Unschooling
Reading Doc and AKMA on an article in The New York Times on home schooling (called "unschooling" in the article, which sounds like people could think it means "uneducating", but is instead meant to distinguish from the the traditional or status quo, much like the word "unconference"), I find similarities with arguments like those of John Taylor Gatto. Gatto writes in his essay—not mentioned in the article, perhaps because it's outside even the home schooling mainstream?—that traditional schools only teach confusion, class position, indifference, emotional and intellectual dependency, conditional self-esteem, and surveillance—compelling, if checked by the fact that my sister, an elementary school teacher, loves her job and her students, and whom I believe is a good teacher loved by her students and their parents.
Both Doc (and Julie, whom I thought of immediately reading Doc's piece linked at the top) are familiar with Gatto, which would lead me to guess that Gatto's omission from the New York Times article, its embarrassing correction and all, is puzzling (because of his influence on homeschoolers) or explainable (ditto). My research on the subject consists only of stumbling on links, since I'm childless (my plans for the foreseeable future—May 2007, if you must know—assume that continues). Always in the back of my 28-year-old mind, however, is the question "how would I educate my child(ren)", and while I can't make a decision now, among the values and personality traits I'd like to instill, or would like their teachers and mentors to instill in them would include love, strength, playfulness, seriousness, intelligence, athleticism, grace, and above all, curiosity.
That, in the hope that they will learn from the mistakes of their father, a regular sleep schedule.
The whole schooling issue is
Sarah — Thu, 2006-11-30 10:02The whole schooling issue is one of my major freak-outs when I imagine having kids. I was publicly educated and feel as though I was pretty lucky to go to good schools with good teachers. But I know that many of my peers (or friends 5-10 years older than me, I guess) elect to homeschool, or to privately educate their kids.
I feel really strongly that public education *should* be good enough for kids – all kids. It upsets me when things indicate that it's not.
Lord save me if I ever become a paranoid yuppie private school parent. ;)
Damn those paranoid yuppie
James — Thu, 2006-11-30 12:54Damn those paranoid yuppie private school parents.
You don't need to instill
Doc Searls — Thu, 2006-11-30 16:05You don't need to instill love, strength, playfulness, seriousness, intelligence, athleticism, grace, and curiosity in your kids -- because kids come with all of those things. Even athleticism. (What we call athleticism at school is just the sorting of kids into yet another caste system.) What you want is for schools' imperatives, which Gatto details nicely, not to hammer those qualities out of your kids.
Home schooling has a much better chance of nurturing and growing those qualities than formal schooling ever will, no matter how much we try to improve it.
Sending kids to school is a compromise on teaching them at home. One should make the choice consciously. Remember: you can't "fix" an essentially industrial institution that can never do what parents and real communities can do for themselves.
Gatto may seem extreme, but he's right. Believe me. I say this as one of those former kids who got his own education in spite of his "good" school system's best (and failed) intentions. (Does this letter sound like one that would come from a former kid who had low IQ, grade point, SAT, achievement test and other scores? Well, it is. If my parents hadn't believed in me, the school system would have sent me to a "technical" high school to learn a "trade".)
A teacher's job, as Gatto says, is not to fill your kid's head with curricular requirements, but (to paraphrase Gatto) to remove everything that prevents a child's inherent genius from gathering itself.
Who is in the best position to do that for your kid? That's the question.
Best,
Doc
After writing my post, I
Richard — Thu, 2006-11-30 17:27After writing my post, I wanted to add other "values" like humility, bravery, sensitivity and more to the list, but I'm sure that they come as part of growing up with parents and their friends (I once read that personalities are more a product of the people they hang out with than their parents). Of course, if I'm assuming that kids get traits they learn to copy from their parents, then shyness, irritability, not being able to say no or speak up, and so on might come across as something that feel right. With your comment you've given me more to think about, and I thank you for that.
And thanks for stopping by, Doc. Your writing and pointers over the last few years have influenced the way I think, not just on education but on other subjects as well.
I didn’t mention JTG
AKMA — Thu, 2006-11-30 19:44I didn’t mention JTG because I had blogged about him already, and although I certainly don’t imagine that people remember everything I write, I try to avoid repeating myself. But yes, three cheers, John Taylor Gatto, and may his numbers increase!