Social Disadvantages of Homeschooling?
Shatter the Myths!

Lets call in an expert, and learn about the supposed social disadvantages of homeschooling.

Dr. Jay L. Wile, Ph.D., relates a story about his father. Dr. Wile's father was assistant superintendent at Pendleton Reformatory in IN, a maximum security prison.

When interviewing an inmate he had to ask a series of state questions, and then he could ask his own questions.

One question he always asked the incoming inmates was “If there was one thing you could tell your parents that would help keep you from being in jail today, what would it be? The vast majority of the prisoners said some variation of: “Monitor my friends more carefully.”

Dr. Wile went on to say, "The jails are full of people who listened to their peer group rather than their parents.” Hmmm...maybe the social disadvantages of homeschooling are not really disadvantages after all!

Called A Nerd

Dr. Wile also says...At a very early age students in public school learn that if they do well in school their peers will reward them by calling them a nerd and putting them at the bottom of the social ladder.

This is more pronounced in girls. Studies show that in early elementary school young ladies are superior to young men in both science and math. However by the time the are in high school years this is exactly reversed.

And...

It’s the considered opinion of the academic community that this is because between elementary and high school guys/girls start noticing each other, and young ladies find out that they are less attractive if they are smart.

Many of them intentionally dumb themselves down in order to become more attractive to the boys!

This is very unfortunate but seems to be the consequence of most schools, whether they are public or private.

I'm responsible to do all I can to help our children do well in life. My love for my children wouldn't allow me to put them into a social environment that I know would likely be harmful to them.

I firmly believe that homeschooling my children gives them the best opportunity to learn the social skills that will be necessary for them to succeed.

They usually forget though, that it would be very easy for us to point to plenty of formally educated children with apparent social difficulties, and we too can blame it on the system.

No system is a guarantee. Statistically speaking, though, the social disadvantages of homeschooling have been overplayed. Your child has the best opportunity at home!

Glad to be dad,

LaVerne Stoltzfus

The comments by Dr. Wile are from the handout to a speech entitled “Homeschooling: The Solution to our Education Problem”, by Dr. Jay L. Wile, Ph.D., Apologia Educational Ministries.

A number of studies have been done, showing the social advantages of homeschooling. Here are some of them.

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