The S-Word

© 2001 Alicia

 

“But what about socialization?!”

Every non-traditional schooler in sight clenches their teeth when they hear this common sentiment expressed. We’ve all heard it. We’ve all felt like telling those who use it as a convenient protest to go shove it. But many of us have secretly wondered, is it true? do I really know if this way of life is dangerous for my children? The truth is, very few people in this world are less socialized than the average public school student.

The average public education student (we’ll call them APES for short) spends all their time with a set group of peers having the same age, same education, same trials, same (to a point) background and experiences. This situation prevails so much, in fact, that APES lose the ability to adjust to any other surroundings (for instance, family life).

Ah. So this is what helps children mature into the strong-charactered individuals we see all around us today.

Most homeschoolers, and a few other families (who must work even harder if they still make the public schools a part of their everyday lives), have discovered a great, much denied truth: The family is the perfect social setting.

I admit, not all families are a social structure in and of themselves (with the elders, the breadwinners, the mothers, the brothers, the sisters, the juniors, all self-contained), but you’d be hard-pressed to find a family who does not, from one member or another (thus contributing to the whole, the “one” if you will), come into contact with each and every one of these various people, and often, at that. Think of all the learning opportunities!

Perhaps people have forgotten that we, especially young ones, are learning every second of every day. Childhood is an ongoing process, and not an age in which a certain distress with the real world and real people should be built up.

 

 

For more information see:

The Socialization Trap by Rick Boyer

(see review by my mom, Nancy)

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto