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Comment by greggman | Hacker News Reader

Do you have any stats to back that up or is it just a feeling?

My own "feeling" is actually the opposite is true. My 6 home schooled friends are far and away the most socially adept people I know. Super friendly and able to talk to anyone. The 5 home schooled kids I know are similar. If they were at high school you'd expect them to be among the most popular people as they are so friendly and outgoing.

Here's another anecdote of you care to listen

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/177/a...

Here's reference to one study that claims home schooled kids are indistinguishable from public schooled kids

http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/homeschooling/socializa...

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Simply "being social" is not what I'm referring to. Of course home-schooled children can still be social and have social skills. There is a specific subset of these skills which I am arguing that represent more of a challenge for them.

It is not impossible for them to still obtain these skills/exposure, simply more difficult. It also isn't life-ruining to be deficient in the specific skills I'm talking about. However, I personally think these specific skills are very important for the diverse, interconnected modern society we live in. It is an important concern to evaluate before advocating for 100% homeschooling, which is what started this whole debate.

Why don't you say what this precise subset of skills is, and present some evidence or even narrative about how public school assists students in developing them?

I have done this in several other comments/replies on this post, so I chose to omit that here to reduce redundancy.

Actually you haven't. I have read all of your comments here and the only thing you mention is 'being exposed to a vast set of people with different experiences and biases'. You do not list social skills anywhere.

Even if it is true that public school provides this exposure - which is certainly questionable depending on the school - you have nowhere explained how this exposure at school helps people to develop positive social skills.

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