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.
"Its 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 McDowells 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.
"How do you win at FreeRepublic? I can't seem to find my score ;)
The score is how long you have been at FR :)"
"He Who Dies With the Most Posts Wins."
FR isn't competition for position or money.
When I was racing cars I never entered a race that I didn't intend to win.
In business I never made a bid that I didn't intend to win.
Just 2 examples.
That brought to mind the brilliant final episode of the television series "Malcolm in the Middle": Malcolm was upset that his parents sacrificed to put him in a "nerd school" and now that he graduated off the charts they refused to back his wish to skip college in order to take an easy programming job worth half-a-million to start.
Malcolm's mom said
"It was never about the money. Once we understood what you had we knew settling for anything less than seeing you gain the Presidency of this United States would be a failure on our part and a total waste of your potential. You may NOT take the easy way out and support your idiot family. You WILL achieve your potential or, God help me, I'll personally make you regret it every second of your remaining life."
That's one incredible (TV character) mother. She knew right off the bat that public schooling would have ruined him and went through unending humiliations to see he obtained the best guidance possible.
When my kids had problems with the neighborhood kids and their bullying, they learned how to stand up to them on their own terms.
Ping
Don't know how it got posted to you A. Pole.
Taking parenting advice from a TV mom? That's ridiculous. If I were a dad I'd take parenting advice from the movie Affliction.
This is an issue to those who want to keep propery TAXES high.
Being homeschooled isn't a competition for position or money, either. I know many, many homeschoolers and are rearing two of my own. The homeschooled adults I know compete quite well in the real world.
This is exactly what a lot of people think. You know how those religious fanatics are ...
I think what Susan really meant was that the children could not be indoctrinated into Socialism unless they attended Public Schools.
Do you really consider that a statistically significant sampling?
If I had children I would have taken the advice I posted seriously as
a.It came from the hearts of good writers who knew it was their last shot, and
b.The show was always about one brilliant child's battle toward adulthood while saddled by a classic "white trash" environment.
I sympathized with the character a lot and, like him, eventually learned that we are what we make as opposed to buying into snobbish opinions of our upbringing made by people who don't really matter.
"I've never entered into anything in my life that I didn't intend to win or think that I had the ability or equipment to win."
Um, I take from that statement that you aren't married....
It's a television show.
That's good.
"Good ideas never go out of style."
It's a good idea, but the courts will never let vouchers stand.
A better way to approach it in my view is to simply charge tuition at the government schools. Give parents a generous child tax credit that just happens to equal the tuition charged by the government schools. Parents can spend their tax credit as they please: on the government schools, private schools, or homeschool and use the difference for groceries.
That gets around the separation of church and state baloney that the radical left and it's fellow travelers in the judiciary have used to kill vouchers.
That's a neat story, and I hope you tell it wide and far.
Let me guess. You are a teacher in a public school, right?
"This is exactly what a lot of people think. You know how those religious fanatics are ..."
The propaganda campaign against homeschooling has been somewhat successful over time. The rise of the internet and our ability to check and crosscheck information is countering it.
Sooner or later the NEA mantra of: "b--b-but what about socialization?" will be looked upon as what it usually is: a cheap swipe at homeschoolers.
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