Due to the commercialization of modern schooling and education systems, schools have begun operating on business models. Institutions that once nurtured children's childhoods, fostered critical thinking, and served as fundamental sources of education are now increasingly viewed as entities that rob children of their childhood.
Teachers in schools once held a position of great esteem; however, with the shift toward a business model, where the primary objectives are profit generation and commercialization, they are now viewed merely as salespeople tasked with selling a service. Similarly, children are no longer seen simply as students seeking an education, but rather as customers, just as their parents are regarded as customers.
Due to the dismal state of the education system, many parents these days are considering homeschooling their children. This is not a new trend; Aristotle, for instance, homeschooled and educated Alexander 25,000 years ago.
Homeschooling has both advantages and disadvantages; for instance, benefits include real-life experience, experiential learning, and the freedom to learn. However, the child still needs to follow a schedule, and, most importantly, it is essential for both parents to be on the same page.
Homeschooling allows children to receive individual attention through a more interactive process, enabling their specific learning needs to be met needs that often go unaddressed in schools due to outdated teaching methodologies.
According to a 2018 World Bank report, the student-teacher ratio in Pakistan is 44:1, meaning a single teacher is responsible for 44 children. When one teacher must attend to 44 students, consider how little room there is for individual attention; a specific child within that group who might require a different kind of attention simply does not receive it.
With homeschooling, a child avoids the stress, bullying, exam pressure, and various other complications that arise from interactions with peers in a school setting. Having been a student myself, I know the kind of environment that exists in schools, where one faces bullying and stress, and homeschooling keeps a person away from all that.
On the other hand, a benefit of homeschooling is that the student grows closer to their parents; this is because the parents are not merely parents to them but also serve as an educational institution and fulfill the role of teachers.
One of the downsides of homeschooling is that a child misses out on peer-to-peer socialization; they do not learn how to make friends or integrate with others, skills that are fundamental to the classroom experience and considered vital for a child's development by many experts.
To facilitate making friends, integration, and socialization, homeschooling parents should form an organization, or something similar, to arrange conferences, participate in forums, and organize outings or tours that allow them to socialize with one another.
Homeschooling is akin to natural learning; it builds a child's confidence and fosters decision-making skills, ensuring that childhood is not ruined but rather allowed to flourish.
To successfully raise a homeschooler, providing the right environment is crucial, as a person is a product of their surroundings; the environment they are exposed to shapes how they blossom and develop. For instance, a homeschooler should have access to a small library, a whiteboard, scientific materials, and art supplies, and should be encouraged to write stories during their free time. While they should be kept away from mobile phones, parents, living in the digital age, should utilize various useful resources to support their child's education.
Nowadays, we admit children of four or three years of age to school. I believe that children should not be admitted to any school until they are seven years old, but rather should be given natural learning.
A child should at 7 should chase butterflies, run after cats, and he should hold a firefly in his hand and see what happens.
Translated by Google from Urdu to English
