A recent study conducted at Stanford University shows that kids schooled at home by their parents are significantly less weird now than they were 25 years ago. The study, which has been going on for more than two decades, followed 1,200 home-schooled kids each year from 1985 through 2010. Results clearly show a decline in weirdness from that time until now.
“Right now, there is only speculation as to why home-schooled kids aren’t nearly as different as they used to be,” says lead doctor on the project Dr. Greg Artz. “There is still so much work to be done.” Some speculation is that large class sizes and lack of personal attention to students is not nearly as beneficial now as it was 25 years ago. “Technology may be affecting the way kids in public schools socialize now,” says Dr. Artz. “Because of the homogenization public schools are creating, along with the ‘everyone wins’ attitude, what we consider normal now may not be so normal.”
Some Stapleton residents share this belief. “I knew kids that were home-schooled back in Grand Rapids, Michigan when I was a kid,” says resident Allison Riekse. “These kids were super-weird, and luckily, our parents taught us to treat them differently. However, I just found out last week that one of my son’s best friends in the neighborhood is home-schooled, and he is obviously totally normal since my son hangs out with him. I never knew he was home-schooled until now. I just figured they were Catholic.”
Home-schooling in Stapleton seems to be a growing trend, and if that trend continues, the public school classroom sizes may get some much needed relief.]]>