There is also the pressure in ALL schools to cram for tests. By the way, this begins in Kindergarten when children are tested for basic skills. Children in Kindergarten already have homework and so the cycle of pressure begins! By the time a child reaches first grade, they are being tested every eight weeks. According to a popular magazine, children are already burned out by third grade! The school system in the US does not care if your children are social beings. Their main concern is that YOUR child is pushing the number 2 pencil in the right circle and getting the right answerer. After all the future of YOUR child's school is in THEIR hands and the stakes are high! American schools are NOT the ideal place for socialization instead they are breeding grounds for anti-social behaviors and the proof is in the pudding!
Let's go back to the Columbine High School shooting. At that time, it was the worst in US History! Now it is the Virginia Tech College shooting! That shooting triggered copy cat threats across the US, including here where I live. Children were on lock down for various threats of bombs, shootings, and suspicious people lurking outside the schools. If this is what people are calling positive social interactions, then I say it is time for the people of this country to wake up!
Of course there is the argument that children need to learn how to deal with these situations such as shootings and threats of shootings and the public schools are the best places to learn these things. But again I beg to differ. Homeland Security, the Red Cross, and local governments all have web sights with information on how to prepare for emergencies. By the way, they also have information for what schools should do in case of an emergency. As one who is homeschooling, I personally take advantage of the information available from these various places. My son plays a huge part in organizing and planning what we would do in case of an emergency.
As to what we personally do for socialization, I believe social skills are first learned at home! Children are taught valuable lessons as to how the family works. What are the families values, interests, beliefs etc? How do families interact with one another? How are children treated? How we shape children helps them to become the adults of tomorrow! Of course as children become older, they become their own person. This is true whether they are homeschooled or not. But the environment a child is shaped in certainly plays an important role! I believe children should have freedom to learn without the negative distractions that are so prevalent in today's society! I also believe that children should be creative thinking individuals because LIFE IS NOT A NUMBER 2 PENCIL!
