Is regular school overrated?

Just wanted to add my two cents in here.

As someone that regularly attended public school, and for someone that has dealt with both the good and the bad sides, I can definitely see that public schooling would give....at least, in my own opinion, your own experience of what the world is going to be like. Not saying that homeschooling doesn't in any sense(not that I would have a specific opinion on homeschooling anyway since I haven't met anyone that was homeschooled), but...through my experience in public school, I learned the hard way that no one is going to like you. That's...most obvious lesson #1.

Another thing is that....the teachers. Of course, the teachers. Sure, I've had a fair few bad ones when I was at school, but there were some good ones, too! Like...there were those instructors that just kept pushing me and pushing me to do my absolute best when I wasn't really pushing myself hard enough due to my own low self-esteem. I learned then and there that, even when there's no one around to keep pushing me to do things, I have to learn to push myself.

...I'm not really going to get into too much detail with my schooling life for the sake of staying on the topic, but let's just say that, public schooling gave me the experience to deal with others the way that I could today. Sure, I have Anxiety. Sure, I get really nervous about people, still. But I'd rather have the Anxiety and try to overcome it, by making good friends and hanging out with them a lot more often, rather than to miss those opportunities due to being homeschooled.

Now I understand that, due to my lack of knowledge of homeschooling, you're free to slap me here and there for that last sentence, but being at home a majority of the time, just doesn't do it for me. I'm the person that takes making memories seriously, and I like making those memories with other people, whether I'm in class or participating in clubs, I like to make those moments memorable, in a sense. Being social is a really important aspect of me, it was something that I kind of took for granted in High School, as such I've made it kind of a thing to be as involved as possible in college.

The best and the worst moment of my life was when I graduated High School. It was the best time of my life because I graduated and was well on my way to college. It was the worst moment of my life because I missed my chance to interact with so many people because I was so shy, and I always kept to myself. And I had to deal with the painful consequence of never seeing my high school classmates again, I had to deal with the painful consequences of not making as many memories as I could've.

I mean, this is all of what public schooling has done for me. Social values are damn well important and I'm not taking my chances in missing them.


But that's enough from me, lol. Just wanted to give my perspective on things.

Just to add, whilst it is great that you are a motivated learner there are plenty of people who are homeschooled and really don't want to learn - or don't have someone who has enough knowledge, resources or time to help them.

Schools not only offer qualified teachers who (mostly) know what they're talking about but also offers books, computers, peers and a community to help you get through education. As others have mentioned before me, schools are great for learning to deal with people who you would normally avoid.

With regards to the thread title I would say that schools are, in fact, underrated. From my experience the majority of <16 year olds despised school, and would have loved to have a nice sleepy day at home 'learning' from wikipedia - post 16 though (Sixth Form/College age in the UK) we're always talking about the great times we had and my class changed dramatically in terms of respect to the teachers.

Basically, kids just hate going to school, which is why it gets such a bad rap and people think that homeschooling is an appropriate alternative.

(Which it sometimes is, but true parent-child homeschooling should not be the norm).

I don't think it's overrated, just painfully traditional and way too controlling.

I went to charter school for elementary and absolutely loved it. Uniforms, small classrooms, only about 75 students per grade. It was really nice.

Then, I transferred to public school for seventh grade... Living hell. Teachers weren't nearly as engaging, and everything felt black and white lifeless. It was more of an institution than a school.

I homeschooled myself for junior and senior years of high school, and actually really enjoyed that time. My teachers were practically nonexistent (everything was online) so I really had the chance to do everything myself. Schedule my curricula at whatever pace I wanted, spend as much or as little time on whichever classes I needed to, without the non-academic pressures of other students and classroom environments or situations.

I'm in college now, though, and wouldn't do online schooling for this. College is something that is really different from K-12 as you have so much more freedom and independence.

If you're doing online classes in college, to me that's really from sloth rather than wanting to engage yourself independently, unless you live like 20 miles from campus and don't want to do/can't afford dorms.

Regular school as in the traditional waking up, getting ready for school, driving / walking / other form of transportation to school, getting there, going to classes, and then coming home? Or regular school as in public school? I don't find either to be overrated. For many, public school is necessary. Most families in most countries can't afford to send their children to a private school. While some public schools aren't very good, there are plenty more that are. Because of the financial situation for most people, I don't think it's overrated at all.

Traditional school in the first sense, I don't find to be overrated either. I have been homeschooled before, and I have to say, it wasn't as great as I would have hoped for. I did it for nearly a year during high school before going back (and being far behind on my work required to graduate) so I had to make up the work and classes that I missed that were required of me to graduate when I came back. Homeschooling offers tremendous flexibility, but it also seems to give you added responsibility.

A lot of people need to be in a classroom environment in order to learn effectively. Being in one of those allows you to learn not just what you're required to learn in text, but learn from other students, which many teachers in smaller colleges (to what I've experienced) value that kind of learning more than lectures. High school traditionally prepares students for college as well using required assignments to solidify a basic outline on how to properly do your work in college to get decent grades, whether or not your college professor requires you to do it or not. Properly outlining chapters, building vocabulary, etc. It's all very important, and in most home schooling classes, they don't assign those types of assignments.

If you don't have the self-control to focus your time on your schoolwork, getting distracted is very easy, especially in this day and age where most homeschooling for most children is done on the computer. Most teenagers can't motivate themselves to self learn, and that's ultimately what homeschooling has started to become. Additionally, like others have brought up, the lack of social interaction with your peers (unless you're a member of a support group of sorts where homeschooled students get together and hang out) can really get you down. We need social interaction, and while you can be perfectly content with sitting behind the computer and doing all of your social interaction that way, that isn't very healthy for your self-esteem and tends to damage it in the long run, unless you're very strong mentally and emotionally to be able to handle that.

Though, if you can find a way to get regular interactions in with people your age, then that point is rather moot. Since it wouldn't be that hard to go out and meet with a friend or talk to them at least once a day through means other than media outlets.

Wow, your story is quite interesting. 14 hours of sleep? I'm jealous. D: However, I can say as someone that goes to a public school, yes and no.

I say yes, because public schooling opens up far more opportunities for bullying and distractions. I was at one point diagnosed with depression because I was bullied so much in school for being poor. Also, there are tons of distractions, such as sleep, that can interrupt learning. Where I go to school, we start the day at 7:20. That is far too early. Because of that, large amounts of students fall asleep in class.

However, I also think that public schooling is a really good idea for those who can handle it. You receive irreplaceable social experience and you are opened up to so many different ideas. For example, I started getting into Pokemon in 4th or 5th grade because a friend of mine loved it and told me all about it. Also, I like the challenge of doing work in a class, and the experience of different teachers giving me knowledge about many different subjects.

There's lots of pros and cons, and I'm not really sure if the pros outweigh the cons or not. It just all depends on the person, in my opinion.

timelessgold said:

Wow, your story is quite interesting. 14 hours of sleep? I'm jealous. D: However, I can say as someone that goes to a public school, yes and no.

I say yes, because public schooling opens up far more opportunities for bullying and distractions. I was at one point diagnosed with depression because I was bullied so much in school for being poor. Also, there are tons of distractions, such as sleep, that can interrupt learning. Where I go to school, we start the day at 7:20. That is far too early. Because of that, large amounts of students fall asleep in class.

However, I also think that public schooling is a really good idea for those who can handle it. You receive irreplaceable social experience and you are opened up to so many different ideas. For example, I started getting into Pokemon in 4th or 5th grade because a friend of mine loved it and told me all about it. Also, I like the challenge of doing work in a class, and the experience of different teachers giving me knowledge about many different subjects.

There's lots of pros and cons, and I'm not really sure if the pros outweigh the cons or not. It just all depends on the person, in my opinion.

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Wait... 7:20 isn't that bad, I'm homeschooled and I start school at 6:30, and it generally goes to about 8:30. 7 days a week, although I am counting homework into that. Being bullied in public school sucks. I've been there, but since I never liked social interactions for as long as I can remember, I just avoided everyone, and was more or less fine. Occasionally I had to pay people money, but for the most part if you want to be away from everyone you can avoid most stuff. As for the social interactions I have 2 chess clubs that I go to, a couple of classes I drive to that have other people, boy scouts, etc. basically you just have to go out of your way more for social stuff. I can't side with you more on the last point though. It definatly depends on the person. If they are willing to look outside of a class environment for friends homeschooling is great. Also pretty much no matter where you go, there will be a group of people who are also homeschooling so you can interact with them if you desire. For people who are really social, or can't afford the enormous fees for books and such, homeschooling would be awful. Also some people have parents who would be good "teachers" and some don't. It really all depends on how social you are, and how much your willing to work for your education as to how successful it will be.

Would like to note something that's been made a point of in this thread.

Good manners and sharp social skills are generally developed in the home. Not in public school. I've found that even in any form of schooling, you get any and every type of kid. I can guarantee that most of us have seen several kids throughout grade school that we just think are weird, creepy, or just plain strange.

They don't learn that behavior in school.

I've seen classmates from years ago in college now that still act as awkward as they did back then. And some as stupid as ever, and some as annoying as ever, etc.

The only change in behavior I generally see is extroversion and introversion; some of the soft-spoken classmates are more outspoken and some have calmed down compared to their hyper middle school days. Other than that, I haven't really noticed any change in social skills (more witty remarks, more interesting, blah blah).

I have noticed that some of the former classmates that have jobs now are more confident, but that's probably more along the lines of independence and responsibility.

From an educational perspective, that depends. Some school districts are excellent and churn out great students. And you cannot understate the importance of socializing and people skills to young kids & teenagers.

It all comes down to the student. If they are keen to learn and want to make something of themselves, regardless of what school they go to whether it's online, at home, private or public, they will do well academically or at least try their hardest. Of course, in schools it's much easier to get distracted, get bullied, etc. I don't think it's fair to measure someone's intelligence on what school they go to - I know plenty of kids that go to public schools that are smart as hell, but either don't have the opportunties to move school due to expenses or because they like the friends they have at their current school.

Guillermo said:

I don't think it's fair to measure someone's intelligence on what school they go to - I know plenty of kids that go to public schools that are smart as hell, but either don't have the opportunties to move school due to expenses or because they like the friends they have at their current school.

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I agree. You aren't automatically smart becuase you attend a nice 12,000 bucks a year private prep school. And you shouldn't be automatically considered non-intelligent becuase you go to an inner city public school.

I think that's a bit of a strawman in this discussion - is anyone arguing that your intelligence is inextricably linked to what kind of school you attend?

Toujours said:

I think that's a bit of a strawman in this discussion - is anyone arguing that your intelligence is inextricably linked to what kind of school you attend?

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No, but I'd be willing to bet that's a stereotype or generalization that some people have.

In regular school, kids get taught what to think rather than how to think for themselves.

Autistic Lucario said:

In regular school, kids get taught what to think rather than how to think for themselves.

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Can you elaborate on that? As said in this thread already, if you want to be successful in regular school, you have to think and work for yourself because you're not given everything by one single person or several people who cater for you. No-one can teach someone how to think for themselves but regular schooling certainly promotes independence.

Razor Leaf said:

Can you elaborate on that? As said in this thread already, if you want to be successful in regular school, you have to think and work for yourself because you're not given everything by one single person or several people who cater for you. No-one can teach someone how to think for themselves but regular schooling certainly promotes independence.

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I learned more from the 2 years I've spent outside of school than the 10+ years I spent in class. From my experience, schools don't teach you to learn new things as much as they teach you to repeat old things. And if you don't do as you're told, you're punished somehow. I found middle and high school to be very difficult learning environments. For one thing, I was put in Anger Management, isolated from the rest of the school for a year, and I was suspended from school regularly, almost expelled at one point. I had problems which prevented me from learning the things they tried to teach me, but instead of trying to fix the problems, they tried to fix me as if I was the problem. They don't focus on the root cause of problems; they only try to treat the symptoms while the root cause of school-related problems goes unnoticed or even ignored as I've had the pleasure of experiencing in middle school. During 6th and 7th grade, I was bullied, teased, attacked, even kicked in the nads once by a girl much bigger than me, wearing high-heels and publicly humiliated at age 12. My special-ed teachers took advantage of my behavior problems because they had a grudge against my mom. I was slapped in the face by one of them for arguing with her and suspended by another for not doing my homework. The principal was oblivious to the fact that I was running around the school, chasing people to beat the stuffing out of them during emotional breakdowns I had at least once a week while I was locked outside my classroom, all the kids making faces at me. I was put on med after med after med, and it only caused me to gain food allergies and more than 100 lb in weight; I'm just now starting to burn it all off.

Maybe this is why kids don't like public school very much. You really think that regular schooling promotes independence? I felt enslaved. 2 years after graduation, I'm still dependent on my parents. But at least I can think for myself now, many thanks to the videos I've been watching on youtube that teach you how to think for yourself. I was never taught how to be independent in the schools I attended.

To be fair public schools do not have the resources to deal with any single student's problems. I've been to 10 different ones and I can honestly say that public school isn't for kids who need individual help, it is for kids who can learn and understand with only a moderate amount of guidance. Public school simply gives you the tools to learn, the instruction to do, the motivation to try, and a little bit of discipline to top it all off.

Schools are not meant to teach independence either, that is you parent's job. Public school isn't something to replace what your parents should be teaching you (much like Azealea said), if you think school is there to fix your problems then you are mistaken.

Public school is not for everyone, it welcomes everyone, but it isn't for everyone. Private school's are much better education wise, people with a lot of money or a lot of motivation should be the ones going there. People who need to be watched constantly, gets in trouble a lot, or "hates public school" should get home-schooled. (Those are not the only reason to be home schooled, home schooling is a legit method of education and I respect it). The less people wasting public school resources, time, and space the better.

I've been public, private, and homeschooled, and I know what it's like for all three. In my local public school, the teachers can be really nice, but depending on who you are, kids can get really mean and interfere with learning. I'm unusual compared to the other kids in my grade so, I got spitballed, had books thrown at me, got sworn at, and was made fun of for bad reasons. Usually, the teachers and even the principal, are couldn't help. They tried their best, but the other kids remained rather mean.
In the private school I went to, was probably the best school years ever. But, they had no enrichment or extra help for some students who either need more of a challenge, or need a bit of help. The private schools usually have a stricter dress code, too. I couldn't wear jeans, and no shirts with words on them. Unlike public school, the kids were fewer but friendlier, and I considered every classmate a friend of mine. We had sleds for winter recess, and we could play dodgeball in indoor recess, and we could even play computer during snack. It was a great experience for me.
I am currently homeschooled, which worked better for me than public school, and the private school I went to ends at 6th grade, so it's good. I get to make my own lunch, and I can wear pajamas to school. Bullies are not a problem, but it can get very lonely if you're a very social person. I end my days faster, and have longer summers. Also, it's more flexible, if you have a dentist appointment, you don't have any homework to catch up to, and you can get away with drawing in class. I can also take a break without having to ask, I just have to pause my video. This is how different schools worked for me as an individual.