Home-schooled and sheltered.
In my former employment, I had occasion to work closely with Catholic mothers. A couple of these moms often commented upon how home schooled kids, though well behaved, were not very sophisticated and rather naive ‘Little House On The Prairie’ types, as one of them liked to say. These working wives and mothers questioned home schooled kids social skills and ability to get through the challenges of college, if they attended at all. I know an owner of a Catholic business, herself a mother, who suggested that many home schooled girl’s educations pretty much only prepared them to be housewives and mothers.
CBNNews.com has an article dealing with the prevailing prejudice against home-schoolers claiming home schooled kids are not well socialized, as well as claiming they are narrow minded and judgemental concerning the ‘outside world.’
“92 percent of superintendents believe that home learners are emotionally unstable, deprived of proper social development and too judgmental of the world around them, according to a California study by researcher Dr. Brian Ray.” - CBNNews.com
As a single man, I’ve seen the difference.
Having worked in Catholic retail, I’ve had the good fortune to meet a variety of Catholic home schoolers and their children. I have to say I have been impressed. Most mothers and fathers who home school are college educated, well rounded Catholic people, not at all provincial or small minded. Indeed, their children seem to be above average intelligence, well read and very well spoken, friendly, polite and highly socialized. (They are even capable of engaging in an intelligent conversation with another person, even if he happens to be an adult.)
Are they judgemental regarding the world and public education? I wouldn’t say they are judgemental, rather they are discerning and knowledgeable concerning what is out there. Unaffected by trend and pop culture, they tend to have a sophistication and style many public/parochial school kids lack.
I laugh to myself when I think of some of the criticism leveled against home school kids by some Catholic working women. Many of the moms, while continuing to work, have sent their own daughters and sons to Catholic schools from kindergarten through college. As their children mature, many have nothing to do with the Catholic Church save for weddings and funerals.
It seems obvious to me that their kids, believing themselves to be better educated and coming from a more ‘privledged’ home, can often become more judgemental than their home schooled counterparts. In the case of some of the women I’ve worked with, it appeared to me their kids were rather poorly socialized. Their kids routinely ignored people in social interactions, they rarely acknowledged or greeted others when visiting the office, and when spoken to, they seemed capable of only one word replies, etc. It’s been my experience that these ‘better’ educated kids lack rudimentary social skills regardless of their age. Whether it’s nurture or education, or both, I’m not certain, but they fall short of their home-schooled counterparts.
Case in point, a recent Catholic college graduate, who now works for her family in an important capacity at a company, which will remain un-named, often demonstrates an appalling lack of courtesy, as well as other social skills. In that sense, she, though well educated and ostensibly well-brought up, nevertheless seems to be the poorly socialized one. For instance, in office situations, she only speaks to other non-family members if her job demands it or when spoken to, ignoring most employees who are beneath her. Very often, she is generally just plain rude to co-workers and strangers alike.
On the other hand, some more sophisticated career-oriented Catholic moms, who spend a fortune on educating their kids in Catholic schools, end up raising them to be snooty little brats. While it is not uncommon for their kids themselves to have children out of wedlock, or get married outside the Church, dress like sluts, and drink like fish. These are the very same Catholic moms who think home schooled kids are weird, unsocialized, frumpy, simple minded, unsophisticated, naively - if not poorly educated, country bumpkins.
There is an obvious anti-home school prejudice in this country. I hope home schoolers can retain the right to educate their children at home, and continue to prove everyone wrong.
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