comparison essay

Essay

Public School and Home School

    Talking about schools, it seems like Public School and Home School don’t sound so strange for us. Both of them are kind of schools which provide some benefits. They are all good schools. Although those schools are same good, as selective parents, you are supposed to be able to decide which school you should choose for your kids as a place where they continue their education. In deciding which school you will choose for your kids, you can consider the benefits your kids and your family will get from the school, the output you want your kids get after school, and many other things you should consider further. “Truely, both Public School and Home School are means of education which help kids to achieve the goal of education, but those schools, Public School and Home School, have differences” (Pomadi,2007).

            First difference between Public School and Home School is about a question, “ Who are in charge here?”. In every school, including Public School and Home School, there are some people who are in charge of their students success in achieving education’s aims. Who are the man in charge of Public School and Home School? In Public School, there are teachers, headmaster, and school staffs. They are people who are in charge of their students success in Public School. In the other side, people who are in charge of students success in Home School are not teachers, headmaster, or other staffs, but they are parents. In Home School, parents are the ones who are responsible for their kids success. Parents have important role in Home School, just like teachers role in Public School.

            Second, if we are talking about differences between Public School and Home School, schedule will be one aspect that is quite different in Public School and Home School. The schedule in Home School is more flexible than schedule in Public School. In Home School, students (kids) can start their study whenever they want, for example, they can start to study at 8 a.m, 9 a.m, or whenever they are ready. They do not need to be afraid of being late because in Home School there is no specified time to start study (school). It is quite different from Public School where students have to be ready to study when the school bell rings at 7 a.m. Because of that, students of Public School have to come earlier to the school. It means that before 7 a.m they have to be ready in the school. In this case, if they come late, they will be punished by their teacher because 7 a.m is specified time where students have to be ready to study in Public School. In Public School, the schedule of subjects from Monday to Saturday change everyday. The schedule itself has been set by the school. Students have to obey and follow the schedule, and study the subjects based on the schedule given by the school. For example, on Monday they have Mathematic (2x45 minutes), Biology (2x45 minutes), English (2x45 minutes), and Civics (2x45 minutes) as their subjects, but on Tuesday they will have different subjects such as: Indonesian Language (2x45 minutes), Art (2x45 minutes), Geography (2x45 minutes), and Physics (2x45 minutes) as their subjects, and other different subjects in every different days. It is different from what we will find in Home School. If the student in Home school want to study English and Social Science for example, he/she will study those subjects that day. They will spend their time that day only to study those two subjects. How long he/she studies those subjects is not a big problem. Whether he/she will study English for about 3 hours that day, or spend 2 hours to study about Social Science is up to him/her. If the following day he/she still wants to study those subjects and he/she also wants to learn Mathematic as their additional subject that day, then he/she will get them again (English and Social Science), and learns Mathematic after those subjects finished. In Home School, this way is possible to do, but in Public School we cannot apply such way. So, that’s why it is said that “the schedule in Home school is flexible” (Ensiklopedia,2011).

            Third, it is about uniform. In Public School, it is a must for the students to wear school uniform. If it is Elementary School, they wear white and red uniform. If it is Junior High School, they wear white and blue uniform. If it is Senior High School, they wear white and grey uniform. Their uniforms are usually two-piece; white shirt which is combined with skirt (for girls), or trousers (for boys), and sometimes in some Public Schools the uniforms are completed with tie. On the contrary, there is no certain rule for the students to wear uniform in Home School. There, they can wear shirt, T-shirt, skirt, trousers, or even jeans are also permitted. They can wear everything they want as long as they feel comfortable wearing them when they are studying.

            Fourth, in Public School we know that one class is a big class that contains for about 30 to 40 students whereas the teacher who will conduct teaching and learning process in that class is only one in every subject. The opposite, there will only a teacher and a student who do teaching and learning process in Home School. Hence, the attention that the teacher can share to 30-40 students is really different from the attention that a teacher can give only for a student. Of course in Home School, a student will get 100% attention from his/her teacher, but in Public School teacher will try to share his/her attention to all his/her students as fair as he/she can. So, in this case, in Public School and Home School, the attention that the students can get from the teacher will totally different.

            Fifth is about curriculum. In Public School we cannot choose curriculum by ourselves. We just follow the curriculum which is used in that school. We also cannot choose subjects as we wish, because all subjects have been set by the school. This is different from Home School. In Home School we can choose curriculum we want. We also can choose the subjects we want to learn and master them well. The subjects are usually adapted to the student needs. So, if we like to study Mathematic, and we want to master that subject than Science for example, we will spend more times to study that subject. If it is needed, we will reduce Science time or other subjects times, and use that times to learn more about Mathematic.

Thus, from the long explanation above, now we know that although Public School and Home School have the same function which is as means of education that can be used to help students to achieve education’s aims, those schools still have some differences (Pomadi). Those differences can be seen from who take the responsible for the school, schedule system, uniform, number of teacher and student in a class, curriculum, and the last is about some activities such as: flag ceremoney, Physical Education, and extra curricular. However, although those schools are different, they are still good schools which can create a well educated person who has high intelligentsia and civilized. Furthermore, after knowing the differences from those schools, we will be able to decide which one will be the best place that we will choose as a place for our kids to continue their education, because from those differences above, we will know some advantages and disadvantages of choosing one of those schools.