I’ve heard varying opinions on Wake County District Judge Ned Mangum’s order that three home-schooled kids be put in public school (latest from the N&O here). Granted, it’s a messy divorce and joint custody battle. The judge has to decide the best arrangement for the kids between the parents. But the main issue is Judge Mangum’s hubris in declaring that public school would benefit the kids more so than home school:
I think they?ve thrived in home school. I think they?ll do better in public school … I think you’ve done a good job of exposing them to parts of the world. But another part of this world is to prepare these kids for the real world, college and work life when they’re not going to be at home with you. While they’re not old children, the next thing you know they’re going to be going off to college and high school and they need to be able to also have the social interactions with people who aren’t just of the same status as they are.”
I’m not sure what research Judge Mangum relied on for his opinion, but it doesn’t match the many studies showing that home-schooled students are well adjusted in adult life. In fact, they are more than well adjusted. They are, by and large, more active in their communities and in politics than their public school counterparts.
(A side note on that, free of charge: one of the top reasons liberalism as a movement opposes home education, beyond being beholden to the teachers’ unions, is that many home school students end up engaged in conservative activism. Liberals are all about the youth vote as long as it goes for liberal candidates).
So, the crux of the matter is Judge Mangum’s value judgment on public versus home schools. It had no place at the hearing.
Also, if we must discuss the “social interactions” argument as it relates to home education, it’s best to first define what’s meant by socialization. If it means poor academic performance, dropping out, violence, drugs and alcohol, or getting your 14-year-old girlfriend pregnant, then yes, home-schoolers are very unsocialized.
