Analysis of the Public School vs.

Homeschool Controversy in Relation to Introverted Students

Phoebe Grubbs

Ottawa University

LAS 13525 Research Techniques and Technologies

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ABSTRACT

The raising of the next generation is one of the most important parts of our society today.

Because of this, every aspect of that process is heavily scrutinized. In this paper public schooling

and homeschooling are compared to see which would be better for students who are introverted,

with a finer focus on the socialization of the students, bullying in schools, and parental

involvement, all with regards to their personality type in an effort to answer the question of

which medium is better suited for this personality type.

Key Words: Homeschool, Public School, Introvert, Controversy,

INTRODUCTION

The most important part of society is the raising of the next generation. That is something

that is a very hot topic in our society today, all aspects are being scrutinized by the public eye.

Every subject involved in this process, from the subject of discipline to the subject of education,

is being carefully examined. In this paper I look into one of those subjects: education. More

specifically, I will be comparing two of the main forms of the education process and reflecting

on whether either of the two is better for students with certain personality types. The two forms I

will be comparing are homeschooling and public schooling. Both of these paths of education are

highly scrutinized by our society and have seemingly been found lacking in several areas.
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First let us go over the main points that have created the controversy that exists and

generates animosity between these two schooling systems. We can go in alphabetical order and

start with homeschooling. There are two sides to each of the mediums of study, the pros and

cons. I will just touch on the main topics of each presented in a very easy to read format in the

article Homeschooling Vs. Public Schooling by Khilawala (2016). First are the pros of

homeschooling: Specialized care for each child, closer family relationships, more efficient study

habits, and incorporation of religious beliefs in the child. The cons consist of: The time that must

be invested by the parents causes one of them to stay at home and not work, this could cause

financial constraints on the family, difficulty competing in sports, and lack of socialization.

Keeping those things in mind, let us look at the pros and cons of the public school

medium. Pros: Easy access to artistic outlets, after school programs, proficiency of the teachers,

and large amounts of socialization. Cons: High levels of bullying in public schools, lack of

individual attention, non-conformism and innovative thinking are not easily accepted, influence

of bad behaviors, and it does not do well in accommodating to introverted students.

These all mix together and form a never ending argument that has no clear answer. In this

paper I will not be going over whether or not either medium is good for the general student, but

more specifically which medium is better suited for introverted students. Would it be better to

cater their education to their quiet nature, or to put them in a situation where they are required to

grow, and reach out of their quiet comfort zone on a daily basis in order to prepare them for

working with others in their field of study? My strategy is to use this question to narrow the

focus from all of these topics to the few that could really affect the student based on their
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personality. Chiefly with homeschooling, the specialized study and the lack of socialization, but

with public schooling, the necessary interactions and the bullying problem.

SPECIFIC LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

The book Child Development written by Scarr (1969) places the number of introverted

students at approximately 35-50% of all students, so taking this personality into account when

designing a school system that works best for them could have huge ramifications for a large

percent of the general population. The article Introverts and Extraverts Require Different

Learning Environments written by Schmeck and Lockhart (1969) outlines the sort of learning

environment that best suits the introverted personality. In the article the stimulation levels

required for introverts to become engaged, and how they are so much lower than their

extroverted counterparts. Because the stimulation levels are so different, they predicted that a

public school environment that caters to the stimulation of extroverts would overstimulate the

introverted students and that would cause them to shut down and have a difficult time learning.

This would then lead to poorer performances from public schooled introverts compared to the

extroverts. Then there is the problem presented by bullies in school. The website

NOBullying.com posted october 19, 2016 with the latest statistics on bullying, and it states that

up to 77% of students at school are abused by bullies either verbally, physically, or both.

According to an article written by Jane Ripperger-Suhler titled Homeschooling: An

alternative to traditional school (2016), homeschooling in the past has been the chosen medium

of education for religious reasons, but now the motivations have shifted. People are now

motivated to homeschool because of concerns about school environment; dissatisfaction with

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academic instruction in other schools. (p.5) So the parents of these children are moving away

from the environments of the public school system because they believe that their students are

better off away from these environments. In the article Why Parents Choose Homeschooling

written by Chris Jeub (1994), a homeschooling parent outlines all the reasons he chose

homeschooling.

In it he states that his main motivational factor was the academic success of

homeschooled students. And they have been proven on a national level to perform extremely

well. A post in the Washington Times titled HOME-SCHOOLING: Outstanding results on

national tests (2009) places the average homeschooler in five key areas of study. In reading they

are in the 89th percentile, in language they are in the 84th percentile, in math the 84th percentile,

in science the 86th percentile, in social studies the 84th percentile, and in core studies

homeschooled students averaged in the 88th percentile. There are other studies done to the

academic success of homeschooled students as well. For example the study Academic

achievement of homeschool and public school students and student perception of parent

involvement conducted by Barwegen, Falciani, Putnam, Reamer, and Stair, (2004) published in

the Community School Journal, as well as a study done by Snyder An evaluative study of the

academic achievement of homeschooled students versus traditionally schooled students attending

a catholic university. (2013) published in the Catholic Education journal 16(2), 288-308. So it

would seem that homeschooling would be the better option of the two.

THEORETICAL RESULTS
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From all this it would seem that public schooling overstimulates introverts and therefore

makes it harder for them to learn, and that if you homeschool you can tailor a specific curriculum

to your child that teaches them in the best ways for them to learn based on all the factors you

want to take into account. And while the second half of that sentence is true, going back to the

article by Schmeck and Lockhart (1969), they look at the success rates of introverts in public

school, and they found results that contradicted their expectations. They found that introverts did

quite well in the public school arena, and that teachers tended to reward students who could work

quietly and alone. So the answer seems to be more complex than there being a simple right or

wrong answer as to which method is better suited for the student.

There was a study done on Subjective Well-Being by Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E.,

& Smith, H. L. (1999) and its main topic is the discussion of happiness. It suggests that introverts

get a sort of elated feeling, or a feeling of happiness from short bursts of extroversion. If this is

the case, then putting them in a situation like public school where they will have the chance to

have short spurts of extroverted behavior could potentially benefit their overall happiness and

therefore improve their self confidence. Opportunities like that would probably be fewer and

further between in a homeschooled situation.

CONCLUSION

It would seem that this question does not have an umbrella answer with one solution that

fits all introverted students. The question would need to be made on a case by case basis. Things

that need to be taken into account would be the financial situation of the family, can the family

afford to only have one parent working? Then there is the severity of the child's introverted
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tendencies, is the child comfortable enough in social situations that they can function? Or do they

shut down? Another issue is the curriculum used for teaching at home, and the question of

whether or not parents are qualified to teach their children. The fifty states all have different

statutes on the required qualifications of homeschooled parents. There are some families that are

very well suited to homeschooling, and some that are not as suited to it. The only way to

determine the answer is by looking at a student's individual needs and make a decision based on

that.
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Works Cited:

1. Kihlawala, R. (2016) Homeschooling vs. public schooling. Retrieved from

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/homeschooling-vs-public-school.html
2. Scarr, S. (1969). Social introversion-extraversion as a heritable response. Child Development,

823-832.
3. Schmeck, R. R., & Lockhart, D. (1983). Introverts and extraverts require different learning

environments. Educational Leadership, 40(5), 54-55.

4. Author not given. (2016) Revealed: Shocking bullying statistics 2014. Retrieved from

https://nobullying.com/bullying-statistics-2014/
5. Ripperger-Suhler, J. (2016) Homeschooling: An alternative to traditional school. The Brown

University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 32(4), 1-5.

6. Jeub, C. (1994). Why parents choose homeschooling. Educational Leadership, 22(1), 50-52.
7. Unknown Author (2009). Home-schooling: Outstanding results on national tests. The
8. Washington Times. Retrieved from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/30/home-

schooling-outstanding-results-national-tests/
9. Barwegen, L. M., Falciani, N. K., Putnam, S. J., Reamer, M. B., & Stair, E. E. (2004). Academic

achievement of homeschool and public school students and student perception of parent

involvement. School Community Journal, 14(1), 39-58.

10. Snyder, M. (2013) An evaluative study of the academic achievement of homeschooled students

versus traditionally schooled students attending a catholic university. Catholic Education, 16(2),

288-308.
11. Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three

decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276 302.