Posted on 08/06/2006 3:22:26 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat
Socialization is no longer an “issue” for homeschoolers, according to some researchers on the long-running debate over public and independent schooling.
Susan McDowell, author of "But What About Socialization? Answering the Perpetual Home Schooling Question: A Review of the Literature,” has researched 24 studies on the socialization of homeschoolers, according to Bristol Herald Courier.
"It’s a non-issue today," said McDowell, who earned Ph.D. in educational leadership from Vanderbilt University. "All the research shows children are doing well."
On one occasion, she was challenged by one of her publishers to find evidence that homeschoolers were socially deficient compared to their publically educated counterparts.
However, she claims finding no one in the academic field with such view supported by research.
Other researchers, such as Larry Shyers, who holds Ph.D. in counseling, support McDowell’s findings. Shyers’ dissertation, "Comparison of Social Adjustment Between Home and Traditionally Schooled Children," won a national award in excellence in research from the Educational Research Information Clearinghouse in 1992.
His studies found that homeschooled children are not disadvantaged when it comes to socialization. He said that those taught at home were more likely to invite others to play with them, they were not as competitive but more cooperative, and they kept their noise levels lower. Homeschooled children also played with peers of both genders rather than with those of the same gender, he added.
Fourteen-year-old Kayla Freeman from Bristol, Tenn. says she knows more people than she did while in traditional school, and she has discovered better friends in the homeschool community.
“Most homeschooled kids I know are outgoing and friendly," Kayla said. "They are the truest friends I have."
Whether it is for religious, social, or educational reason, American parents are, albeit small in number, increasingly withdrawing their children out of public schools and instructing them at home, despite the criticisms laid out by homeschool critics.
The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) estimated that 1.1 Million students were homeschooled in the United States in 2003, an increase from 850,000 from the 1999 NHES data.
As I said, it depresses me to even think about it, much less write about it.
I believe there is more than some truth in your observations. I don't agree with the socialization necessarily, since that is such an individual thing anyway. There are antisocial kids, shy kids, poor communicators in public schools too. I do think they tend to be very smart, because they are not distracted by the types of things that happen in the typical schools. However, I remain cautiously optimistic. Currently, I know several families with homeschooled children. I used to think it was the best way to go, and in some instances it may still be, but (and this is a big but), I am starting to see a trend in many of these kids.... they seem to be a bit odd. I can't put my finger on it though. Odd, eccentric, marching to the beat of their own drummer, call it what you will, but a lot of them are just plain weird. One family's daughter (and this is one of the younger examples) has a 6 year old who is extremely brilliant - she is reading on at least a 5th grade level, but she's actually arrogant. She thinks she's smarter than the adults and she acts condescending toward her grandmother, who is my friend.
Anyway, just my two cents.
Based on my personal experience with five nieces and nephews who are being public schooled, this article is ________ I don't know what's going to become of them when they get out into the real world. I view public schooling as an insanely risky experiment on the kids. They might as well be growing-up in a gang on a porn movie set.
Oops. My reply sounds like the six year old has a daughter; hope you can make sense of it. Guess proofing is a good thing.
"lot of them are just plain weird"
I remember going to public school and of course there was no one there that I would call just plain weird...
well...
----
the stereotyping that goes on for homeschoolers is just incredible... we have non-christian, liberal, democrat homeschooling friends that our sons do activities with. in our group of 80-100 families, yes, i know some kids i'd call wierd, and arrogent, and... etc.
Bless you. There it is. "[A] bit odd," might be on the optimistic side of things. The problem is that parents who home school aren't going to accept that that might be the case. And relatives are naturally going to be reluctant to point such things out.
My response is not to imply that one will not find weird, arrogant, mean, fill in the blank for any adjective you wish, kids in a public, or parochial for that matter, HS, only to make a point that homeschooling doesn't insure people that their kids are any better. They might be more indoctrinated with the beliefs of the family and better able to withstand assaults on those beliefs, but I have too many examples from many different families, which include children of all ages, so I think it's a pretty good cohort. Again, every child is individual. Homeschooling isn't the end-all, be-all. I used to think that way but no longer do; again, because of some of the ways I've seen these kids turn out.
Awed. Your children are blessed and will help shape the future in a positive way through your efforts. That's the definition of contributive legacy.
I do watch some TV, mostly flipping through the channels. However, over recent years I become convinced that TV has turned from benign into something destructive.
This stems from the fact that many children simply do not know how to watch TV. They don't understand the purpose of the medium or how it operates. That is to say, they accept what they see at face value.
You are either prone to hyperbole or you are an idiot.
In consider myself a member of that elite group of idiots prone to hyperbole! We are a monstrously influential minority!
Anecdotal "evidence" is routinely discounted by discerning observers, and for good reason. A well-constructed empirical study allows for generalization within given parameters, including exceptions. An anecdote contributes nothing useful, in itself, by comparison.
The "socialization" issue has always been recognized as a red herring raised by the public school lobby, (not that exceptions cannot occur.)
What about idiot parents? Most of the parents I meet today I wouldn't trust with an ant farm.
Not a lot, the biggest one was when I totaled my airplane!
You may be onto something there, as liberal leaning indoctrination courses are increasingly dependent on flashy "multimedia" sources to best head off any independent thinking by our impressionable youth.
But hey; I spent five years in a basement with an encyclopedia set and a shelf of classic literature while finding no one (children my age nor teachers) knew what the hell I was talking about. Perhaps my ability to glean the few positive aspects of mass media, because of that separation during a critical developmental period, disqualifies me from fairly criticizing it.
Q: What does television sell? What product?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.