A Very Nearly Tea

At least the bearer of this shirt has mastered her school's most fundamental principle:

so·cial·ize

1. To place under government or group ownership or control.

2. To make fit for companionship with others; make sociable.

3. To convert or adapt to the needs of society.

v.intr.

To take part in social activities.

I'll let you pick which you think is most relevant. I think the public school system has embraced all three definitions and thus has succeeded in becoming a place to take part in social activities.

Kathleen Lyon, spokesperson for the National Education Association, makes particular note of the importance of adapting children to the needs of society:

Too often missing from the debate on home schooling are the benefits that public schools provide children, advantages that most common measures of education success overlook. Educating children to live and work in a global society where they will have to interact with people from different races, economic status, backgrounds, and ethnic groups is best taught by experience. Public schools provide such experiences. Further, public schools offer students the opportunity to sharpen essential skills that are required in the job market today, such as problem solving in cooperative groups. The Homeschooling Revolution

And I must ask, too often missing? That is the only part of the debate I ever hear. At least my children's apparent lack of opportunity at socialization seems to be the only objection anyone ever has to our educational choice.

The funny thing is, public education is not really about introducing a child to his culture and his society nor helping him adapt to it. It is about creating a new society through education. It is about desocialization.

So maybe I should go back to Sears and pick up that shirt for my daughter, after all.

Photo credit: Sears.com