So, a funny thing happened at lunch last week. An acquaintance made the comment to me,
"Homeschool kids are weird," followed quickly by....."Oh, not
YOUR daughter, she's perfectly normal....but you know, ok...well you know,
usually, homeschool kids are weird."
I literally said nothing in return but merely stared at her until she
changed the subject. Since then I've
given this a lot of thought. She's
right. Homeschooled kids are weird.
Yep, I'm saying it.....homeschool kids are weird - in
hundreds of different ways. They are
weird for hundreds of different reasons, but being homeschooled isn't one of
them. It's a casual fallacy to put forth
the argument that homeschooling causes children to be weird. In order for an effect to be correctly linked
to a cause certain "rules" have to be followed.
- Generally, if C occurs, then E will occur, and
- Generally, if C does not occur, then E will not occur ether.
What
has happened, in my opinion, that results in homeschooling being thought to
make kids weird is known as a Post Hoc casual fallacy - Because one thing
follows another, it is held to cause the other.
Why
do I believe that? Well let's look again
at what is required to link a cause to an effect. If homeschooling (C) occurs, then a child
will be weird (E occurs) **and** if homeschooling (C) does not occur then a
child will not be weird (E will not occur).
So what this means, at least as I understand it, is that generally if
homeschooling occurs, children will be weird.
Well homeschooled kids are weird so there's that. Now, if homeschooling doesn't occur then
children will not be weird. Wait, hold
up....so if children aren't homeschooled they aren't weird? Well - and here's where saying homeschooling
causes kids to be weird derails - children who aren't homeschooled are in
fact .....weird. Just spend a day at your
child's daycare, public/private school for proof that kids are weird.
Ah,
ha! That's it! There's the answer. Kids are weird. Period.
All kids, every kid, in some way, can be labeled 'weird'. This meets the 'rule' that if "C"
occurs (you're a kid) then "E" will occur (you're weird) and if you
aren't a kid (never born) then you aren't weird. We can't say that once you aren't a kid you
are no longer weird because truth be told ALL people are weird. I'm weird, you're weird, she's weird, he's
weird, your mom was weird, your dad was too and let's not get started on how
weird your siblings are!
