Opponents of home schooling argue that no parent, however well-educated, can compare to a highly trained professional teacher. The pro-home-schooling crowd contends that public education teachers often are not as well trained as they should be, and that a parent can teach her children just as well or better. A study conducted by the Brookings Institution states that there is no conclusive data in favor of either argument; due to the nature of home schooling, student performance is very difficult to quantify. Judging by the diversity of teaching materials offered on home-schooling websites, parents appear to put a lot of time and effort into finding quality resources for their children.
Another commonly held belief is that home-schooled children are lonely and isolated and lack the social skills they will need to function in the adult world. According to the Brookings study, home-schooled children are rarely isolated. Many parents who home-school form communities, both online and in person, and students are encouraged to seek out social bonds. Some home-schooling communities hold plays, recitals, and sporting events so their children can make friends. Other parents tutor multiple children on a single subject, forming "classes" similar to the ones in public and private schools.
The term "home schooling" often conjures up the image of religious fundamentalists teaching their children to love the Bible and hate the government. While large numbers of home-schoolers are Christian fundamentalists or Mormons, the Brookings study states that many others have no religious affiliations at all. These parents may choose to home-school their children because they are dissatisfied with the local public schools and cannot find a secular private school. Many home-schooling parents on the West Coast are educated urbanites, often employed in the software and technology industries.
According to the Brookings study, the one thing that unites the many diverse groups of home-schoolers is their dislike of the public education system. Their reasons for disliking public schools are diverse and range all over the political spectrum. Some parents perceive public schools as hostile to their religious or political beliefs, while others feel that their children are not getting a good quality education and cannot afford to send them to private schools. Other parents dislike the public school bureaucracy and its "rigid" approach to teaching. They believe that because schools have a set way of doing things, they cannot adapt to the needs of individual children the way a parent or private tutor could.