I can't believe people are still talking about this so-called "issue." To me, it's a tiresome topic, because the evidence that home education works speaks for itself, regardless of the naysayers who have a vested interest in the educational system remaining the way it is (namely, Public Educators), and by others who have abdicated much of the responsibility of educating their own children -- even in the most basic of areas -- to a system run by "experts."
Well, like it or not, just because children in the public system are given information by those who are considered "well educated," that does not mean those children are being educated well. The fact of the matter is, state schools continue to fail miserably with regards to academic instruction -- their supporters can't realistically attack home education on that score, with homeschoolers consistently outperforming their public school peers on the Dreaded Standardized Tests. (Read any of those recent articles about the investigations of a number of public schools for high percentages of erasures on those standardized tests? And that's not the only area where it's likely they've cheated. How is it that so many public high schoolers can graduate with "As" on their transcripts without being able to write a decent essay or perform basic math functions -- as evidenced by the remedial courses they need to take in their first year of college? And home education is looked at askance?)
If detractors of home education can't get us on academics, they must insist home education is inadequate for some other reason -- and that's when they invoke the "S" word. I suppose their "concerns" are meant to make us doubt, have second thoughts, worry that our children will be seriously mal-adapted. Well, like it or not, compulsory attendance in an artificial, institutionalized environment that practices social engineering, (a place for everyone and everyone in their place), is not the way to produce individuals who are well socialized.
I'm no public school "expert," but I do know something about public school, having come through the K-12 pressure-cooker myself. The experience so impressed upon my psyche that I knew I would never want to subject my children to the same. While I realize that my experience is not the primary benchmark of what public school is like for everyone, it was by no means unique or uncommon. Out of all the years spent in school, high school was the absolute worst. To retain my sanity, I graduated early. Let me give you an idea of the kind of "socialization" I received there.
School was a dirty place. Grimy is the first word that comes to mind. The walls, the floors, the bathrooms (which you avoided at all costs). You didn't want a seat by the radiators, because that's where the roaches hung out. You hoped you could get through class without any crawling on you. As for the other kind of "filth," I learned first-hand, in concentrated doses (and at a very early age, in junior high, and even elementary school), about things like vulgarity, stalking, bigotry and segregation, and sexual harassment. And not just from the students.
School was an overcrowded, uncomfortable place. The halls were wall-to-wall people when we changed classes. If you had the misfortune of having a last name that started with a letter at the end of the alphabet (as I did), part of your first day of a class was likely spent having to go find and drag in a seat for yourself from somewhere. A platform on which to write to go along with it was not a given. Nor were you guaranteed a whole, fully readable textbook, you know, one with pages that didn't have a lot of crap written in them, or that didn't have pages ripped out altogether. I suppose we were fortunate to have books at all. (Heck, in junior high, my parents bought books for my entire eighth grade English class, they were so disgusted by the school's indifference and inaction).
School was a violent, dangerous place. In the first two weeks I attended high school, I witnessed, almost daily, fights that broke out in the (dirty) lunchroom, at least one involving knives. Fights were normal, but were growing increasingly more violent, like the time someone was nearly bludgeoned to death by someone else with a lead pipe. One year, there was a race riot; another year, a bomb scare, both resulting in evacuations. In addition to witnessing fights, my first weeks of high school involved threats to my person. In one instance, I wore to school a 14K gold chain I had received for my birthday, and someone else wanted it, which nearly got me pummeled. In another instance, I wore to school a sweatshirt with the sentiment, "Rather Dead than Disco," and with a picture that showed a gravestone etched with with the words, "Disco, RIP." (Highly offensive, I know, but this was the early 1980s, and Disco was definitely on its way out). Fortunately, I escaped that day also without a beating. I had learned early on that if you acted crazy enough, people were more likely to leave you alone for fear of not knowing exactly what you were capable of. (I believe that's changed these days with the preponderance of handguns). They installed metal detectors in my high school not long after I graduated.
School was not a good learning environment. Rather, it was a microcosm of -- and in some instances, probably an incubator for -- the ills of society, all in one convenient location. It is punishment indeed to force subjection to conditions that, in the real world, any normal person would strive to get away from and avoid.
Those of us who have barely survived with most of our marbles intact have done so in spite of the maltreatment experienced at school. The operative word in educational institution is institution. It's a place that keeps you in, then turns you out, in many cases in worse shape when you leave than when you went in.
Perhaps sociopath is a better label for what's turned out of many public schools. A sociopath is defined as a person who is unsociable, antisocial, socially deteriorated, selfish, dissociable. In other words, a crazy person or mental case. I would argue that what poses a greater threat to society is not the"unsocialization" that supposedly occurs in home education, but the anti-socialization that occurs in the public system. The definition of antisocial: unsociable, feral, ferocious, uncivilized, violent. Sounds a lot like many of the people I went to school with.
If you're fortunate enough to live in a decent district with decent schools, or even more fortunate to live in a wealthy district with "the best" schools, and you've opted to send your children there, that's great, that's your choice. But home education is also a valid choice, and in many cases, a superior one.
It's interesting to note that public schools, acknowledging the benefits of what they call "customized education," (what we home educators call "home education"), are continuing to offer more and more courses online that students can take from home, or from anywhere. A recent article focusing on South Carolina public schools sings the praises of online learning and how it will surpass the limitations of traditional "brick and mortar" schools. The article even speaks of the"diverse opportunities for social interaction -- for instance through sports clubs, homeroom clusters, and academic fieldtrips." Home educators have always used a combination of methods to facilitate learning, including hands-on projects and group activities, traditional and classical approaches, and, as it's become more available, online learning. Funny how nowhere in the article about SCs virtual, school-at-home paradigm was socialization deemed an "issue." Neither is it for home education.
Tracey Kmosko, a home educator for 15 years, has worked as a feature writer and editor for technology and financial services publications. She and her family currently blog at their home education website, unSocialized, where you'll find lots of homeschool information including news, views, tips and discussions.
Erasure Marks on Standardized Tests
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