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The parent knows instinctively that if they're working and setting an example for their child that means that child is more likely to be in school, more likely to stay out of trouble and more likely to complete their education.

The best schools tend to have the best teachers, not to mention parents who supervise homework, so there is less need for self-organised learning. But where a child comes from a less supportive home environment, where there are family tensions perhaps, their schoolwork can suffer. They need to be taught to think and study for themselves.

Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves.

As a former board member for Teach For America, I understand that every child has the ability to learn and that, no matter their circumstances at home, we have a duty and a responsibility to educate them and to do it well.

Teaching is a truly noble profession. It's sad the amount of responsibility that teachers have today. They're not only teaching kids: they're raising kids, policing kids - and they don't make a lot of money.

I feel sorry for the poor kids whose parents feel they're qualified to teach them at home. Of course, some parents are smarter than some teachers, but in the main I see home-schooling as misguided foolishness.

Polls that have been taken by kindergarten, first- and second-grade teachers indicate that 30 percent of the kids have been deprived in some way so that they are physically unable to keep up with the class.