Unschooling

One of the most exciting parts of blogging is the discovery of something you had never heard before. This morning I read Colleen's Thursday Thirteen which included a link to Blogtations -- a site dedicated to notable blog quotes -- where Colleen herself was quoted. As I browsed those quotes, I ventured off into bloggerly by-ways until I stumbled on a new word: unschooling. Correction ... unschooling is a word new to me, but (lo and behold) it is beautifully defined in Wikipedia and illustrated by this photo of an unschooler teaching herself gymnastics. Kinda grabs your attention, doesn't it?

John Holt is credited with coining the word unschooling. Since he died in 1985, I guess I'm a bit behind the learning curve here. But I found the Wikipedia article to be quite interesting.

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. ... Students choose how, when, why, and what they pursue. ... Unschooling expands from children's natural curiosity as an extension of their interests, concerns, needs, goals, and plans. ... 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 children in what they term a "one size fits all" or "factory model" school is an inefficient use of their 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's present or future needs, interests, goals, or any pre-existing knowledge he or she might have about the topic.

Okay, I've heard this argument against regular schooling and for homeschooling. But that word unschooling still fascinates me.

Unschoolers often contest that learning any specific subject is less important than learning how to learn. They assert, 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 Holt:

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.

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 was not sufficiently covered or learn a completely new subject.

One who begs to differ is Bonnie Erbe, who wrote about Unspooling Unschooling way back on November 27, 2006 on her "To the Contrary" blog on the US News and World Report website.

What do you think about this issue of schooling vs. unschooling? Personally, I'm into unlearning, a totally different thing in which I am actively having to unlearn some of what I was taught so that I can actually think new things in new ways. Wanna know more?