Unschooling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Unschooling is a form of education in which learning is based on the student's interests, needs, and goals. It may be alternatively referred to as natural learning, child-led learning, discovery learning, delight-led learning, or child-directed learning.
Unschooling is generally considered to be a form of home education, which is simply the education of children at home rather than in a school. Home education is often considered to be synonymous with homeschooling, but some have argued that the latter term implies the recreation of school in the context of the home, which they believe is philosophically at odds with unschooling.
Unschooling contrasts with other forms of home education in that the student's education is not directed by a teacher and curriculum. Although unschooling students may choose to make use of teachers or curricula, they are ultimately in control of their own education. Students choose how, when, why, and what they pursue. Parents who unschool their children act as "facilitators," providing a wide range of resources, helping their children access, navigate, and make sense of the world, and aiding them in making and implementing goals and plans for both the distant and immediate future. Unschooling expands from children's natural curiosity as an extension of their interests, concerns, needs, goals, and plans.
The term unschooling was coined by John Holt. An author of ten books on education, John Holt founded the unschooling magazine Growing Without Schooling.
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[edit] Philosophy
[edit] Conventional education
Unschoolers commonly believe that curiosity is innate and that children want to learn what is necessary for them to become competent adults. Some argue that institutionalizing a child in what they term a "one size fits all" or "factory model" school is an inefficient use of his or her time because it requires every child to learn specific subject matter in a particular manner, at a particular pace, and at a particular time regardless of that individual child's present or future needs, interests, goals, or any preexisting knowledge he or she might have about the topic.
Many unschoolers also believe that opportunities for valuable hands-on, community based, spontaneous, and real-world experiences are missed when educational opportunities are largely limited to those which can occur physically inside of a school building.
Additionally, some unschoolers agree with John Holt when he says that "...the anxiety children feel at constantly being tested, their fear of failure, punishment, and disgrace, severely reduces their ability both to perceive and to remember, and drives them away from the material being studied into strategies for fooling teachers into thinking they know what they really don't know." Proponents assert that individualized, child-led learning is more efficient and respectful of children's time, takes advantage of their interests, and allows deeper exploration of subjects than what is possible in conventional education.
[edit] An essential body of knowledge
Unschoolers often believe that learning any specific subject is less important than learning 'how' to learn. They believe, in the words of Alec Bourne, "It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated," and in the words of John Holt,
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"Since we can’t know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned." |
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This ability to learn on their own makes it more likely that later, when these children are adults, they can continue to learn what they need to know to meet newly emerging needs, interests, and goals. They can return to any subject that they feel wasn't sufficiently covered or learn a completely new subject.
In fact, many unschoolers do not believe that there is a particular body of knowledge that every person, regardless of the life they lead, needs to possess. They believe that there are countless subjects worth studying, more than anyone could learn within a single lifetime. Since it would be impossible for a child to learn everything, somebody must decide what subjects they explore. Unschoolers believe that "Children... if they are given access to enough of the world, they will see clearly enough what things are truly important to themselves and to others, and they will make for themselves a better path into that world than anyone else could make for them."
[edit] The role of parents
The child-directed nature of unschooling does not mean that unschooling parents will not provide their children with guidance and advice, or that they will refrain from sharing things that they find fascinating or illuminating with them. These parents generally believe that as adults, they have more experience with the world and greater access to it. They believe in the importance of using this to aid their children in accessing, navigating, and making sense of the world. Common parental activities include sharing interesting books, articles, and activities with their children, helping them find knowledgeable people to explore an interest with (anyone from physics professors to automotive mechanics), and helping them set goals and figure out what they need to do to meet their goals. Unschooling’s interest-based nature does not mean that it is a "hands off" approach to education; parents tend to be quite involved, especially with younger children (older children, unless they are new to unschooling, will often need much less help finding resources and making and carrying out plans).
[edit] Socialization
Concerns about socialization are often a factor in the decision to unschool. Many unschoolers believe that the conditions common in conventional schools, like age segregation, a low ratio of adults to children, a lack of contact with the community, and a lack of people in professions other than teaching or school administration create an unhealthy social environment. They feel that their children benefit from coming in contact with people of diverse ages and backgrounds in a variety of contexts. They also feel that their children benefit from having some ability to influence what people they encounter, and in what contexts they encounter them. Unschooled children are often reported to be more mature than their schooled peers, [1] and some people believe this is a result of the wide range of people with which they have the opportunity to communicate.
[edit] College admission
According to the article "Homeschooling: Back to the Future?", unschoolers have been admitted to most universities (including Ivy League schools). The article states that "in the absence of a transcript or high school diploma, applicants can submit samples or a portfolio of their work, letters of recommendation, and CLEP and Stanford Achievement Test scores." Some universities consider unschoolers to be an asset because they tend to love learning, be self-motivated, and know what they want to get out of their college experience. According to Johnathan Reider, an admissions officer at Stanford university, speaking of homeschoolers in general, "The distinguishing factor is intellectual vitality. These kids have it, and everything they do is responding to it." [2]
[edit] Criticisms
The following are common opinions and concerns of people who are critical of unschooling.
- Some children lack the foresight to learn the things they will need to know in their adult lives. [3] [4]
- There may be gaps in a child's education unless an educational professional controls what material is covered. [5] [6]
- Because schools provide a ready-made source of peers, it may be more difficult for children who are not in school to make friends and develop social skills than it is for their schooled peers. [7] [8]
- Because schools may provide a diverse group of both adults and students, it might be more difficult for children who are not in school to be directly exposed to different cultures, socio-economic groups and worldviews. [9]
- Some children are not motivated to learn anything, and will spend all of their time in un-educational endeavors if not coerced into doing otherwise. [10]
- Not all parents may be able to provide the stimulating environment or have the skills and patience required to encourage the student's curiosity. [11] [12]
- Because they often lack a diploma from an accredited school, it may be more difficult for unschooled students to get into college or get a job. [13]
- Children who direct their own educations may not develop the ability to take direction from others. [14]
[edit] Resource centers
A relatively new phenomenon is the unschooling, homeschooling, or self-directed learning center. [15] Some are created for (and often by) existing homeschoolers or unschoolers, while others, like "North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens" [16] in Amherst, Massachusetts, often attract people who aren't currently unschoolers (and may never have heard of unschooling), but are interested in using a new form of education.
[edit] Other forms of alternative education
Many other forms of alternative education also place a great deal of importance on student control of learning. This includes free schools, like the Sudbury Valley School, and 'open learning' virtual universities, such as Bastiat Free University. Unschooling differs from these approaches in that unschoolers do not believe that an institution is necessary to facilitate learning. Many believe that 'educational' institutions, as a kind of total institution, actually limit learning by removing people from the larger world, where they believe the most valuable learning occurs.
[edit] Prominent unschooling advocates
- Catherine Baker
- Sandra Dodd
- Patrick Farenga
- Joyce Fetteroll
- Valerie Fitzenreiter
- Jan Fortune-Wood
- John Taylor Gatto
- Helen Hegener
- John Holt
- Jan Hunt
- Ivan Illich
- Grace Llewellyn
- Wendy Priesnitz
- Dayna Martin
[edit] See also
- Homeschooling
- Alternative education
- Free school
- Summerhill School
- Deschooling
- Taking Children Seriously
- School
- Education
- Alternative school
- Gifted education
- Special education
- Sudbury Valley School
[edit] References
- The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom by Mary Griffith (1998, Prima)
- Growing Without Schooling magazine founded by John Holt
- Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling by John Holt and Patrick Farenga (rev. 2003, Perseus Publishing)
- How Children Learn by John Holt (rev. 1995, Perseus Publishing)
- Learning All the Time by John Holt (reprint 1990, Addison Wesley Publishing Company)
- Instead of Education by John Holt (reprint 2004, Sentient Publications)
- Unschooling articles
- Homeschool Resource Centers
- Northstar: Self-directed Learning for Teens
- Homeschooling: Back to the Future?
- In a Class by Themselves (2000, Stanford Magazine)
- Live Free Learn Free magazine
- Parenting a Free Child by Rue Kream
- The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn
- The Unprocessed Child: Living Without School by Valerie Fitzenreiter
- School Free by Wendy Priesnitz (rev. 1995, The Alternate Press)
- Challenging Assumptions in Education by Wendy Priesnitz (2000, The Alternate Press)
- The Book of Learning and Forgetting by Frank Smith (1998, Teacher’s College Press)
- Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers Who Don't Go to School by Grace Llewellyn (1993, Lowry House)
- In Their Own Way by Thomas Armstrong (rev. 2000, Jeremy P. Tarcher)
- Better Than School: One Family's Declaration of Independence by Nancy Wallace (1983, Larson Publications)
- Child's Work: Taking Children's Choices Seriously by Nancy Wallace (1990, Holt Associates)
- And the Children Played by Patricia Joudry (1975, Tundra Books)
- With Consent: Parenting for All to Win by Jan Fortune-Wood (2002, Education Now Publishing Co-operative)
- Winning Parent Winning Child by Jan Fortune-Wood (2005, Cinnamon Press)
- Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery by David Albert (2003, Common Courage Press)
- Moving a Puddle by Sandra Dodd
- The Next Learning System: and why home-schoolers are trailblazers by Roland Meighan (1997, Educational Heretics Press)
- A Sense of Self: listening to homeschooled adolescent girls by Susanna Sheffer (1995, Boynton/Cook Publishers)
[edit] External links
- Unschooling at the Open Directory Project (suggest site)
- UnSchoolers Online Local home/unschooling support group listings, news, articles, book recommendations, links, and more
- Unschooling.com, website with essays and forums
- Live Free Learn Free, Unschooling magazine with extensive resource section at the website
- Unschool Resources and Information
- History of unschooling
- "No school, no books, no teacher's dirty looks", Traci Tamura and Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, February 3, 2006
- "Unschooled," a documentary film about unschooling
- Home Schoolers Content to Take Children’s Lead New York Times article on unschooling
[edit] Personal websites, blogs, and general links
- The Natural Child Project Unschooling articles by leading writers
- Unschooling.info, nonprofit organization with resources and discussion message boards
- Rethinking Education conference
- Freechild Project- Unschooling & Social Change
- Sandra Dodd's Unschooling Website, a unschooling parent's thoughts and essays
- The Live and Learn Conference Website, an annual conference dedicated to unschooling
- Unschooling resources at Pura Vida
- Unschooling Resources And News
- Joyful Living and Unschooling
- Unschooling Voices Unschooling Bloggers