(Reposted from a comment made in Katie's blog)
I knew a couple of people (for religious and personal reasons) that were home schooled in elementary and middle school, and then their parents enrolled them in high school to allow them to get "acclamated" to a social environment.
This was outrageous!
The people I knew were immediate outcasts to the cliches that had formed over the past 7 or 8 years, and though this changed slowly, and they were able to make friends, their social skills were definitely awkward and unrefined. It was as if they had spent the last decade of their lives in a secluded little cave...it was difficult to understand their weird behavior and unconformed forms of communication.
Perhaps, it was a good thing to be in contact with them, but I am not sure it was entirely beneficial to them...it was definitely a rude awakening to the workings of the social world.
Maybe the social web would help them to adjust to reality?
3 comments:
I am so with you Dawn. I just had it out with my landlady yesterday, because I couldn't take her defense of homeschooling (which she does, for relgious reasons *barf*) any longer. If I ever get into educational reform (big if), one of my main efforts is going to be on banning homeschooling.
Doesn't the idea of homeschooling seem, I don't know, ARROGANT to anyone? "Hmm, they have an institution set up for the expressed purpose of teaching kids... they have dozens, if not hundreds, of people there who went to school for many years to learn how to be educators... but I, a stay-at-home housewife, can surely do better than all of them combined." AHH!
For the record, my "having it out" with the landlady consisted of a sarcastic comment I made as her four kids bombarded me at noon to ask if I wanted to play kickball: "Well, no, I'm busy, and you should be too. You know, I just came from a school. You know what kids do there? They learn all day long!" Her response was "they're on recess. You know, a lot of time gets wasted at school too." Needless to say, the kids were outside f-ing around the rest of the day... just like they are every day. And they are complete social buffoons as well.
Sorry. I'll stop ranting now. I just saw another place to express my rage, and out it came!
You know, Dawn, I was going to only talk about the social thing, and then I went off on something totally different. But I agree with what you said, even if I wasn't exactly building on it. :)
WOW, Dave I can't believe you witness "home schooling" every day. I would have wanted to smack your landlady when she said "You know a lot of time gets wasted at school too." Maybe I will- where do you live? Does she know what you're going to school for? You should start leaving articles for her to read in the mailbox.
Post a Comment