Should School Be Made Compulsory?

For years, kids have been going to school and being subjected to what we call, “compulsory education”. In times before compulsory education, if you were a goldsmith’s son you ended up being a goldsmith and if you were a butcher’s son you ended up being a butcher.

Compulsory education gives children a chance to escape from their parent’s ideology as they are exposed to a more neutral point of view in school. Many argue that compulsory education forces children to study subjects that they do not have an aptitude for and when they score badly in those subjects, it only serves to lower their self-esteem. Those in favor propagate that knowledge of all subjects is a must. It improves the overall knowledge of the child and exposure to different subjects gives the child a host of choices. It broadens the child’s horizon. It gives the child a chance to interact with other children his age and form peers as well. Many frown at the grade system saying that it is unfair to subject a child to it because a ‘C’ grade invariably makes the child feel like a loser.

Compulsory school instills discipline in the child and exposes him to not just different subjects, but different students and different teachers. Ultimately that is what school is about; preparing you to go out and find your place in the world. It’s a miniature world preparing you for the bigger world outside and it cannot be replaced by home schooling.