Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Court Removes Girl From Homeschool

This article from Foxnews.com frightened me as it should every homeschooler. An academically promising ten year old girl has been ordered to public school by a New Hampshire court. Her divorced parents do not agree on the homeschooling issue and so her father took it to the court as he is concerned about her ''socialization''.
Socializing is what garners success isn't it? High ACT/SAT scores, academic prowess, long term goals that is what is discussed at the lunch room tables while dining on over processed, nutritionally sparse lunches right?
I have never been to New Hampshire but unless they produce different kinds of kids there the socialization will include bullying, cussing, sexual innuendo, introduction to drugs and alcohol, peer pressure and cliques.
Well, isn't that great that her father is looking out for her? I am sure the first time she is excluded for being different, not wearing the 'in' clothes or whatever other reasons kids exclude each other I am sure that she will be thrilled with her father's concern of her socialization. It isn't just boys that bully. There is a huge problem in public schools with girl bullying.
I can tell you that the first time I had a cigarette I got it from a fellow public school student. Same goes with beer and a few other things. You get the idea.
The news is all about headlines and rarely is there follow up but I would sure love to know the depth of this father's interest in his daughter's level of socialization once he gets his way and she is in public school.
If her grades start to fall maybe she can buy better ones like the kids in this article did. Hopefully she won't be one of the many unfortunate students involved in a teacher sex scandal. They are so commonplace that they don't all make headlines anymore but you can find many of them here.
Maybe the father thinks things like that don't happen in New Hampshire. Perhaps he should read this story about a cheating scandal in his state. Those kids socialized with each other and came up with a cheating plan.
Here is a pretty yellow graph of serious violent crimes in U.S. public schools. Don't let the cheery color fool you these are kids getting hurt and killed in school. Maybe the father should ask some of those victims how they feel about socialization.