write? Why should I send my child off to learn from a stranger if I have the time and motivation to do it myself?

I know for a fact that one of the reasons my family is so close is because we've all been homeschooled. All six of us. My mom put in the time and energy and money for books and taught us at home. Are we socially inept? No. Are we afraid to talk to people? No. Are we all living at home afraid to walk out the front door? No. Do we wear pants pulled up to our armpits? No.

Oh, but maybe we all have bad jobs, since, according to you, homeschoolers are unable to get good jobs. One of my brothers is a dentist, my other brother is a sports therapist, one of my sisters is an Administrative Assistant for a senator at the state capitol, and I am a Medical Laboratory Technician. My two younger sisters are still in school at home, getting the best education possible. And we are not the exception, we are the rule. If you'd bothered to do any research before you began rattling off stereotypes, you would've found that out.

Obviously, I have strong feelings about this topic. Obviously, I don't think that everybody needs to homeschool. Some people don't have the time. Some people don't have the dedication. But don't ever knock somebody for having so much dedication to their family that they are willing to sacrifice their time and energy to make sure their children's education is the best.

[Remula]

DEAR, ACCORDING TO THE RULES OF THE FORUM, IF YOU WANT TO WRITE AN ESSAY ON ANY TOPIC AND IT TO BE CHECKED, YOU SHOULD PASTE IT IN A NEW TOPIC