I hate to burst your bubble, but perhaps you haven't noticed...
(/whisper)...there are social misfits at public schools too. They are called "nerds", "dorks" or even "geeks". And ther are MILLIONS of them!(/whisper OFF)
Perhaps you were just too sheltered to notice the public school misfits - just like you might have been to sheltered to notice the well socialized homeschoolers that roam the halls all around you? It's not really something to rag on you about - after all, it's easy to tag "misfits" but it's much harder to notice the well-adjusted peoples of the world. It's just more obvious when a person "doesn't fit in"...
If percentages are what you're going on, then I'm willing to bet hard cash that there are millions more public school "misfits" then there are homeschool "misfits". Having taught in public schools and with homeschoolers, I can tell you from experience - misfits and "unsocialized" public school students exist in FAR greater numbers and percentages than do homeschoolers.
My daughter is a proud graduate of a public "magnet" school, and my son is homeschooled, so I have both sides of the fence to play here!
What does that mean, exactly? That they don't hold their tongue when situations call for political correctness? That they don't hang out and drink after work the way other kids their age did after school? That they have trouble putting on a condom because of their lack of cucumber experience?
I don't like our public school system(especially in UT where we rank last or next to last in the nation on public spending) but to shelter you (sic) child from a social experience is just abuse
Here's a news flash: spending more on schools won't necessarily improve results. I notice that you didn't say anything about Utah's test scores or graduation rates, you just referred to state money sunk into the system.
I don't know which homeschooled kids you're talking about, but my neighbor homeschools her two kids and they are about as normal and well-mannered as any kids you'd ever want to meet. These two kids each have many friends, both participate in organized sports leagues, both love to hang out at the mall, and do all the other typical activities that kids their age like to do. My neighbor's two kids are having a wonderful social experience and are enjoying life to the fullest.
Almost all of the future prison population is attending public schools now. In schools, the law of the jungle often applies with regard to conflicts. When young people reach their day of legal adulthood, severe conflicts must be solved very differently from then on. It is best that they learn to deal with social problems as they will when they are adults.
It is also common knowledge that public schools are not delivering needed instruction in math, applied English, history, government and other subjects. Children who attend those schools are being cheated out of opportunities that they otherwise might have.
Your experience is not representative. ALL the homeschooled kids I know are much better socialized than public schooled kids. They don't hide from adults, they interact with all kinds of people, and so on.
Public schools are actually anti-social. Where in the real world do you socialize only with people exactly your own age? That is artificial, and counter-productive. Homeschooled kids often have the advantage of interacting with a variety of people, not just those their own age.
I will definitely homeschool my kids (the oldest is 13 months old). Parents are responsible for the education of their kids, and may delegate that to someone else if they wish. My wife and I choose to take on that responsibility.
Our two granddaughters were home schooled for 7 years until they were in high school. They are doing beautifully. One has just been accepted into the national honor society and the other is on track to finish high school in three years. Their mother gave up a promising career to do the home schooling. She and the girls are extremely close which greatly benefits them.
Contrast them to their foul mouthed, pregnant (some for the second time), disruptive classmates some of whom will be dropping out and tell me that our girls missed out on positive socialization experiences.
I find your take on home school children very puzzling and totally wrong. I have been around home schooled children for years. There are many in college at this time and doing very well. The professors find them refreshing and the professors enjoy the students because they know their subject and how to actually read and articulate what they write. Before labeling home schooled children, go to the very rural areas of America and the Inner cities and get back to me about social misfits because these are the students being left behind due to social promotion. Public School education is a failure. The Founding Fathers wanted children educated not SOCIALIZED. The NEA has ruined the dreams of the Founding Fathers and the American people are guilty for allowing this to take place.
Thanks!
Ooooo that remark is akin to questioning the Holy Grail. Get ready.
Well from a parent who homeschooled, I will say it is a matter of prespective on who the social misfits are.
Becky
You know, it just doesn't seem to occur to people that one of the reasons folks decide to homeschool their children is because they realize that their kids are just different from the other kids in school. Doesn't make them wierd or misfits; they're just different.
Our daughter didn't have anything in common with the girls in her schools; she wasn't into the clothes, music, boys and hair. She had nothing to say to them, nor them to her. Why keep her in that social situation that was clearly uncomfortable for her? Her interests lay with things in which they were clearly NOT a part. She loves Japanese Anime, and has taught herself Japanese this year. She also taught herself Digital Video Editing, and two of her Anime Music Videos made it to the finals of a major east cost Anime Convention. Looking at the competition in the finals, I was astounded at the quality of her work after having done it for so short a time.
You hear about the 'strange' kids being picked on all the time in high school. The 'cool' kids make life difficult for them, and their school experiences leave a lot to be desired. Why make them have to endure all the "Lord of the Flies" crap when there is an alternative? Some of the 'different' kids have talents of which most are not aware because they can't look past their shyness. Folks assume these kids don't have any social skills, but maybe the kids just don't feel like making nice to others who do nothing but put them down.
Folks always say, "Well, they have to learn to get along with others because they'll have to work with different types of folks someday". The difference is that, at school, you're forced to be with others who are all the same age and have the same teenage hormonal angst going on. In the world of work, people can CHOOSE where they want to work, and if they don't like the folks, can just ignore them or change jobs. They are not FORCED by law to be there.
Just some food for thought...
Oh, you mean they aren't learning about oral sex and homosexual activity from a state sponsored institution, so therefore they are missing out on proper socialization?
Oh dear, you think you can say that as if you know more than I do on the subject, and yet I'm a homeschooler. It was out of the lack of the quality of the local school system that my parents did it. However, they've gone out of their way to make sure I've had more interaction and social experience than I had when I was at a school here.
Where'd this idea that public school is an absolutely necessary social experience, without which kids become reclusive misfits, and the only necessary one for kids it seems, come from?
I've personally known hundreds, probably more than a thousand, hoeschooled kids during the past 15 years or so, and your characterizations are nearly 100% out of touch with reality.
So seriously, how many are you talking about? Two, five, a dozen?
Well thanks for telling me I was abused and am a social misfit. Apparently my friends didn't get that memo though.
Many of our neighbor kids are home schooled and are anything but social misfits. They have all kinds of friends in public schools, are very popular and they all get along very well. Characterizing all home schooled kids as social misfits is asinine. As far as UT public schools are concerned, I can't imagine why I would be so misguided as to send my kids to schools with such a proven poor record vs. kids in other states.
My son (who was homeschooled his whole life) met a kid (public schooled) during his first year of college this past year who has absolutely no social skills. My son says that this kid is always giving my son a hard time for being homeschooled but he thinks it's because it's the *other* kids who's the misfit. It makes him feel good to tease my son. When I asked my son why he's going to room with this kid next year, he said, "I'm the only one of my friends who can deal with his personality." I find that hysterical and a credit to his being homeschooled! Imagine that! The publicly schooled and privately schooled kids can't deal with him, but the homeschooled kid can!
You need to meet more homeschooled kids. You're sadly mistaken about their being misfits and abused. But, you're free to have your opinion. It doesn't affect me (or my perfectly normal homeschooled kids). As a matter of fact, my kids are so "normal" that I sometimes think I've failed as a homeschooler.