Round 1. LadyCool21 v.s. Amorymeltzer: Home Schooling

The topic for this debate is "Home schooling is a better alternative then public schools"

LadyCool21 will be arguing for this proposition and will open the debate.
Amorymeltzer will argue against this proposition.

Each debater will have one opening statement each. This will be followed by 3 alternating replies each. There will then be one closing statement each and no rebuttal.

No post will be longer than 800 words and in the case of the closing statement no longer than 500 words. In the event of a debater posting more than the stated word limit then the excess words will be deleted by me from the bottom. Credits or references at the bottom do not count towards the word total.

Editing is Strictly forbidden. This means any editing, for any reason. Any edited posts will be completely deleted.

Excluding both the opening and closing statements only one image may be included in each post. No more than 5 references can be included at the bottom of each post. Opening and closing statements must not contain any images, and must have no more than 3 references.

Responses should be made within 24 hours, if people are late with their replies, they run the risk of forfeiting their reply and possibly the debate.

Judging will be done by an anonymous panel of 11 judges. After each debate is completed it will be locked and the judges will begin making their decision. Results will be posted by me as soon as a majority (6) is reached.

This debate is now open, good luck to both of you.

Home Schooling

Contrary to popular belief, home schooling is a legal way of educating your child, and appears to be an ever growing alternative to regular schools.

"either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. " - British Education Act (1944, updated 1996).

Parents wish to take back direct responsibility for their childs education, teaching at home is no longer first thought of as for a dilenquent youth, it is now seen in a new and acceptable light - children are opting out of the school system to learn.
Every child is different, and their needs must be catered for individually, who better to do this than their own guardians? They can focus on key subjects and pick others that interest them, they gain freedom and have a sense of responsibility, why conform with the ways of 20 or so children of varied ability each and every day?

Throughout the seventies and eighties, the alternative way of education boomed in popularity, parents believed that they could do a better job, especially with the ever growing worries of what state the public school system was in. Society began to realised that there is another way. Many people did not understand this alternative and shunned it, presuming it was just a form of truenting with the parents consent; however, the achievements for the home-educated child began to flood through, proving that education is compulsory, school is not.

The skills needed to educate your child is over-estimated, you do not need to be a qualified teacher, nor do you need any sort of degree. The only qualifications needed, is love, and the want for your child to succeed. Home-schooling is a family experience, usually bringing them closer together, being able to share resources and pool initiative.

It is also a common misconception that it will be expensive, there are many resources available freely around you; your local library, the internet, museums, art galleries etc. None of which cost a large amount of money. Remember, at school a parent would be paying for such things as uniforms, dinners, bus fares and school trips.

In this debate, I will hope to uncover some of the mysteries of home-schooling, whilst tackling some of the misconceptions, and hopefully making people more aware of this liberating path through childhood generally.

Education Otherwise - The E.O
Free resources for Home-Schooling
Popular home education magazine

I would like to begin by thanking MacKiller for hosting this debate, and Genya once again for getting me involved over half a year ago.


Every child is different, and for some, especially those with learning or physical disabilities, it may simply be easier and safer for them if they are home schooled. However, for the vast majority of the population, the benefits of a home education do not outweigh the missed opportunities of regular attendance at a school.

The key differences in the two teaching methods are in content and social behavior. The public, private, or parochial school system offers hundreds of teachers who are paid to teach. Each teacher specializes in one or two topics, and teaches those to the children. Through this process, students can learn far more than they would otherwise, even surpassing their parents' knowledge in areas such as science or social studies while still in school.

You can, however, be just as successful in the world if you only learn math up through trigonometry or if you take multivariable calculus and differential equations. More important than the level of your learning is your experience. By far, the most important thing you will ever learn in school is the ability to interact with others in a social setting.

"High school is just like life, but harder." The lessons you learn there are more than just PV=nRT or what Federalism is. You learn to deal with and work with people. The speechies, the geeks, the jocks, the goths, the freaks, the cheerleaders, the nerds, the gangstas, the popular kids. The skills and experiences you garner in high school will take you where you want to go in life.

And so I hope to convey this to you, but for now I leave you with this:

"Those having torches will pass them on to others." - Plato

LadyCool21 has removed herself from the debate

Amorymeltzer advances.