Socialization Problems

I was reminded the other day, at a large social function, of the frequently expressed worry that homeschooling one's children would result in "socialization problems".

To be sure, the kids, homeschooled and otherwise, were getting along famously. However one of the mothers, a new and enthusiastic convert to homeschooling, was pursuing with dedication another woman, determined in explaining to her in detail how the influences of John Dewey and the Prussian School System clearly proved that to send one's children to public school would be to turn them into automatons rather than to educate them.

What she seemed not to notice, in her dedication to her topic, was that the woman she was addressing kept moving away from her. Nor did she appear to connect this with the fact that the woman she had chosen as her audience is a public school teacher.