Education is compulsory, schooling is not

In Britain, the number of children taught by their parents at home rose from 10, 000 in 1995 to 50, 000 ten years later .
Why do people do it ? Most say that it is to give their childen, a better education . Flexible hours allow children to go to museums, galleries and other places that children at school can' t get to . If school were only about exam results, home schooling may be seen as a good idea . However, school should also prepare us for life in the real, adult world and home schooling doesn' t do that so effectively .


Australia is a big, empty country and getting to school is not always easy . That' s why the Alice Springs School of the Air opened in 1951 . It allowed pupils to learn from home by using two- way radios . Sience 1995, the pupils have been able to use the internet to study . There are about 100 pupils agde between four and twelve . They meet four times a year in a real classroom . The rest of the year they are on their own . Word documents are their whiteboard, Powerpoind is used for school projects and they hand in homework by sending an email . There are no uniforms of course and playing truant is easy . Just switch off the computer and, the next day, tell your teacher taht the Internet failed !