Seriously?

We've all heard it....

Homeschooled children are deprived of the social interaction and cultural diversity public school can provide.

Am I the only one who wants to answer, "Seriously?"

I find it odd, to say the least.
Especially considering the dangerous trends among so many kids. Take this for example.....



I found this today on Photo Bucket. (It was along with this picture in an album.)

By the way, that was not the worst of the pictures. There were some pictures of an arm and quite frankly I didn't want to see them on my blog. But, I can tell you this, apparently someone likes self mutilation. I've heard that the trend these days too. Here's a quote from an article on the issue of self mutilation among children.

What's particularly worrisome for schools is that self-injury has a tendency to spread from one troubled adolescent to another. "It's a contagious behavior," Mr. Lieberman said.

Experts estimate that upwards of 4 percent of adolescents in the United States purposely hurt themselves in some way. That means in a 1,000-student high school, some 40 students intentionally harm themselves. Still, the veil of secrecy and shame around the behavior makes exact numbers hard to gauge.

Keep in mind, that article is from 2003. Apparently some of the kids have gotten past the "veil of secrecy" and moved on to taking pictures of this for online use. Of course, the longer a behavior is allowed to exist the braver it will become.

Hmmmm, I think next time I get the socialization argument I will simply ask, "Seriously?".