To quote my excellent article
Home schooling for liberty,
The primary advantage of socialist education, we are told, is socialization. The ability to sniff the behinds of those around you, and ascertain your position in the pack, your place in the pecking order. In adult prisons, rapists help to put and keep "fresh meat" in its place. In kiddy penal institutions, bullies serve the same purpose.
Rick Boyer, home school researcher, pointed out once how little schools resemble the "real" world. In the real world, you don't go to work every day with the realistic expectation of a violent physical assault upon your person. Bullies make school days a living hell for way too many children. Evidently, they serve a purpose in the bigger scheme of things -- but I choose not to play any more. My children are lambs of the Lord's flock, not domestic cattle of The State.