I have a friend with two children who have been in school their whole lives. He pulled them out last year so they could have extra time together. They unschooled the entire year, completely. No classes, no studies, nada. This year, the kids went back to school and were dismayed to learn they had to test back in. The oldest boy freaked out. He started crying, saying he couldn't possibly be expected to test with his peers after having been out a year. The pressure he felt was huge.
Both boys showed consistent academic improvement, in line with their schooled peers, and were enrolled along side all their friends they'd left from before.
Unschooling is fascinating. Why does it work? Is it that nothing especially important is happening at school? Is it that the important things are happening at home? Is it that most kids get smarter no matter what?
I would guess it is the last one. Both important and unimportant things happen most places. It is a mystery though. love, Val
ReplyDeleteHI K. Great post. I've been thinking a lot about education. Having been through the education system - let's see, 17 years all in all of formal education - I only now realise that the skills I gained there were almost incidental. There's nothing I learned at school or university that I couldn't have learned on my own with the right kind of discipline. I'd say that the only advantage to going to university for me was developing my own brand of discipline - and access to the biggest library in Africa - but they didn't TEACH that to me, I got it on my own. That and being exposed to a wide variety of ideas; but then the irony there is that knowledge at university is compartmentalised, and if it's not then the fancy moniker of 'interdisciplinary' gets bestowed upon it, as if it were some kind of revelation. Being a specialist in one area of knowledge is working to be useless or, at the very best, a layman in all others.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm preaching to the choir, but I've been thinking a lot about education and schooling versus true learning. Unschooling works because it's natural, holistic and relevant. I think the greatest value of unschooling is to take learning out of school and make it a habit of mind, a habit of being. Passion, initiative and creativity are not nurtured at institutions, they are quashed, and ironically those things are what the market values most - pretty much all self-made millionaires were high-school dropouts because they saw through the game of 'education.'
So here's to you madam *virtual hat-tip* I salute you and your wonderful and passionate brood. More power to you all!
Thanks R-Nurf! Do you realize y'all went Trick Or Treating with us last year? We've been thinking of you and wishing you were here to go again. Imagine a grown woman, dressed as a ninja, getting a bag full of candy alongside the children! You are wonderful and we miss you. LOVE
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