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They found Kasper Hauser wandering the streets of Nuremberg in 1828 in a daze. The teenager’s only possession: a letter. He kept repeating, ‘I want to be a cavalryman like my father.’ Shortly thereafter, police determined someone raised him in a cell in total isolation. His child-like mind never advanced to adulthood, later attributed to a malfunction in human growth hormone. He ended up killing himself five years later, unable to adapt to his circumstances.
Currently in the US, 5.22% of children are homeschooled. Most are not subject to abuse or neglect, but all are subject to a modicum of social isolation from their peers. Could this isolation lead to psycho-social dwarfism, a factor in the current social unrest in the nation?
Parents pull their children from school due to bullying, discontent with the curriculum, or a desire for religious education. Controlling their environment denies their social balance which is available in the public domain. Schools are social equalizers promoting standardized education for both high and low-income children. But they also provide an environment for interpersonal growth.
Social skills and resilience develop from peer group encounters. The COVID-19 pandemic and lock down underlined the effects of social isolation on child growth and development. Increases in depression and anxiety in children were evident. Educators argue that information is not enough, family is not enough, for children to integrate successfully into society.
It’s not just a simple encounter with the social milieu, but the daily behavioral course corrections that take place with peers. While these behavioral corrections also take place in the home environment, there is a lack of a leveling perspective. Such that the behavioral changes drive the child further and further from the social norm. One could argue electronic social media brings the home-schooled child back into the fold. But algorithms pre-select content to reinforce specific patterns of online behavior. And we still don’t know if virtual friendships have the same social effects as in-person relationships.
I would argue they don’t. Psycho-social dwarfism from home-schooling, even in the best family environments, generates schisms in politics, religion, and social interactions. This divisiveness allows animosity and prejudice to drive encounters. In isolation, behavioral flexibility diminishes, giving way to intolerance.
Hatred is a learned behavior. Often based on a loss of perspective, sometimes from social isolation. If we are to not just survive, but thrive as a nation, we need to interact with others across a broad range of cultures, races, and belief systems. So that not just children, but adults remain flexible and level. We must promote cooperation and selflessness rather than the opposite.
Our current strife is correctable with a commitment to acceptance and understanding. We can’t afford a generation of Kaspar Hausers. And while his case is extreme, we are seeing shades of immaturity throughout all strata of our society due to varying degrees of psycho-social dwarfism. Living in a bubble, in a comfort zone, is not a long-term solution to a successful community and a prosperous planet.
By Keith ‘Doc’ Raymond
