I have a question...

[conuly]

Occasionally, with a wide and varied range of people, the subject of homeschooling comes up. And somebody inevitably pops up to say they're against homeschooling because "they want their children to learn to socialize". And yet, if they sent their kid to school, and the kid spent time with his/her friends in class, the teacher invariably says "you're not here to socialize, you're here to learn". Which is true. If you want to socialize, aside from HUGE homeschooling groups, there's other places like the playground and structured "after school" activities. But some people just keep missing the point, I think.

Comments

[catsluvdmb.livejournal.com]

But you learn important things about interaction when you are forced to be with people from many different backgrounds. For example, Allie (the girl) runs around taking other peoples things and then claiming they are hers. You just wouldn't get away with that in a school while the adults she interacts with think it's "cute" (or at least that's what they say).

Other than parents, most adults are unwilling to call a kid out when they're being bad. They don't think it's their place to "parent" someone else's kids. On the other hand, children will say whatever they feel like, and will call you out when you're being a jerk. This is why interaction with peers is so important.

They live out on a horse farm in South Carolina, and my grandmother is one of those freaks that thinks she knows what's best and therefore doesn't provide opportunities for Allie to interact with other children. It's sad and creepy all wrapped into a burrito of aggrivating.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

Thing is, school doesn't really give you a chance to associate with lots of different people in the way that unschooling and/or homeschooling can. School forces you to associate with people in a very narrow age bracket, and also often income bracket if you're in an area where the rich kids mostly get funneled off to specific schools and the non-rich kids mostly don't. The most actual *opportunity* for socializing with people of a wide variety of backgrounds is outside of school. If a parent doesn't allow that, then they're probably also the kind of parent who would try to keep their kid from associating with other kids at school anyway.

[conuly]

For example, Allie (the girl) runs around taking other peoples things and then claiming they are hers.

So will my sister's cousin Junior, and he's been in public school all his life. Hell, so will her ex-roommate from the group home in White Plains, she's a real troublemaker, and she's been in group homes since she's been old enough. You'd think that'd teach you socialization damn fast, being around a lot of different kids all the time, and all of them can beat you up, but it hasn't, she's just a nasty bitch.