Compulsory Education in the United States

Why the State should not be allowed to standardize children by only allowing them to attend public school

Pelsue (2017) informs that in the United States, the Federal Government does not control the nation’s public school more closely as the State government. The Federal Government promotes equality in public education in terms of accessibility and allocation of resources, whereas the State government controls what the children learn in public schools. By directing that all children should attend public schools means that the outcome of this, nationally, will be the production of learners with different levels of knowledge that makes them unfit to compete with each other at the higher levels of learning and in the job market as well (Debate.org, 2018). The private sector with the help of the parents’ rights has to control the education of their children and strive to address such knowledge gaps that different states create among themselves (Bogenschneider & Johnson, 2004).

Differentiating between the benefits and setbacks of compulsory public school education being applied to public schools and homeschools

Compulsory education according to Grady & Gosmire (1995) is what defines the importance of education in developing the American society economically, socially, politically, and culturally. The Americans found it wise to use compulsory education to- develop their democratic system, reduce crime rates, include foreign ethnicities, and make the economy become industrialized among other changes that were for the good of the society. However, those that criticize it, find that compulsory education has limited individual or parental freedom in choosing what a child should learn, for example, based on their religious beliefs. The critics are opposed to public education taught in public schools and applied in homeschooling in some states where it is legalized. The individuals choose to have their children learn illegal education. Thus, in the United States, compulsory education has made it difficult for people that think otherwise to exercise their rights freely when it comes to choosing education for themselves and their children.

References

Bogenschneider, K. & Johnson, C. (2004). Family involvement in education: How important is it? What can legislators do? Purdue.edu.  Retrieved from https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/hdfs/fii/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/fia_brchapter_20c02.pdf.

Debate.org (2018). Should the United States education system standardize the curriculum? Retrieved from https://www.debate.org/opinions/should-the-united-states-education-system-standardize-the-curriculum.

Grady, M. L. & Gosmire, D. K. (1995). Compulsory education: Challenges and opportunities. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=cehsedadfacpub.

Pelsue, B. (2017). When it comes to education, the Federal Government is in charge of …Um, what? Retrieved from https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/17/08/when-it-comes-education-federal-government-charge-um-what.