An Intro to Un-schooling

 

"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this, it goes to wreck and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry, especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly." -Albert Einstein

 For those unfamiliar with home education, un-schooling must sound like a strange term. In the realm of home education, un-schooling comes up in conversation in the same way public school does for private school families, as a lower class, sort of hippie alternative, that a family would only choose because they can't afford anything better. Unconventional and uncommon, those who select un-schooling tend to recognize the negative stigma attached to the idea. When first mentioning un-schooling, I frequently encounter confused stares and those who ask, "Un-schooling? What's that?" After years of explaining to random co-workers and acquaintances, I started to refer to myself as home educated. Not that I'm embarrassed by my educational choice, but rather explaining un-schooling to someone I've just met equates to trying to tell a fish how I ride a bicycle. Un-schooling extends way beyond the limited perspective created by a small pool, like a public swimming pool, of information provided in a preset, controlled curriculum. By comparison, un-schooling stretches out like an ocean, endless from every perceivable angle and filled with vast possibilities. Even today, the full depth of our oceans has yet to be explored, whereas anyone can easily find the bottom of a public pool.  
What makes un-schooling fundamentally and even psychologically different from any other educational approach is the philosophy that an individual instinctively seeks learning without much guidance, instruction, poking, or prodding. In nature, the baby bird knows to fly at the exact moment its instincts and biology meld, telling it, "Now you must spread your wings." No one teaches the bird to fly, nor does anyone teach the butterfly how to free itself from its cocoon. Even though the life we live and create far exceeds the necessary survival skills of a bird or butterfly, the lesson remains the same. All life consists of challenging moments. How we survive those moments mainly hinges on instincts and not prior instruction or experience. Inside all of us, that fight or flight response overrides all other senses. 

 Expecting a child to sit and read a textbook full of facts deemed worthy of being learned is like sitting a lion, a total carnivore, at a bowl of vegetables, expecting the creature to eat. Neither child nor lion will readily consume what's right there. Do the facts in a textbook relate to anything in the child's life? Does the child desire to know those facts? Does the lion desire vegetables? No. Both scenarios are unnatural.    

We should aim to provide a child opportunities to ask questions and place them in situations where learning is part of everyday, enjoyable activities. If children want to learn to fly a kite or ride a bike, they'll learn best by doing these activities themselves. You can serve a child an assortment of books on a table, but that doesn't mean they will want to read any of them. You can lead a horse to water, well, you know what I'm saying. When we need to learn, we do. When something grabs our attention, we hold onto it with both hands: the handlebars of a bicycle, the kite string, and the people we love. Every moment exists to teach us something. Learning won't necessarily follow when a student sits in a chair at a desk reading from books or listening to a parent or teacher lecture. If that were the case, every child in a public school would pass annual tests successfully and go on to college in this one-size-fits-all ideological approach to education. Should we accept that children must all learn the same way because someone else has decided that's how it should be?  

The truth might surprise you. It turns out un-schooling, or passion-driven learning began it all. Before school houses, before licensed and certified teachers in brick and mortar school buildings, children learned by doing. Parents taught their children the skills needed to survive, like finding food, making clothes, cooking, and building a shelter. Throughout every culture, children have learned by doing what comes naturally, engaging in activities that contribute to their future well-being. Nowadays, children learn a limited amount of knowledge that they might extend toward attaining more knowledge. They then might apply this knowledge to a job that a child might or might not seek as an adult. All information taught to children today stems from the concept of learning a specific set of rules, ideas, and facts. These facts can vary significantly from state to state and school district to school district. Children living a mile apart from each other, but attending schools in two different school districts, could be receiving completely different kinds of education. What they learn each day and the academic standards to which they are held will differ, from school to school and from state to state. 

 Over 12 years in public schools, children across this country will face assessment exams that vary significantly in rigor and subject matter. Yet, all college-bound children will need to take the same exams, either the ACT and SAT. During most hours spent in school, publicly schooled children are taught to pass tests, not specifically to prepare them for college. Instead, these tests are designed to somehow measure a child's academic growth from one year to the next. Measuring an individual's intellectual growth should never rely solely on words written on an answer sheet, especially when every state has a different opinion of what a child should know by specific intellectual developmental stages.
If a child wants to attend college, they can do so by preparing for and taking the ACT or SAT I exam and asking a parent to maintain a detailed transcript to accompany the student's admissions application to chosen colleges. Do the colleges ask for copies of yearly assessment tests? No. They look solely at composite scores for each section. So why do they need these exams? Schools continue to maintain the importance of these tests to gauge education. In truth, the typical government-mandated education usually requires a great deal less than what a home-educated student could opt to study. After electing to exercise the right to educate your children at home, a child can explore and investigate all kinds of educational activities. No restrictions on time or resources limit this type of free-range curriculum. Going to visit the zoo, museums, historic sites, nature centers, plays, concerts, lectures, fairs, historical reenactments, state parks, wildlife reserves, factories, National Parks, and so much more can fill a whole curriculum with field trips or weekly activities, instead of a few yearly events. The possibilities of what a child can learn far outreach those available for the typical government-educated student.

Often parents expressed concerns and fears, frequently asking: how would their child learn; what should each child learn; would the parent know enough; should the child be graded and tested; how can parents encourage a child to write, or read, or learn math? I realized that these are the same questions parents ask themselves and teachers when a child attends public schools. However, home-educating parents can often find the answers they need from discussions with other families and seasoned homeschoolers. Many will reassure you by relaying stories of their struggles and successes, telling tales of their journeys down that "road less taken." Realize that you're not alone on this journey and that someone else knows and understands all those fears and concerns. This isn't just someone's theory, an idea someone thinks is exciting and different, a case of wishful thinking or hopeful philosophy, but this is what I lived, what I experienced. Like some intangible and unreachable field of reality, home education can appear to be an enigma.

Perhaps the government system has conditioned parents to think that knowledge can only succeed in a classroom with a state-certified and licensed teacher. This has programmed parents to expect that something as vague, nebulous, and ambiguous as un-schooling could never succeed. However, children learn in many ways, many of which don't easily fit into an ordinary classroom. And one teacher cannot accommodate every child's individual learning needs, nor can each teacher replicate or support many everyday un-school type learning situations. However, one parent with his or her child can attempt to fulfill far more of those needs. Many parents tell me they feel they are the best possible teachers for their children because no one knows their needs better. Surely the teacher in a crowded classroom cannot hope to see a child the way a mom or dad can. And in those families where parents and children talk to each other, share ideas, and converse together, those evenings around the dinner table will often lead to new learning directions to explore, new insights to develop as well as a healthier, closer family.