Re: homeschooling & socialization | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: jreed (jreedccmail.llu.edu) | |
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 94 13:40 CST |
Here's a fwd from the homeschooling newsgroup FAQ. I also recommend you read John Gatto to learn more about how kids are socialized in schools. I can see how a kid might lack exposure (to subject matter and people) in some homeschool environments, but most homeschoolers make an effort to connect with adults & kids in the community. Also, look at all the kids in public schools who have social problems! Anyway, here it is. I have a research study somewhere & I'll forward it if I find it . . . Jodi Reed Follow your bliss. jreed [at] ccmail.llu.edu - Joseph Campbell ______________________ 5. What about "socialization?" Sandra Petit <Sandra_Petit [at] agwbbs.new-orleans.LA.US> mentions: "I also usually mention that the socialization I think my child would get at school is not the kind I would choose for her myself. I don't mean that there are not any good children at public school. Of course that's not true. However, if your child is home then you can better control the outside influences on that child, particularly as a very young person-before their values can withstand peer pressure." Alan Moses <alan [at] edstar.gse.ucsb.edu> remembers: "I attended the Northern California Homeschool Association conference this past weekend in Sacramento, and David Colfax commented that the media has pretty much stopped asking him the "socialization" question, since it's becoming obvious that homeschoolers are the best socialized kids in the country. This matches my perception of our kids and their friends - in small groups, on camping trips, and in large groups like the conference, it is a pleasure to see kids of mixed ages and interests interacting with consideration for each other and a minimum of hassles. One friend of mine takes a pre-emptive approach to "the socialization question" (which seems to be the first or second thing we all get asked by non-homeschoolers) and the "workbooks at the kitchen table" image some non-homeschoolers seem to have. She begins talking about homeschooling by saying, "Two of the things I like best about homeschooling are all the positive social contacts the kids have, and that they get to spend so much time learning in the community." Other ideas include: Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts outside classes (gym, dance, choir, piano, art etc.) neighborhood children church groups Dale Parsons <dale [at] mhcnet.att.com> forwards the following quote from Seymour Papert (one of the principle developers of the Logo programming language and Lego Professor of Education Research at MIT): Nothing enrages me more than when people criticize my criticism of school by telling me that schools are not just places to learn maths and spelling, they are places where children learn a vaguely defined thing called socialization. I know. I think schools generally do an effective and terribly damaging job of teaching children to be infantile, dependent, intellectually dishonest, passive and disrespectful to their own developmental capacities. I think that the examples I have given of learning in a computational environment provide a glimpse of a context for learning in which socialization would be based on a potentiation of the individual, an empowering sense of one's own ability to learn anything one wants to know, conditioned by deep understanding of how these abilities are amplified by belonging to cultures and communities. Seymour Papert "Tomorrow's classrooms," **New Horizons in Educational Computing** from a 1982 interview Also: COMPARISON OF SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT BETWEEN HOME AND TRADITIONALLY SCHOOLED STUDENTS. Shyers, L. Edward, Ph.D. University of Florida, 1992. 311pp. Chairman: Paul J. Wittmer Traditional schools provide for regular classroom contact with children of the same age, and it is assumed that this regular contact with other children aids appropriate social adjustment. By their very nature, home schools do not provide for regular formal classroom contact with children other than siblings. Be- cause of this obvious difference, parents, educators, legisla- tors and courts have questioned whether children schooled at home are as socially well-adjusted as their agemates in traditional programs. Investigation of this possible difference was the focus of this study. The results of this study imply that children between the ages of 8 and 10 (sample universe for the study) have similar beliefs about themselves regardless of how they are schooled. All age groups in both research populations had self-concept scores higher than the average national average as measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. The results of this study further indicate that children from both schooling environments participating in this study achieved scores on the Children's Assertive Behavior Scale revealing slightly passive understanding of social situations. According to the results of this study, children between the ages of 8 and 10 who had been educated entirely in a home school had sig- nificantly fewer problem behaviors, as measured by the Direct Ob- servation form of the _Child Behavior Checklist_, than children of the same age from traditional schools. Children of this age in this study, who had been educated entirely in traditional schools, revealed problem behaviors above the normal range for national populations of the same age. It can be concluded from the results of this study that appropriate social skills can develop apart from the formal contact with children other than siblings. This supports the belief held by homeschool proponents.
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