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I want to draw attention to the distinction between the goal of school and unschooling. I was a public school teacher and now unschool my children. The goal of school, as illustrated by the leader of the direct instruction school, is to teach and manage a large group. Unschooling put the emphasis on the child's learning. The resposibility of using teachers and mentors for the purpose of learning still belongs to the child. This is not taken away from the child by telling them what and when they will learn. The unschooler recognizes their right to learn all the time.
All people have this right and many wait until they are adults to exercise it , with personal interests and careers. The school teacher who spoke early in the program of her concern about this method working for "the average child" is defining the "average child" by the children who have been plugged into a system for 12 years. Schooled children, just like all children are smart, and have learned very well. They just learned how to work in the public school system, where as unschoolers have learned to work in the world at large, learning and discovering from all the resources aroud them. It's true that unschoolers show more interest in learning and passion for their interests than the "average" child, but this is only apparent because of the "average" environment of a public school offers very little of interest compared to the world at large. We all learn best when we are pursuing our own interests. This is as true when we are children as it is when we are adults.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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