Great homeschooling diatribe

From a blog post here:

. . . . "That last comment jumped off the page at me: "Teenagers can't grow up if their main contacts are with other 17-year-olds." And yet isn't it an intrinsic, readily-accepted "fact" that putting kids of the same age together in groups of 15, 20, or 30 day in and day out for nine months out of the year is somehow an essential, "traditional" part of "growing up"? If children grow up by modeling older people, then why is it so readily assumed that complsory public education is necessary for the "socialization" of children?

"It used to be, Bauerlein notes, that children would spend some 5, 6, or 7 hours a day with their peers, and then would move back into the world of their parents, coming in touch, even if indirectly, with the "real world." Yet something about this doesn't add up. Part of it is that the compartmentalized lives of so many children is merely a reflection of what the "real world" is and how it operates. And while it's easy enough to blame technology, it seems to me that technology only drives the car, so to speak, when those who should be driving the car don't know why they are in the car, or where the car is going.

"Put simply: kids spend 12 or 13 years in a public school system that not only bears no resemblance to reality, but is often an active enemy of reality by virtue of the many artificial social barriers created and maintained in the name of "education." Children are told repeatedly that education is necessary and valuable because it will help them get a good job, have a stable and exciting career, and provide them with comfort and security. They are not encouraged to think about the meaning of life, the mystery of existence, the pursuit of truth, the joy and necessity of pursuing the good. Within this sterile and shallow world (which I dwelt in for 13 years, K-12), there is occasional relief from boredom and restlessness, but for the most part kids just try to survive. An essential part of that survival is, of course, having friends, fitting in with a certain group, finding some sort of identity.

"This is even more the case, of course, when kids come from broken families and when their contact with adults is often uneven, uncertain, non-existent, or even abusive. As they shuttle from this home (with mom and boyfriend) and that home (dad and stepmother) and another house (grandparents or family friends), they innately seek to create some sort of stability, however tenuous or empty it might be. Having constant contact with friends via any number of devices is partially a result of thinking (and being taught, at least indirectly) the adult world is of no interest or value to them, and a matter of belonging, however superficial that belonging might be. Kids raised in homes with few books, little meaningful conversation, and constant television (and other forms of entertainment) will tend to think and relate in scattered and convenient ways, all of which promise instant satisfaction and immediate results.

"In other words, while technologies can certainly deepen the problem, the central issues are, as always, a matter of first questions: Who am I? What am I? Why am I alive? What is the meaning of existence? What is the good? Having rarely, if ever, consider these questions—and rarely if ever having been asked these questions—kids and adults alike will naturally gravitate to what is base, easy, convenient, pleasurable, entertaining, and comfortable."

Source