The Homeschool Debate Part 3

The third interview

A Private schooler

Claire:

My parents sent me to a private school because they figured I'd get a better education and not like bad peer pressure. Eventually (I'd face peer pressure) but they figured I'd get a good background, be surrounded by the Word (Bible) without being like... crazy fundamentalist type. My parents expectations were "We pay you a lot more so you should do a better job of making sure our kids don't have bad experiences or traumatizing experiences as young children.

We knew public school kids would come across more temptations.

One of the first interactions I had with public schoolers who weren't from my church was outdoor school, where the other school that was there at the same time was a public school. And we would hear some of them swear or whatever, and our teachers got mad at us because they thought we were imitating them, with the swearing and stuff like that.

I guess sometimes public school kids could be sort of scary or different.

The first home schooler that came to my class that I remember was in eighth grade and we became friends. She wasn't a "typical home schooler." She had no problem making friends or being... normal? As normal as people can be in a private Christian middle school I guess. She stayed for two years and then she left to go to a public high school, acclimated fine there and now she is like "party animal." But nobody would know, you know? She wasn't like the stereotype of homeschooler.

Alexandra: The home schooler you can tell from a mile away.

Claire: But there was one girl in my school that was definitely "home schooler from a mile away!" She was a really nice person but she wore the same jacket every single day, she wore her hair the same way every single day. Her hair was long and wavy and it had like four scrunchies in it just to keep it in place because it was so bushy. You can't really help that, but you know. She went to our school for like three years and looked that same every year.

For School Spirit Week she would come with her friends and wear Lord of the Rings capes, and write stories about wolves, and wear like wolf t-shirts and stuff.

I had another home school friend that came senior year and she acclimated pretty well. She doesn't act as home schooled as the other girl. Like she wore different clothes every day! Not that the other girl was unhygienic, but you could just tell.

But my other home schooled friend was 15 when she came into my senior class. She was three years ahead. She went to college the same time as us, when she was 16.

Alexandra: Do you feel like you've gained anything by being private schooled over the alternatives?

Claire: I wasn't like surrounded by friends talking about parties or whatever, I mean I don't know really what people experience in public schools, but

What we hear in private schools about public schools is, if you wanna find pot you can find it at school, if you want to do a bunch of illegal things you can find a way to do it just by connections at school, if you want to find a party on the weekend you can find that at school.

But for us, we didn't experience that, I didn't have pressure to do that.

Alexandra: Is there anything you feel like you've lost by going to a private school?

Claire: Yeah, I feel like maybe I would be more able to deal with the world, or maybe I would be more extroverted, more outgoing, more comfortable with strangers, or just a more confident person if I had gone to a public school.

But maybe because I am a passive then maybe I would have succumb to the TEMPTATIONS of whatever there is in public school.

I don't know, I can't really say now because I didn't ever experience it to really tell. Maybe private school was the good median for me,

Maybe in a public school I would have just gone along with what people were doing and became a "bad kid." Even though there are tons of kids, just like me who went to public school and are totally fine. Maybe if I was home schooled I would have wound up more introverted and socially bad or whatever.

I don't know. The way I did it was the way I did it.

The Homeschool Debate Part 2

The second interview

Public Schooler

James:

There was a free public school system so I don’t think we even thought anything of it at the time.

Alexandra: What do you think of home schoolers?

James: Do I look at them funny right away? Yeah, I do.

I first will try and figure out if they're normal.

Does this person have the social skills to make me feel comfortable or will they say something awkward? Am I going to be able to joke with them and be normal or will this be awkward? Will they get the sarcasm? I know it’s a stereotype, but I still wonder… Are they socially up to speed? To be honest the first thing I think is "socially inept."

If I was home schooled I would not have been exposed to a lot of ideas.

I would not have been able to really hewn my love of debate and class discussion. That’s what I thrive on, that’s one of my passions, so having a lot of social interaction was definitely a benefit. I don’t think I would have liked home schooling at all.

Alexandra: Do you feel as though you’ve lost something by going to public school instead of home schooling?

James: Apparently it’s a lot faster to be home schooled and it takes up a lot less of your life. A home schooled friend of mine went to college when she was 17, and she wasn't a super genius or anything.

And another home schooled friend of mine would only be in school for 3 hours a day!

So I feel like public school took a lot more time than was needed, plus home schoolers are like, ridiculously smart!

Most of my home schooled friends were homeschooled because they had a lot of talent and gifts and they wanted to focus all their energy on that. Public school can’t really allow you to do that.

Alexandra: Would you ever consider home schooling your children?

James: It’s a trick question. By asking me if I’d ever consider homeschooling my kids forces me to consider it, which makes the answer “Yes.” Maybe, if my wife is an out of work teacher.

Alexandra: Most homeschool parents aren’t teachers and their children still wind up with grades higher than the national average.

James: It would have to be special circumstances. Like if the schools were bad or if they had a special talent, but I think the benefits of public school out weigh the benefits of home school because a big part of life is meeting people.

The Homeschool Debate

Home schoolers are socially inept. Public schoolers are morally gray. Home schoolers are smarter. Public schoolers more open minded. These are the rumors but I did some interviews to find out what these students think of themselves and what do they think of each other?

The first interview was with a

Home schooler

Tyler:

My parents wanted to raise me in the church, but as time went on it was like I didn't feel comfortable with the public high schools. In homeschool there is definitely a lot more individual attention. I get to do more things that I want to do. Like I got to do fencing for four years, which you don't see in most public high schools.

My mom would give me a list of things to do, tell me "Ok here is what you need to do this week," and I would get it done and turn it back into her.

For high school we did a charter school. They would send me assignments and I would keep hours of what I did so I could get high school credits.

People always ask me: "Oh, you're home schooled, you must not have any friends." No, I actually have quite a few friends because I got to go out and do things that were social that you might not otherwise think of, you know?

Alexandra: Do you feel like you have lost anything by being home schooled?

Tyler: The first dance I have ever been to was in college... Yeah, but other than that I don't feel like I've lost anything... that I would miss anyway.

I think that the rumor that home schoolers are being socially ostracized is total... bull, if I may say. There are really... "weird" home schooled kids. I am not going to say that they don't exist, but we're not as weird as people may think.

Its easer to graduate early when you're home schooled; a lot of my friends did it just because it got to the point where our mom's can't teach us everything and we need to actually go and go to a professor, which is where public school is great. But

all of my homeschool friends who are freshmen this year are like "Oh I hate this, this is just like a repeat of high school."

I mean I was 16 going to community college, I had my own car, my job, I had a month where I lived off noodles. You definitely learn to grow up a little bit faster. I mean you're in a class with all 20-something-year-olds!

There was a guy that I tutored who was 50! And I was 16-17 years old and I was like "Ok, this is a little weird! What am I doing here?"

Alexandra: Was there any point when you got to college where you felt like "I already know this. I am too smart for this."

Tyler: During first week of school, where they're telling you "Here is what its like to be independent. Here is where you go and buy food." and I'm like "Well I've already been independent for about two years now." So that was a little bit stupid in my opinion but that is just because of where I am coming from.