Richard Hogan: Home schooling isn't the answer for anxious children

Richard Hogan: The bigger issue is how to make school more appealing to students without compromising on standards and academic learning. Photograph: Moya Nolan

The recent criticism of the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin for his comments on the practice of home-schooling raised some interesting commentary on this modern phenomenon. Of course, the story of Enoch Burke and his family are an easy analogy to draw, and one I will endeavour to stay away from, but his case does illuminate, as far as I can see, the impact a singular lens has on a child’s development. 

Children crave difference and diversity. It is how they learn. The different perspectives that an Irish classroom offers children is so vitally important for their healthy maturation. I see it myself with my own children, they are buzzing with energy when a teacher has said something provocative or has got them to think a different way from how myself and my wife think.