Why We Homeschool
There are dozens of positive reasons to homeschool. The student/teacher ratio can’t be beat, and no other teacher will ever know or care for a child the way a parent does. Whenever someone learns that we homeschool, the first reaction is inevitably “What about socialization?” It happens so often, that most homeschoolers have a canned answer. My favorite is, “We’re against it.“
This morning, I heard another one of the countless stories that reminds me why:
MANASSAS, Va. (AP) - Members of the Manassas City School Board say they are shocked that a group of Osbourn High School students was caught having sex in the school auditorium.
The board sent a letter to parents this week, promising to revise the school system’s code of conduct and tighten security in response to the Sept. 28 incident.
School officials will not confirm any details about what happened.
The two girls and six boys — each received suspensions. Both girls and three of the boys engaged in sexual intercourse or had oral sex while the other three boys watched, according to The Washington Post. A janitor walked in on them, the paper says.
From the Post article:
“This is a small, tight-knit community. There are some school systems that wouldn’t blink an eye at something like this,” said Trisha Spitler, whose daughter is a freshman at Osbourn, the city’s lone high school. “It’s just very protected, you know. Everybody is always on top of things. We’re very blessed and fortunate to have good people.”
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“We wouldn’t have seen this 30 years ago when I was in high school. Then again, maybe I am naive and I wasn’t one of those guys[,]” [said School Board member Patrick D. Linehan.]
There are hundreds and hundreds of stories like this. This one is actually less disturbing than some others. At least this orgy took place in a high school instead of middle school or elementary school.
Frankly, this shouldn’t surprise us. When our notion of socialization is putting large groups of children together with too little adult supervision, they learn to imitate each other’s behavior rather than their parent’s. Combine that and normal adolescence with a hypersexualized culture bombarding them at every turn, and you have a recipe for free love in the school auditorium.
So keep your so-called “socialization.” We prefer education.
UPDATE: Catholic Light has some similar thoughts:
Oh, come on! Kids will have group sex no matter what! It’s only natural! Every time I have the slightest twinge of doubt that Catholic school is worth the money, something like this happens.
* * *
And did the parents discipline their children, or move to another state? No — according to WMAL, a local station, they complained that their rutting children were punished too severely.
related articles
- No Government Schools? (June 14th, 2007)
- Wilson Handles Hitchens (June 12th, 2007)
- The Case Against Adolescence (June 12th, 2007)
- I guess they really aren’t there to socialize (January 26th, 2007)
- Pete’s Pond (October 15th, 2006)
October 21st, 2005 at 11:54 pm
Ex- Greetings from a fellow homeschooler. We have three sons, two of whom are still homeschooled (7th and 9th grade). Our oldest is a junior in a public high school, but he was also homeschooled through 8th grade.
We have experienced the highs and lows of homeschooling but on balance are happy with the course we took. Our oldest has navigated the treacherous H.S. scene well–I think the 8 years at home gave him a good grounding so that when the time came he was able to stand his ground. He has enjoyed public H.S. with it’s AP and honors offerings and has also been able to play varsity soccer (unfortunately in Alabama, homeschoolers are still not allowed to play sports in public H.S.).
Our 9th grader will likely homeschool through H.S. and plans to use the freedom to work and pursue some side interests such as rowing and climbing. Our youngest will most likely go to public H.S.–he is our best athlete and is yearning to play soccer at the local H.S. So for us, we always planned to homeschool through middle school with high school being determined by the needs and interests of each particular child.
There are pluses and minuses with either option, but if we had it to do over again we would pursue the same course.
As far as the big question (what about socialization?)–what a hoot! My guys move with equal ease among people of all ages, colors and personalities–I doubt very seriously they would have learned that skill by spending their early years pooling their foolishness with other kids for 7 hours a day in an age-segregated classroom.
I enjoy your blog BTW and all the repartee. Thanks for giving Ocular Fusion a plug–I hope I can keep it up!
October 22nd, 2005 at 12:22 pm
You mean you didn’t lock them in a closet by themselves and force them to practice for the National Spelling Bee all day?
What most non-homeschoolers don’t understand is that most homeschoolers have their kids involved with other kids: (1) in homeschool co-ops, (2) at churches through Bible classes and small groups, (3) in sports through individual classes and competition (e.g. our son does fencing) or community leagues, and (4) other activities and clubs, such as Cub Scouts. After all that, they don’t have time for “socialization.” Actually, it was the maturity and thoughtfulness demonstrated by several homeschooled children I met while in college that first prompted me to think about homeschooling my own kids one day.
Thanks for reading and commenting. Keep up the blogging. Stay pithy and persistent.
October 22nd, 2005 at 5:21 pm
We started homeschooling because we decided we were tired of someone else raising our children. I have often questioned that deision. When I do, the news always reinforces it with some sordid story that should have never happened at school.