Alternative education includes: home schooling, private schools, advanced placement programs, art schools, and new ideas such as unschooling (letting the child pursue their main interests). Although Alternative Education has gained popularity recently, it is something not known to most students in America. People choose alternative education to fit the student’s personal needs and interests. Why doesn’t everyone choose what’s best for them? The option is open, but many students have no idea what alternative education is.

A student’s future should never be dependent on a form of schooling that doesn’t benefit that student’s needs or interests in life. While public schooling may be right for some, many students find themselves stuck in a system that doesn’t suit them, but maybe they can’t just leave or have spent too much time there to want to leave. Most of the time, the problem is that students are never told about other forms of education.

Public schools today may look good on paper to politicians, but looks can be deceiving. Many students find ways to “beat” the system and even if they have good grades, it doesn’t mean they are more intelligent, knowledgeable, or work as hard as the person next to them. When it comes down to the individual people, the grades are only a teacher’s reflection of how the student works in that class. Students can cheat, lie, and even talk their way to a better grade, while teachers can vary greatly. Therefore a grade is not a direct reflection of what a student learns or achieves during school.

Opponents of alternative education programs say that a comprehensive and standardized curriculum leads to a better overall competency, but with 1 out of 3 high school students that don’t graduate around the nation( for Latinos and African Americans the rate approaches 50%), the public school system doesn’t seem to be doing its job. In order to have a better overall competency, the schools need to focus on the individual student and their needs, instead of an overall standardized curriculum. In the end, one system can’t work for everyone.

Many parents have now turned to un-schooling, because they believe the school system public or private, doesn’t let children learn to their full potential. They want to maintain their child’s love for learning. Life for a young child is full of learning. As a young child you are curious and imaginative, learning is natural and fun. After a few years in school parents have noticed how their child’s love for learning is changed by rules and conditioning, learning becomes a task.