One of the better arguments for home schooling (I have some arguments against is as well) is that it is totally unnatural to have huge groups of children exactly the same age cooped up together all day. In nature, and in most schools until reasonably recently, children of all ages, including many sibling groups, went to school together. The older ones helped the younger ones, etc. and it was a generally more harmonious environment where bullying was not so much in evidence.
In the larger environment as well, in olden times older children were apprenticed out or worked fairly extensively on farms and in shops even while they were still attending school, so older children just didn't have the time to bully others. The environment we live in, with vast stretches of unsupervised idle time, the whole latchkey situation, a general lessening of moral values being taught, and spoiled children who have everything and nothing at the same time, in an atmosphere where violence is pervasive, makes kind of a big bad mess re bullying, doesn't it? |
