Unschooling
27 November 2006
Unschooling (check out “Essay” section of website) is an educational philosophy which abandons tests, curricula, and textbooks in favor of self-directed learning. Practiced by an enthusiastic community of homeschoolers, unschooling has recently attracted some media attention (MSNBC, NYT). Of course, unschooling raises some concerns: “If they are not made to do arbitrary and tedious schoolwork, children might not learn how to do difficult, uninteresting, and unpleasant work.”
“If they are not made to do arbitrary and tedious schoolwork, children might not learn how to do difficult, uninteresting, and unpleasant work.”
Isn’t this the whole point? The reason that we are unschooling our kids is that we want to allow them the freedom to follow any course they choose. Schools were originally created to create docile and obedient factory workers. This mentality of preparing kids to do unplesant, tedious and ultimately unsatisfying work is reflected in your quote.
Albert Einstein was quoted as saying that the only thing that interfered with his education was his schooling.