What’s the Alternative?
Tanya writes:
…I can’t envision a system other than schools to give kids learning experiences. I’ve tried to imagine it, but I can’t. Can you help me?
Stay-at-home teaching parents or professionals are fabulous for those who can get them, I’m sure, but I don’t see how everyone could get them.
Apprenticeships are good if the kid knows what he/she wants to do from a young age, or if they can take the knowledge to another realm if they want to move to something else.
What about before they’re old enough to apprentice, though? What would be the alternative to what is done now?
Here’s my answer in a few parts:
1. Ordinary daily life is an ongoing learning experience.
Who escapes from that experience? No one. To think that kids need a special injection of “learning experiences” in order to prepare for life is a disempowering myth created by schoolists. We can live and learn without any special schooling, whatsoever. Have you heard of kids going to video game school to learn how to play Halo 2? No. The ones who want to play teach themselves without the need for assigned homework.
Everyone has a mind. Every mind develops in some way. Morally, I have no basis to say how someone else’s mind should develop. I see it as a personal matter.
But what about my own son? As a father I have a responsibility to open the way for him– to provide options and resources– but that doesn’t mean I have to impose my intellectual values. For that matter, I have also not imposed my spiritual values. He will decide those for himself. Maybe that means he will not be a doctor or lawyer when he’s 24 years old. But I say: it’s not a race, it’s not a competition. It’s just his whole life. I don’t need him to win awards or Olympic medals. I just want him to feel that his life is fully his own.
He will find a passion and follow it. Or else he won’t. He will learn how to take care of himself out of simple necessity and a wish to be respected in his community. Or else he won’t. He gets to live with his choices. But I see my job as knocking down what he sees as the obstacles to progress, not to shackle him to my own ambitions.
My son doesn’t need schooling for an education, but he may well choose schooling. When he was five, we had to choose for him, because school is compulsory. We didn’t want to fight the U.S. government, so we chose the least manipulative form of schooling that we could find: Montessori. By sheer luck, there was a fantastic Montessori school in my town during the K-6 years. Since then we’ve homeschooled. Our homeschooling style is non-directive.
2. Let education be available, not conscripted.
In a free society, I would like to see universal free access to basic and advanced educational resources. Anyone who chooses ought to be able to study any field they wish, tuition free. I love public libraries and online resources. I also love the idea of learning communities and networks.
I adore the Summerhill school, in England. It’s a free school. Students are not required to attend classes, but they are available. Once I saw an interview with a former Summerhill student who graduated without knowing how the read. He spoke of how he was just never interested in reading. Years later he decided he wanted to learn (because he was teaching English in Japan) and three months later he knew how to read. That’s that. And that’s how believe it should be– let’s teach kids that there is a way to learn whatever they want or need to know. Let’s offer it to them. Then stop worrying.
But you know, I soon lose interest in imagining what we should do as a nation or a species. What I do, I do on a personal level. I live as an example to my friends, colleagues, and family. I share my excitement about learning with anyone who cares to listen. I have this good news for parents: I, too, was a “lazy” video-game-playing stubborn kid, once. Since then I learned how to support myself and a family, too.
3. Remember, context matters.
A helpful answer for you depends on why you are asking the question. If you are a public school teacher, there is very little you can do to change the system. If you are a parent wondering about your own children, or a philosopher pondering the bigggest picture, that is a very different matter.
March 16th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Did you know that schooling is completely free in Sweden? All the way from first grade up to University, you even get paid by the government to go to school.
[James' Reply: University is free? Wow. I want to live in Lund and just walk around the campus.]
March 16th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
The flipside:
Simon is the kind of teacher about which they make movies. He started a chess club in an “underprivileged” Brooklyn school and students went on to win state competitions. He encouraged kids to read on their own time by starting a comic book club. He fought the principal on principle and … was kicked out of the school entirely. He’s jaded, loves to help children learn but hates schooling.
How can someone like this help kids learn? And, is there a way to make a living doing so?
-Ben
[James' Reply: I've never done it, so I don't know. But I imagine you could make a living by doing this as a free service, through the auspices of the local library perhaps, and then make money by writing books.
Actually this is something like what I'm trying to do. If my book is successful, then I'll have the opportunity to do more.]
March 16th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Welcome to Lund anytime! Lets see if we can make it to campus in April…=)
March 16th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Thank you. Best of luck to you.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
The only stumbling block I have to imagining a full community integration of learners/teachers is special education. I am not referring to the ADD or cognitive delays, but to the health impaired, the severely mentally retarded and those with severe emotional/behavioral disorders. The kids with severe health impairments might have parents or other advocates like doctors, but for the last two examples even now advocates often have to go looking for them not to force education but to offer it. Couldn’t force ed on them if you wanted to. Can’t force it on anyone really, but with those kiddos that is made most apparent. Without any advocacy, the very last group I mentioned could cost a community far more than the system that is in place currently. Do you think the government should step in there educationally?
[James' Reply: Does the government know what to do? That's my concern. Education is so personal. I do think the government has an interest, and a right, to foster policies that allow and encourage people to take care of themselves and contribute to the public good, as opposed to being merely a drain on it. That's the justification for compulsory schooling. I just think that in this modern free world we ought to have a lot more options and leeway to solve that problem for ourselves.
But on a related note, recall that Maria Montessori developed her methods first as a way to teach children with various severe learning disabilities. Montessori schools are rather non-directive. A typical thing you hear a Montessori teacher say is "choose something to do or I will choose for you." I think that attitude could work for government, too: compulsory schooling should be for people who ask for government support in order to live]
Two ideas for Ben’s question:
Offer to do home instruction for multiple school districts. Very limited interaction with the schools but the service is often required for any number of reasons and usually there is a demand. Contacting boards of ed. is the way to get on lists. Background checks are mandatory in the US but certification is a dodgy affair sometimes. Being on several districts lists will provide ample work for hourly rates. Downsides are specified subjects and hour caps. Upsides vary. Taught English lit survey to a kid while fishing when the weather was right. Panic disorder. He couldn’t take the hallways but he could and wanted to learn knee deep in a river.
Another idea is to hook up with foreign exchange programs that also provide home instruction opportunities. And ‘home instruction” doesn’t always mean “home.” It just means not at the school. Downside is hour cap but major upside is often no solid subject specifications. I taught a Russian lad and a Japanese lass “American” through YFU. It was a blast.
Both of those averaged about 20/hr/kiddo.
[James' Reply: Thanks for the tips!]
March 19th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
James, thanks for your reply.
You wondered why I asked - I’m the parent of a 10 year old girl, and she’s very bored with school. I feel awful for putting her through it when I’m not sure of the benefits, but I also can’t figure out what I could do instead.
Your answers were very helpful and will be part of upcoming family conversations. Thank you again,
Tanya
March 27th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Nearly 30 now and I am just now learning to accept that I didn’t fit in at school. I can’t quite accept that my parents expected me to be a normal child when I learnt stuff far faster than those around me.
School of course had it’s good moments. Playing music groups and doing production, and doing art. But the maths and sciences were a joke.
I feel the best times in my life have come since I left. To stay happy I need to be continually learning new things and now I am able to do that.
[James' Reply: Our society is so segmented and matrixed and commoditized that most people-- gee it seems almost everyone-- cannot imagine a world without compulsory public education for processing children into adults.
It will be a long slow process of recovering our public imagination, but I think it will happen. It *is* happening. Technology is driving us toward new possibilities.
You write well, Clare. When's the next time you'll post on your blog?]
March 27th, 2009 at 8:23 am
I’d also add to Tanya that not everyone wants to unschool their kid. Not everyone has the energy,time and resources too, let alone the desire. But it sounds like you might be coming to a point where you Tanya are thinking about it based on your daughter’s needs and wants.
[James' Reply: Unschooling is scary for the parents, but-- at least the way I do it-- it is very little effort. For me, unschooling is indistinguishable from being "Dad."
Other kinds of homeschooling are a LOT of work, as far as I can glean.]
March 28th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
This is a difficult discussion for me, because I am/was both an irreverent student and a passionate parent. In a broader sense, we are missing some points, if addressing as separate the desire to learn from the opportunity to do so.
I did not have a ‘normal’ upbringing, - a requirement for survival of my school years in life was invisibility, to avoid attack, mimicry, for camouflage, and empathy, to avoid becoming hard. In a time when being different in any number of ways (including especially curious) was potentially fatal, psychically if not physically, these were skills learned from life experience, and were the targets of conscious intent.
Reading was a spaceship. I spent many hours reading, anything I could get my hands on, which inflamed my imagination and gifted me with a decent vocabulary, which in turn allowed the impression that I was well-educated.
My daughter had/has a different requirement. She needs&wants to distinguish herself, to call attention, to celebrate her individuality, while preparing herself to outshine and out-perform those around her. She doesn’t need a or want a spaceship, an escape, She only reads what she has to, and only years after high school, with the massive available library in our house, she has now in her twenties taken to reading for pleasure, or specific knowledge. She suffered in jr hi & high school, because she was cultured at home to ask questions, which we know is frowned on in traditional schools in US, but she survived because she developed super social skills, despite having had me & her dad as parents.
This personal story seems to illustrate that the native talents needed for survival are not quite the same as those needed for success. The underpinning of confidence needed for success takes longer to develop under stress, So, if your success was preceded by the need for you to physically survive, you might have needed a little more than curiosity, and it might have taken you longer than it did for you to hit your stride. It is personal,
I’d like to see, instead of compulsory primary education, compulsory de-education for adults, who have lost the ability to excercise the imagination, fuel the dream machine, experience joy & compassion, create working solutions to solvable problems, develop reasonable approaches to unsolvable ones (I don’t believe there are any) and use language to communicate and clarify, not to betray, intimidate and control.
As for kids, Montessorie and Summerhill do provide interesting models, but in practice vary widely in application. Montessorie practiced in the wilds of Finland is much different than here in Brooklyn, NY. The local Montessorie here when I looked for my daughter was nothing more than a dumping ground for kids whose parents didn’t want stigma on their spec ed children, which they would have received in regular school. Not able to afford private school (and perhaps unwilling, even if able), my bright, curious kid went to three public elementary schools, before we found one not harmful, and even joyful for her.
I am so tired of bs, it hurts, but really appreciate your approach…thanks for buccaneering!
[James' Reply: Hi Kristin. Wow, I hope you make it a habit to comment, here.
Interesting that your daughter's personality is kind of the opposite of yours, because I have to cope with that in my own son. I was flamboyant and combative in school. I craved attention, but my son shunned it. I had terrible fights with my teachers, but my son never openly resisted. I used books as spaceships, too. My son uses video games for the same purpose.
I don't feel that I understand my son, but I think he likes it that way, at least for now. I have faith that he'll grow out of that.]
March 28th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
He will, no doubt, and if he doesn’t you must not take it personally! If you believe his life is his own, and you’ve done your best, it will work out. They actually do remember the stuff you think they did not hear… I only gave her three ‘guidelines’, from the start…1) do unto others, 2) don’t take stuff that isn’t yours without asking, and 3) if you do, put it back where you found it.
I did not think that any other rules were solid enuf to have universal applicability….turns out that she is now more aware of appropriate behaviour than I ever was, has great friends that she’ll have for life, and is finding her self with vigorous attention to acquiring skills she needs for her own success. Overall, I could never have crafted her navigation so far with nearly the focus she has applied, and I am repeatedly surprised by her mental and emotional strength.
I, on the other hand, am still looking for my path, having been confused by conflicting advice, prone to anger, and willing to stifle my inner voice too often! I am becoming finally a budding buccaneer….and with every contact with thinkers without hidden agendas, I grow stronger, and calmer.
What I experienced early was fear I could not escape, and what she experienced early was challenge she could deal with…big difference.
I initially found your material because I have been in software testing for some time, and I was looking for substantive, academic, legitimate support for what I had been doing naturally, in spite of the bad practices I had been asked to participate in. And now, here I find this expanded subject matter you are exploring, and once again am invigorated. Thank you. Also, I have known about Bucky and the pirate theory since high school (long time ago)…! Interesting how the good stuff keeps coming back…
[James' Reply: Cool! Care to share what you're reading lately?]
March 29th, 2009 at 7:31 am
sure …besides yourself, re-reading “I am a Strange Loop” by Douglas Hofstadter, just finished “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel (not a math book - highly recommend)…various woodworking & kitchen design magazines, and the NY Daily News….
[James' Reply: I've been meaning to read Strange Loop.]
March 29th, 2009 at 11:53 am
The conversations in these posts are so very intelligent and well thought out. Thank you all so much for contributing. It is these conversations that are the root of knowledge.
I have always loved the quotation by Alvin Toffler. “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
My parenting philosophy was that my only goal (other than the basics of safety, food & shelter) was to teach my child to think critically. I resist the concept of ‘brainwashing’ children to mimic the parents knowledge and belief system. I think you can communicate these things to your children, but you must temper that by communicating that there are other beliefs. For example, when my child was curious about religion and God, I took the time to explain as much as I could about the different religions and beliefs, telling her that she would discover what she believed as she grew up and that her choice would be accepted by me, no matter what it was.
I too am a high-school drop-out who has been in software testing for over 25 years. When my daughter came to me wanting to leave the halls and take up home schooling, the argument I used was that’ back in my day, you could be successful in business without a diploma, but that these days a college degree was the same value as a HS diploma then.’ I resisted, she persisted, she won.
My concern at the time was that I did not have the basic set of skills required to support her in home schooling. I am not great at math, history bored me, etc., but I agreed to the program. The home school program was through the school district, the teacher came twice a month to meet with us, give new assignments and check on progress.
My daughter took those assignments that were designed to keep her busy for 2 weeks and would finish them all in a matter of days, then she would use the rest of the time being a kid. My input was minimal, there weren’t any lessons that she found so difficult that she couldn’t work through. I should have known! The result was that she completed HS 7 months early. Given her own drive to accomplish completion and to stay away from what she perceived as a toxic environment (mostly the peer pressure and shallowness of others her age) she excelled.
I agree that unschooling is the equivalent of good parenting. There are rote skills that may be learned from school or curriculum. Growth in knowledge and wisdom have to be fueled by the parent. I think that this comes by example. It is amazing how much your children look up to you (James - he will get over it, I promise!) They see what you do and who you are and take those lessons to heart. If you inspire them to really, truly think and question everything, you may find that this one simple lesson is enough to ‘flip a switch’ in them.
I think that by teaching my daughter this, she made good choices. She is living a good and happy life. I could not be prouder.
[James' Reply: Great Toffler quote. Man, I should read his stuff. Thank you for sharing your homeschooling experience. I'm not deeply worried about my son, but I am... impatient. I want that flower to bloom already.]
May 15th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Greetings All.
thanks for sharing.
I have been unschooled since I was born. For it is quite normal and obvious to pay attention to what is important and focus on what I enjoy.
In the last year I have integrated many skills and abilities without any school, teacher or system. Plus it was all done because I WANTED to so it was just me playing and becoming more and more capable every day I played.
One of my recent integrations is beekeeping. 2 months ago I decided I wanted to keep bees ( I am nurturing a fully sustainable property) 2 weeks ago I got my first bee hives and am now a beekeeper. As I have been keeping bees I observed a most wonderful display of life so we may all upgrade because of it. Beekeeping is like parenting. Provide what they need (bee hive, food supply freedom) they do the rest. The bees know how to get food they know how to sleep, they know how to protect them self’s from ants (they have guards who blow them away from the entry way with the wind power of beating wings. They know how to keep cool in the summer (beat their wings over water supply, thus creating an effect like a swamp cooler where the movement of the air passes over the water creating a chilling effect) they are quite capable and really the only thing I needed to learn about bees is when to harvest there honey, when to provide them more space, when protect them from elements and stuff that mostly applied to my desire from having them. I have much appreciation for every beings desire to figure out whats important.
When children are born they are pure potential. Capable of anything and alive with the experience of life. There are many things that may not be of importance to a free being ( in a bees case that would include watching movies, playing video games, or baseball, in a childs case that may be gathering necter, mating to die, studying math, science and history. The interesting thing about a human child versus a bee is that a child may be interested in something at one point and become interested in something else later.
With freedom to choose and responsibility for ones actions one develops the ability to do whats important and to know how to link that with sustaining ones life needs. One can make money writing, drawing, managing, inventing, running, climbing, swimming, lifting, computing, weighing or at anything that is worth doing. One can provide all ones needs form ones own property or buy everything one ever uses with money from a check.
I loved what James said about learning every day from life. I learn so much from books, from the internet and from other skilled people, I learn this stuff on a daily basis and I am learning it because I am interested in it so not only am I learning, focusing and evolving I am doing it in a free unique way based on my preferences.
SO I get the best of both worlds. I know how to learn and I learn whats important and utilize those skills and understandings into a service that provides use.
I often meet people that at some point in school decided learning sucked because it was always associated with force, manipulation, boring, useless, and other non desirable realities. When one experiences learning as this is just more of something I love one is not only a very effective integrator of information but also enjoys the process.
When I feel good everything is right and when I feel bad everything is wrong. So I would rather feel good meaning have everything be right than do stuff that didn’t feel good therefore really doing everything wrong.
Being fulfilled engaged and free is all I need. Everything else is a bonus.
Life tends to get easy when I simplify. Life tends to get more abundant when I let go. Life tends to get more enjoyable when I put importance on now. I tend to be more successful doing stuff I love to do. So its uber awesomeness.
I write about this stuff in eternity hehe
Blessings
if you want check my blogs on freedom living http://www.quinnis.blogspot.com
[James' Reply: Cool bees!]
December 9th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Yeah, I agree. There’s no need for children to attend special schooling just to have the so-called experience. Life goes and experience goes along with life. But of course, we need to provide what kind of experience they must undertake. Without guidance, they may go astray from the right path.
[James' Reply: I don't know what the right path is. If there is a right path, I suspect that good learning will come from straying from it.
What I do is try to live according my true nature and values. My son is a witness to that, and makes of it what he makes.]