>The problem is that so many of those shared experiences are bad. //
A simple [or simplistic] answer to that is that bad experiences as well as good serve to educate; perhaps better to learn to give up your lunch money to save a beating so you know to give up your wallet to save being shot at a later date??
Generally though I agree that the socialisation objection to non-school learning is specious. You can be as poorly educated on useful social situations if you're school-based. The non-school educated kids I know are all part of some semi-organised groups that mean they socialise with kids and adults over a broad spectrum of ages (though mainly women at the groups, just like primary schools here in the UK). Now schools can do something about that to some extent - my kid's school fosters relationships across the ages of children present in the school, one of its better ambitions IMO.
Bullying is an interesting issue; there are bullies in the world and at a sub-criminal level there's often nowhere to go to fix your interactions with them other than your own resourcefulness, something which can be usefully informed, I feel, by bad experiences in school.
Of course just being educated otherwise than at school doesn't mean you can't be bullied, just not in school!
A simple [or simplistic] answer to that is that bad experiences as well as good serve to educate; perhaps better to learn to give up your lunch money to save a beating so you know to give up your wallet to save being shot at a later date??
Generally though I agree that the socialisation objection to non-school learning is specious. You can be as poorly educated on useful social situations if you're school-based. The non-school educated kids I know are all part of some semi-organised groups that mean they socialise with kids and adults over a broad spectrum of ages (though mainly women at the groups, just like primary schools here in the UK). Now schools can do something about that to some extent - my kid's school fosters relationships across the ages of children present in the school, one of its better ambitions IMO.
Bullying is an interesting issue; there are bullies in the world and at a sub-criminal level there's often nowhere to go to fix your interactions with them other than your own resourcefulness, something which can be usefully informed, I feel, by bad experiences in school.
Of course just being educated otherwise than at school doesn't mean you can't be bullied, just not in school!