There are a few things that seem to have gone un-mentioned in this thread. Yes, home-schooling is a perfectly fine option for families with a parent who can stay at home, and invest the sort of time and energy necessary to teach a wide range of subjects to his or her child as well as provide them with opportunities for socialization.
However, it is un-fair to say that home-schooling is better than public education simply because a high percentage of home-schooled children succeed later in life. You are not comparing like groups of kids.
If we compared the achievements of home-schooled children with public schooled children from financially secure families whose parents are deeply involved and committed to the success of their children, I think you’d have very similar results between the two groups. The problem is not public education. The problem is that there are simply not enough children in public schools who come from stable, education-valuing families. Public education will provide an excellent, free education to any child who invests his or herself in it. It is just that many children do not have the support systems they need to succeed. Considering the fairly daunting obstacles facing teachers in the classroom, I’d say public education in America, while it has a long way to go, is not nearly as tragically broken as so many of you say it is.
