Why do people not question things?

Lately, I have been thinking about and wondering why no one really thinks for themselves when it comes to (what I consider) important topics. If you tell someone you home-school your child, one of the first questions they ask you about is socialization. They ask you, "How will your child learn to live in the real world?" And they are SERIOUS. They don't  realize that our school system puts kids in a building all day, with a teacher standing in front of them telling them what they're going to do and not do, when they can go to the bathroom, when they can get a snack or a drink of water, when they can sharpen their pencils and it goes on and on and on. Their days are run by bells; bells ringing in all sorts of time intervals and they start and stop what they are working on 20 times a day. I take that back. 20 times within a 6 hour period. Their behavior is manipulated by comments like, "Wow! Look at the great job that Jane is doing, sitting so nicely!" or they are threatened with ludicrous things like, "If you don't get your work done, you'll have to stay inside for recess and finish it. And if you get done early, you can just sit there and read!" They don't even realize by doing that, they're making reading a punishment. Students in public school are only with kids who are born 6 months before or after them and THIS is what most people consider the REAL WORLD??? It makes my head explode. WHY do people not question things?

New Realizations

Today's rambling is about Homeschooling and Unschooling. I have had so much on my mind about this lately and I want to just put it out there in hopes that I can build on it, if that makes sense.

We haven't been doing much of anything lately, as far as lessons. I used to have Q do work every day but it has become less and less as time's gone by. I feel like what he needs to know is how to take standardized tests at his grade level. That's the only thing anyone is ever concerned about. "How does he do on a state assessment? How will he do on tests if he ever does go back to school?" I have realized that I HATED "teaching to the test" when I was working in the school system but that is exactly what I need to do now that I'm homeschooling. I want Q to learn what he wants, when he wants. I think there is much more motivation and deeper learning that comes from that. But I also know he needs to "prove" that he knows things so if he does well on a standardized test and the rest of the time learns as much or as little as he wants, so be it. What's really wrong with that?

It all comes down to what I think is best for him to know and spend his time on. I'm thinking that it is much less than I thought it was. I think back to ALL of the things he was "learning" in school and realizing that he wasn't learning at all. He was just "doing." That's it and nothing more. Kind of an a-ha moment for me. :-)