Institution Schooled More Aggressive than Home Educated

Hello, mis??, from NHERI and Dr. Ray.

Abstract

Institutional school and homeschool students were compared regarding their social adjustment. The two groups were similar in their relatively positive self-esteems scores. The only significant difference was in their actual observed behaviors. The conventional school students expressed significantly more problem behaviors and aggressiveness than the home educated.

Keywords: public school, private school, institutional school, homeschool, homeschooling, home education, self-esteem, socialization, observed behavior

The Context

Current events that include violence in public/state schools – whether it is students assaulting their peers with their fists or shooting them with bullets – have caught the attention of the general public and policymakers across the United States. Schooling and violence are leading topics.

Dr. Walter Williams, a professor at George Mason University, makes the case that the increase in violence is due to a degradation of morality, and has nothing to do with things such as the availability of guns.[1] [2] At the same time, some observers think they see more parents and teenagers choosing homeschooling, in the wake of incidents of violence in schools, in order for students to be in a safer and more educationally productive environment during the day.[3]

Despite the violence that is happening in civil government (public) schools, one of the most persistent recurring questions asked of modern parent-led home-based education is “What about socialization?” Professional educators, psychologists, parents, grandparents, and policymakers wonder about this. Researchers have addressed it multiple times.

One of the first and, to this day, methodologically sound studies that has been done was by Dr. Larry Shyers, over a quarter of a century ago.[4] This article takes a look at that analysis.

Conceptual Framework and Methods

Back when he did the study, the researcher noted the following:

      Parents who consider educating their children at home are frequently fearful of the impact upon their children’s social lives (Johnson, 1991). Taylor (1986) described a study of 441 families in the state of Washington in which most of the people who heard about home schooling for the first time questioned its social impact before they asked about academics.

Further, Shyers referenced scholars who

      … suggested that the consequences of a lack of peer contact may be severe, and include phenomena such as dropping out of school, juvenile delinquency, and mental health problems. The West Virginia Supreme Court echoed this concern when it ruled against home school parents, stating in their opinion that the children were being separated from organized society and would therefore become “. . . incapable of coping with life outside of their own families” (State v. Riddle, 1981).

Shyers and other scholars who considered the modern-day practice of homeschooling must have wondered something like the following: How did millions and billions of humans, worldwide, survive and thrive socially and in so many other ways for thousands of years without attending institutional schools that are age-segregated and operated by educational and psychological professionals?

For this study, Shyers compared traditional (institutional, conventional) school children to homeschool children. The subjects were ages 8 to 10. The researcher used the Piers-Harris Children’s Self Concept Scale (PHCSCS) to measure a child’s self-concept and feelings of social comfort. He used The Children’s Assertive Behavior Scale (CABS) to assess knowledge of appropriate assertive responses in each of the children in this study. Finally, Shyers used The Direct Observation Form (DOF) of the Child Behavior Checklist to record the children’s observed behaviors by trained observers.

In order to observe and measure the children’s actual behaviors, a large room was used. What was done with the room?

      Various toys (games that required more than one player, puppets, puzzles, and dolls) were placed in the room for use by the subjects. The video camera was located so that its operator could video tape all activity taking place in the room.

Children were observed in a free-play situation for 20 minutes. Later, the children had 20 minutes participating in a group interaction activity.

Findings

There was no difference between the institutional school and homeschool students’ scores on the self-concept scale. Both groups had scores somewhat above the national average.

There was no difference between the conventional school and homeschool students’ scores on the assertive behavior measure. Both groups’ scores indicated that they were not aggressive but somewhat passive in their understanding of social situations. Neither group received mean assertiveness scores that could be considered “very passive.”

The researcher provided two simple statements regarding the actual observed behaviors of the two groups of students. They follow.

Home schooled students received significantly lower problem behavior scores than did their agemates from [a] traditional program.

In the case of this study, it was observed that traditionally schooled children tended to be considerably more aggressive, loud, and competitive than were the home schooled children of the same age.

Concluding Thoughts

​​​​​​​Dr. Shyers provided pithy and simple conclusory thoughts. They follow.

      Bandura (1977) suggested that children learn to behave from observing and imitating others. It is reasonable to expect that children will imitate the behaviors that they observe most often. Traditionally schooled children spend an average of seven hours per week day over a nine-month period in the presence of other children and few adults. It would seem then, that their behaviors would most often reflect those of the majority of the children with whom they associate. In the case of this study, it was observed that traditionally schooled children tended to be considerably more aggressive, loud, and competitive than were the home schooled children of the same age.

      In the case of the home schooled children, most of their day is spent with their parents and very few children. The primary models for behavior, therefore, are adults. Based on the social learning theory that children learn by imitating the behaviors of people whom they observe, home schooled children would thus most likely imitate the behaviors of their parents. The home schooled children in this study tended to be quiet, nonaggressive, and noncompetitive. Each child appeared to make up his or her own mind on how to behave.

Twenty-one years later, in a review of research on the social and emotional development of home-educated children and adults who were homeschooled, Dr. Richard Medlin offered the following:

      Compared to children attending conventional schools, however, research suggests that they [the homeschooled] have higher quality friendships and better relationships with their parents and other adults. They are happy, optimistic, and satisfied with their lives. Their moral reasoning is at least as advanced as that of other children, and they may be more likely to act unselfishly. As adolescents, they have a strong sense of social responsibility and exhibit less emotional turmoil and problem behaviors than their peers. Those who go on to college are socially involved and open to new experiences. Adults who were homeschooled as children are civically engaged and functioning competently in every way measured so far. An alarmist view of homeschooling, therefore, is not supported by empirical research. It is suggested that future studies focus not on outcomes of socialization but on the process itself. (p. 284)[5]

If it is true that children spending more time with adults and being more adult-oriented than peer-dependent is a good thing, then it is reasonable to hypothesize that the home educated will have stronger and healthier social skills and psychological development than others. So far, a recent review of peer-reviewed research shows that this is the case.[6]

Future research will likely reveal more on the topic of the social development benefits (or not) of homeschooling. Future studies might also tell us more about where children and teens are safer from violence, in civil government (public) schools or in a teaching-learning environment that is parent-led and home-based.

--Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

National Home Education Research Institute

  This article is publicly available at NHERI.

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