It's usually a mistake to make generalizations about groups of people. Having said that, however, I do it all of the time, and I'm trying to make myself stop. One group of people that I think probably suffers a lot from this is home-schoolers.

I think the reason for this is because of certain families who don't make sure their kids have any social skills.

I was talking to a kid a few weeks ago about what he did in school. He tells me he's home-schooled, so I say, "Cool! What's your favorite subject?" He says it's Bible. I say, "Hmmm...so what's your least favorite subject?" Note that these are pretty standard questions I ask most of my kids so I can get them comfortable before asking them to sing in front of me, which is, understandably, difficult for most people, and I'm used to getting all sorts of responses. He says, "What do you mean?"

Huh?

I say, "Well, out of all the subjects you study, you know, like math and science and English, what do you hate the most?" He says, "We don't study those. Mommy says we'll learn plenty of that in college and she wants us to be prepared for our spiritual life, so we study the Bible. It's really the only book that matters."

I am not kidding. And this kid's got to be at least 14 or 15.

It's not the fact that spirituality is important to the parents. I get that. I think that people have every right to try to give their kids a strong moral compass. However....I mean, really...that kid is never going to get into college. He can read, but he can only do the most basic math and he knows nothing about science or, really, anything else.

This was one of those, "Oh, that's nice..." moments. What else am I going to say? I wanted to grab his mom and shake her and tell her that she's irreparably damaging her kid and she needs to knock it off, but I realize it's none of my business, so I say nothing.

Should I say something, though? Don't you need to cut the cord at some point so your kids can be independent human beings?

I don't know...I guess I don't have kids so I don't get to judge. I'm just glad that the lessons didn't work out and I don't have to see that train wreck anymore. That family was creeping me out, plus he picked his butt the whole time he was singing (which is also pretty bizarre for a kid his age), so that was gross, too. I think I see some Norman Bates action in the future (I know, I know, it's not the kid's fault). It also makes me feel bad for all of the normal home-school people who really take the time to do a good job helping their kids to become intelligent, well-adjusted adults. They get a lot of undeserved flak from people like me who forget they exist when they see a magnificent disaster like this kid.

Ah, the joys of teaching.