Can anyone recommend any studies of socialization and other psychological issues of children in public schools vs. home and smaller private schools (or charter school, I suppose)?
I got in an argument with a friend. She agrees with me that typical public schools are not very effective and the program is dumbed down. However, her main objection to home schooling is that children are very isolated and sheltered from the negative side of life and won’t be well prepared to deal with the life troubles. She even claims to have read some studies that support her opinion but I’m thinking she’s just making it up for the argument’s sake
I don’t see why a smaller groups won’t have the typical group dynamics. Besides, the larger group would still split into smaller ones. And even best griends can get into fights and will have to learn how to resolve their issues. I also think that first-hand negative experiece is always necessary to be ready. After all, we don’t have to be robbed to realize that we need to take precautions against it.
We’re, my wife and I, going to homeschool our son. This argument by this person you were debating with gave the general response to homeschooling. I don’t have any studies to offer, though you might want to check into Massachusetts which I believe has the most homeschooled children in the U.S. and they score higher than most children from around the world (Minnesota as well).
As for the social aspect, the classroom is not a social activity unless the teachers are doing a lot of group classroom activities. There’s also the three minutes or so between classes to socialize and lunch and gym. But homeschooled children are capable of joining all the social activities that the local schools offer ex. joining the school’s band, football, baseball, soccer teams, etc… There are plenty of outside the school activities as well such as Little League and martial art classes, etc… When I grew up in all honesty it was after school that socialization took place and that was mainly in the form of playing with the other neighborhood children if I didn’t have my art, piano, baseball, or soccer practice at the time. I would visit friends houses from church or other neighbors. School is really not a time to socialize though you can meet other children at school but most socialization with those other boys and girls anybody meets with at school occur outside of school. And those same children can be met in the neighborhood, and all those other activities that are actually dedicated to encouraging socialization. School encourages learning for the most part and that occurs between the student and teacher, again, for the most part. I don’t know what kind of schools people go to where socializing is the main event, maybe that’s why those public schools are churning out youth that are lacking critical thinking cause they are socializing all day and not flourishing their intellect, maybe?
Personally, as a child, I socialised with friends after school. I didn’t really have any friends in school, and if I had been forced to socialise with them I’d hate it (even though the neighbourhood friends did go to the same school.)
If she is a scientist, she is a crappy one. She is asking for the impossible. Ask her if she understands the fallacy of causation. If she claims there are some kind of studies to support her position, then ask for them so you can destroy the arguments made in them.
It sounds to me like she is a pretty hopeless cause.
Well she’s not a good scientist if she doesn’t look at all the evidence herself. When did an excellent scientist become bias in their research? Maybe she’s really not a (excellent) scientist, but likes to label herself one.
P.S. remember I mentioned Massachusetts and Minnesota as having excellent homeschooled children on a mass level. I don’t have the studies at hand, but she’s the scientist and needs to make sure she does all her researching well and not discounting these studies. A real scientist doesn’t open the lab door hoping a frog will somehow make it’s way into the room and then somehow jump onto the dissecting table. A real scientist has to gather the frogs and bring them to the table. Also she needs to share her research too, as Spideynw mentioned, as all good scientists do.
“However, her main objection to home schooling is that children are very isolated and sheltered from the negative side of life and won’t be well prepared to deal with the life troubles.”
Given that the home schoolers score much higher and get higher levels of education and most likely higher salaries than counterparts, one can say, “What life troubles?” Can we really say that grammar/high school classrooms prepare people for life troubles, OR CREATE THEM? Consider the pregnant, crack-addicted teenager - is this person likely to be home-schooled? Later in life, the home-schooled will likely be the ones doing the hiring, not the ones trying to conform.
Any psychological study of home-schoolers would need to take into account the number of drug addicts, gang members, and illiterates that the public education system produces. I bet a kidney the public school system promotes much more anti-intellectualism than home schooling.
And how the $#% is someone supposed to compare the results? Group A has ___ psychological effects while group B has different ones. Which are better/worse? I am no psychology expert, but I think the severity of psychological negatives falls HEAVILY on public schooling, not home schooling. Unless drug addiction, groupthink, illegitimate births, criminality, and anti-intellectualism are considered psychologically neutral.
I don’t think this is even worth considering. Seriously, this issue is resolved in one word: “Columbine”.
- Homeschool graduates are active and involved in their communities. 71% participate in an ongoing community service activity, like coaching a sports team, volunteering at a school, or working with a church or neighborhood association, compared with 37% of U.S. adults of similar ages from a traditional education background.
- Homeschool graduates are more involved in civic affairs and vote in much higher percentages than their peers. 76% of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 24 voted within the last five years, compared with only 29% of the corresponding U.S. populace. The numbers are even greater in older age groups, with voting levels not falling below 95%, compared with a high of 53% for the corresponding U.S. populace.
- 58.9% report that they are "very happy" with life, compared with 27.6% for the general U.S. population. 73.2% find life "exciting", compared with 47.3%.[[](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_schooling#cite_note-73)[74](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_schooling#cite_note-73)[]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_schooling#cite_note-73)
