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Socialization
Nov. 15th, 2006 01:29 pmSo there was a zephyr conversation yesterday about the merits of school (vs. homeschooling) in socializing children.
Having thought about it for a while, I'm pretty sure the thing that school taught me was how to ignore people. I'm often most comfortable sitting in a room that other people are in, doing something totally unrelated to whatever they're doing (reading, on the computer, whatever). I can still name a few people from Elementary school, but mostly they're this vast blur of unremembered faces, and even of the ones I remember, I'm fairly sure there were only two (John and Neil) that ever got invited over to my house, or whose house I went to visit at. There were a couple other kids I played with at home sometimes (I probably saw![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
izmirian a couple times a month in elementary school, and the neighbors grandkids came over sometimes and we'd play something with them), but mostly it was just me and my brother until junior high.
It wasn't that I was picked on particularly, or anything. I got to play four square or climb on the jungle gym or whatever during recess if I felt like it, without getting called names or pushed around (although I was in the "picked late/last for teams" state, most of the time). It was just that other kids didn't interest me, so I didn't pay attention to them. I'd go to the library enough for recess that I remember teachers telling me "Wouldn't you rather go outside? It's nice out."
I'm not clear if that counts as being socialized in any useful sense, really. But I don't think that being home schooled would have been better for me.
Having thought about it for a while, I'm pretty sure the thing that school taught me was how to ignore people. I'm often most comfortable sitting in a room that other people are in, doing something totally unrelated to whatever they're doing (reading, on the computer, whatever). I can still name a few people from Elementary school, but mostly they're this vast blur of unremembered faces, and even of the ones I remember, I'm fairly sure there were only two (John and Neil) that ever got invited over to my house, or whose house I went to visit at. There were a couple other kids I played with at home sometimes (I probably saw
izmirian a couple times a month in elementary school, and the neighbors grandkids came over sometimes and we'd play something with them), but mostly it was just me and my brother until junior high.It wasn't that I was picked on particularly, or anything. I got to play four square or climb on the jungle gym or whatever during recess if I felt like it, without getting called names or pushed around (although I was in the "picked late/last for teams" state, most of the time). It was just that other kids didn't interest me, so I didn't pay attention to them. I'd go to the library enough for recess that I remember teachers telling me "Wouldn't you rather go outside? It's nice out."
I'm not clear if that counts as being socialized in any useful sense, really. But I don't think that being home schooled would have been better for me.
