Home vs. public schooling

The Home Forum page essay "Letting Go of Home Schoolers," Dec. 12, raises some compelling questions concerning education.The author discusses how he taught his daughters four hours each day. I think most teachers, given just two students, could do the same. Hence the issue can be reduced to numbers. Public schools are doomed to fail as long as teachers are regularly handed 100 to 150 students. Of course, the solution isn't to allot one teacher for every two students, but a balance needs to be established. As a teacher who left public schools to work in a friend's school, I feel schools offer something the home cannot: the opportunity to be part of a vibrant community; to learn much more than history or algebra while involved in the shared experience of living and working together. Learning to build and nurture community is a crucial role for schools and the best argument in their favor. Mark R. Hiza, Westtown, Pa.

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