More and more parents are turning to home schooling as an alternative to traditional education. Doubtless, this makes sense. Our homes are where we learn most of what life requires of us; and no teacher can do as much for a student as a parent does by talking, reading, and otherwise instructing a child. Home schooling extends this, and does so quite effectively: in fewer hours per day, home-schooled children frequently cover more material than students in traditional schools.

Societies, unfortunately, have found it necessary to generate educational systems in order to address three situations: those in which parents do not have the necessary knowledge to educate their children; those in which they haven't the time; and those in which they haven't the interest.

In these three situations, it is in a society's best interests to provide education for those children. And this appears to be a prudent decision for those societies who do so: there is a strong correlation between every desirable attribute of a citizen and a community, and institutional education. As one group put it succinctly, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

It would be wonderful if all parents had those the three fundamental educational resources, knowledge, time, and interest. But it is rare that parents have all three. And almost no parent has the comprehensive educational mastery necessary for a complete education. Even the best-educated parents frequently seek teachers for some subjects, whether the arts, math, sciences, foreign language, or some other.

And even if the rare parent were able to cover all of the necessary disciplines, limits still exist: there are no home-schooled college students.

Is home schooling our goal? Should we build our lives so that our children are all home-schooled? As our world becomes more sophisticated, and more broadly educated, perhaps so. In the future, we might hope that all families have at least one parent with knowledge, time, and interest to home school.

Home-schooling offers a lot of advantages to traditional education. But until we have parents with all of the necessary skills and resources, we will still need schools and school systems.