Why I Will Not Choose Homeschooling Even with Advancement in Technology

Fred Wilson shared this on his blog a couple of days ago:

Apparently, homeschooling has been increasing rapidly in the US mainly because of parents’ concerns on the quality of the schools available, environment, academic instructions, syllabus etc. Of course in absolute terms it is still small relative to the total number of students (2m over 50m), but within the homeschooling space itself, back in 1990 it was only below 300k as shown by the chart above. Fred, who is an advocate in hacking education for the future thinks the growth is just going to accelerate further especially with the advancement and accessibility in technology. With VR for example, you can imagine studying about another country or state without the need to be physically there even.

As a mother, will I opt to homeschool my kids? The answer is no. My husband had a thought of it, he thinks he is better of teaching our son judging from the quality of teachers now and syllabus which will not prepare him the sort of survival, adaptability, critical thinking skills that are highly important as the implementation of AI grows significantly in the 10-15 years time.

But, because of AI, more so I think I want my son to go to school (currently inclining more towards private school than public) so that he does not lose track of human connection which you can only get by being part of the society. Because of AI, more so I want my son to be have excellent communication, persuasion, leadership skills which can only be acquired by mixing with other students.

As what Kai-Fu Lee, the AI expert said, we need to encourage our children to develop skills in areas where AI is weak especially when it comes to human connection. AI will never have feelings, will never understand compassion/empathy.

And for that reason, I will not choose to homeschool my kids.