Socialization
Concerns about socialization are often a factor in the decision to unschool. Many unschoolers believe that the conditions common in conventional schools, like age segregation, a low ratio of adults to children, a lack of contact with the community, a lack of people in professions other than teachers or school administration, an emphasis on the smarter children, shaming of the failing children, and an emphasis on sitting, create an unhealthy social environment. They feel that their children benefit from coming in contact with people of diverse ages and backgrounds in a variety of contexts, benefitting from having some ability to influence and be influenced by people they encounter, and the contexts they encounter them in. Unschoolers cite studies that report that home educated students tend to be more mature than their schooled peers, and some believe this is a result of the wide range of people they have the opportunity to interact with. Critics of unschooling, on the other hand, argue that unschooling inhibits social development by removing children from a ready-made peer group of diverse individuals.
Read more about this topic: Unschooled