... maybe yours was. Mine mostly turned me into a largely asocial misanthrope for a few years to keep from killing someone (college made things notably better, and I imagine when I finally get together the resources to safely ditch this hellhole things will much further improve), and fairly heftily reinforced the existent paranoia growing up around violent bigots started. Socialization is important, but it's arguable that high school is a good venue for that. Largely depends on the area you're in, the child in question, and the resources you, as a parent, have access to.
I didn't say it was going to be all good. In fact, that's pretty much impossible. The experience is what matters, and some of that experience is going to be unpleasant, but you can learn from bad experiences.
I don't think high school is necessary for learning that.
It isn't strictly necessary, but if it is not present a massive compensation is needed.
In fact, I think just growing up watching me and my wife (people with completely opposing personalities) get along will go a long way there.
SalmonGod, I am only saying this to help you and your children: If you think that just watching you and your wife is going to be sufficient to prepare your children for life in the real world, you are tragically,
tragically mistaken. True social competence can never be achieved by exposure to just a few people, the human experience is quite simply too varied for that. It can't be taught and it can't be quantified, it can only be learned through first-hand activity, and a lot of it.
They will, at some point, learn everything about unguided social functionality. Your actions will determine whether that happens in a relatively controlled environment where their physical needs are still being provided by you, or when they're out trying to make enough money to live on their own in an unsympathetic world. You can screw-up
badly in High School without lasting consequences. The true is not same later on.
If his high school experiences ends up anything like mine, that one useful experience isn't worth all the other anti-useful experiences, or the wasted time and frustration that could be spent actually learning & developing.
Forget about whether you actually liked it or not. Did you, at any point during school, come to understand something you did not before concerning dealing with other people? Any lesson helps, even if it is just a precursor to a useful lesson. Hell, I was an antisocial loner for almost all of high school, and that taught me more about dealing with people than being around people I actually liked ever did. In time, I became tolerant and knowledgeable to a degree I never would have imagined.
Some of the proof of that is on these very forums. I can't believe some of my oldest posts here were actually written by me. I barely even understand my own mindset from those days anymore.