Colleges are increasingly open to homeschooled applicants, with even finicky Harvard University assigning an admissions officer to review their applications. Illegal in a majority of U.S. states as late as 1980, homeschooling now has the grudging nod of the law in all 50 states, courtesy of a series of courtroom victories. Private and parochial school students scored second, with public school kids dragging their dunce caps in the rear. With homeschooling ranks growing, and test scores soaring, critics have had to latch on to new concerns in opposing de-institutionalized education. The issue that's received the most mileage involves concerns that children educated at home won't develop the same socialization skills as those subject to the trials and tribulations of sharing classrooms and lockers with peers.
Home schooling compresses all that into a single setting that can be very difficult for kids.
Homeschoolers counter that their kids are just fine, thank you, and they are participating in most of the same activities as their friends. The homeschooled kids are whacking their neighbors in the head at Little League and tying them up with knots learned in the Scouts, just like every other well-adjusted child. Socialization has its flip-side too, after all. That does seem to be a distinct possibility. While homeschoolers are pretty much left to their own devices in such states as Texas, other jurisdictions already exercise oversight that can be, at least theoretically, pretty draconian.