Does Home School Undermine a Child Ability to Learn How to Socialize? - Essay Sample

Introduction

School is believed to be a community, and therefore many people believe that when a child joins a school, he or she enters a community. It is through school that the social community is built and fostered. When students join a school, they are connected to new friends with whom they get to unite and support each other. Children going to social schools have the opportunity to interact with others alongside their teachers and other stakeholders within the school vicinity. They get to play together, negotiate with teachers, solve the problem together and in some extents can agree or disagree with fellow students. With the emergence of the homeschooling, the immediate community environment does not exist, and for this reason, many people have argued that homeschool could undermine a child's ability to socialize. Homeschooling is characterized by children being educated at home, and this can be done by their parents, guardians, close relatives or some hired teachers. The issue of homeschooling has been faced with a constant debate with one side arguing that home school undermines the social life of children while on the other hand, others argue that homeschooling is the best environment to train a child as it is not prone to peer pressure.

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Several scholars opine that peer interaction is rooted within the school set up and hence it is a key factor like socialization a child can be exposed to while in a tender age. Those in support of homeschooling hold the view that the kind of socialization that the children receive from school is unnatural and detrimental. They, therefore argue that the best socialization is gained through life experience which is better provided at home by the family members around the children during homeschooling. For over many years, the issue of homeschooling and socialization has been the subject of debate with either of the sides believe they are right. Considering the many positive effects that homeschooling has on children, I am in support of the side of the argument that supports homeschooling and holds that it does not undermine a child's ability to socialize.

The proponents of homeschooling have many reasons supporting homeschooling. For instance, according to them, children do not learn and respond well in large groups since they will tend to be nervous and overwhelmed by excitement. With such conditions for learning, they have difficulty in learning and grasping ideas. Consequently, with difficulty in learning, such children will develop behavioral problems. In their view, they observe that children can learn well and socialize best in the presence of their parents as opposed to other children in community schools (Mate, Gabor, and Gordon 227). Moreover, the proponents of homeschooling view community schooling as prone to peer pressure.

Children will tend to emulate others regardless of even if they are wrong. As a result, they will forget the social norms and ethics, and the ultimate consequence of hi will be rivalry ridicule and unhealthy competition which all translates to negative socialization. As opposed to the negative socialization in community schools, homeschoolers can interact with their siblings and parents thus are likely to be self-confident, self-respectful as well as can exhibit a sense of self-worth (Neuman, Ari, and Guterman. 271). All these virtues are indicators of positive socialization. Homeschooling does not undermine a child's ability to socialize but instead have positive impacts on the social interactions of a child. The child is not exposed to negative social interactions through peer pressure which can include violence, drug abuse and many other negative influences which are common in community schools.

Several types of research have indicated that children who are homeschooled are exposed to adequate conditions for socialization and hence can achieve good levels of social interaction. For instance, they have wide social networks which are designed within well-scheduled calendars which incorporates social activities such as field trips, group sports, music classes, gymnastics classes as well as play dates (Neuman, Ari, and Guterman. 275). The homeschooled children have sufficient freedom hence are always content with their abilities, and therefore, they can pursue their educational paths without a feeling of inadequacy attributed to comparison in community schools amongst the children. As they grow older, they get opportunities for socialization when they enroll in public and community colleges which enhance their general abilities to socialize well. Furthermore, their ability to socialize can still be enhanced when they join universities and workplaces.

Homeschooling does not undermine social interaction in children but influences of controlling and restricting the growth of the children. Children who are homeschooled can still interact with their peers but instead will grow and transform as individuals. When interacting with their peers, they can identify the important aspects of the interaction and embrace positive social norms to be on their own. The homeschooled children have an opportunity to benefit from social skills that are valued by their community as compared to the classroom kids who will tend to embrace classroom-based skills. Nevertheless, homeschooled children do not suffer from the confinement with other kids of their age but instead can learn from a different age group as opposed to community schools which always classifies children by their age. Such classification would lead to the weak children to be left behind while those who excel will be ahead. The homeschooled children have the opportunity and freedom to get engaged within their communities and hence can establish a connection with people who are outside their age group (Kunzman, Robert. 135).

Homeschooling enables the children to be taught by the best teachers in the form of their parents and close relatives. Such teachers possess a passion for sharing knowledge objectively. In the learning process, they will always impart a sense of social worth and interactions to the children thereby equipping them to be well-conversant with their social life and values (Grolnick, and Wendy 170). These parents moreover, will always consolidate enthusiasm, and the subject taught, and this will motivate the kids to be curious to know about their environment. During the lessons, the children will be in a position to embrace social ethics and conducts. Homeschool allows parents to share their spiritual convictions with children and in the same context, the children can be scheduled to attend bible studies and fellowships from which they can interact with others hence socializing (Grolnick, and Wendy 174).

Those who are opposed to homeschooling also have their reasons to believe that homeschool undermines the ability of a child to learn how to socialize. Their major point of the argument is that homeschooled children have limited access to social interactions and this makes them develop social phobias and social awkwardness as compared to children taught in public schools who are exposed to many children of their peers. Moreover, they hold the view that children who are homeschooled have limited access to social events and activities making it difficult for them to grow and develop socially personally. They also argue that homeschooled children have fewer friends a characteristic that reduces their ability to interact with other people socially. Based on this argument, homeschooled children are viewed to be encountering loneliness which is a sign of social isolation.

In as much as some people believe that homeschool undermines children's ability to socialize by because it results to fewer friends, this stand can be opposed by the proponents of the homeschools as they hold the view that the lesser the friends exhibited by the homeschoolers, the lesser the interaction with peers. This implies that homeschooled children are less peer-dependent hence act mature socially. Furthermore, homeschooled children can be said to be cautious when making friends thus cannot be controlled by illusion. When interacting they cultivate their friendship appropriately because they have the mental space to do that. They also know how to be committed into making long-lasting friendships which are based on positive change; thus it does they are not faced with any obstacle to interaction and socialization. The proponents of homeschooling who argue that homeschooling does not undermine the ability of children to socialize can use many attributes of homeschooling to support their stand by rebottling on the views of those who see homeschooling to be a deterrent to socializing. These include

The children being homeschooled can find friends within their areas through the use of the internet, library, worship places and also can put notices on community billboards to reach to other children of similar interests (Shin, and Wonsun 650). Nevertheless, they can volunteer their services by visiting community projects such as nursing homes from which they can acquire true socialization skills. They can also join groups engaged with community development. These can include dance, concerned environmental groups, and sporting clubs. All these approaches can ensure that homeschooled children are not lonely. Once they join groups within their communities, they able to socialize in as much as they are homeschooled. Nevertheless, these opportunities available for homeschooled children prove that homeschooling cannot be an obstacle toward socialization by children. On the contrary, homeschooling is a strategy that is positive towards ensuring healthy and constructive socialization (Yin, Ching, Razak, and Baharun 65). It prevents children from negative peer pressures and bad influence. It also ensures children are in safe and keep watch from their parents; hence they cannot go astray (Grolnick, and Wendy 176).

It should be noted that homeschooled children can be well socially equipped in the aspect of peer interaction and cultural values. Majority of homeschooled children are engaged in a variety of activities guided by their social calendars. In events where homeschooled children are not socialized, they should be exposed to social activities to ensure that they interact socially with their peers and their environment. On the other hand, some homeschooled children do suffer from loneliness and find it difficult to interact socially. This can be addressed through the organization of social events. Homeschooling from various arguments does not undermine a child's ability to socialize because as the children grow, they get introduced to homeschooling subcultures through which they can socialize. Furthermore, socialization can be achieved in homeschooling with proper scheduling of social events.

Work Cited

Grolnick, Wendy S. "Parental involvement and children's academic motivation, and achievement." Building autonomous learners. Springer, Singapore, 2016, pp. 169-183. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-287-630-0_9

Kunzman, Robert. "Homeschooler Socialization." The Wiley Handbook of Home Education, 2016, pp. 135.

Mate, Gabor, and Gordon Neufeld. Hold on to your kids: Why parents need to matter more than peers. Random House, 2019, pp. 227. https://m.recoveryonpurpose.com/upload/Hold%20on%20to%20Your%20kids%20-%20Gabor%20Mate.pdf

Neuman, Ari, and Oz Guterman. "What are we educating towards? Socialization, acculturation, and individualization as reflected in home education." Educational Studies, vol. 43 no. 3, 2017, pp. 265-281. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03055698.2016.1273763

Shin, Wonsun. "Parental socialization of children's Internet use: A qualitative approach." New media & society, vol. 17 no.5, 2015, pp. 649-665. https://journals.sagepub.com/...