Unschooling (2 Viewers)

Mr. Blue Sky

Still P***ed at Yoko
VIP Contributor
Joined
Jun 6, 2006
Messages
29,709
Reaction score
23,952
Location
Between the Moon and New York City
Online
.





http://news.yahoo.com/video/health-15749655/extreme-parenting-radical-unschooling-19218933





warning: there is a 30 sec. ad at the beginninng of the video... for those who don't want to sit through it, i've attached a Wikipedia article on Unschooling:


Unschooling refers to a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including child directed play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum. Unschooling encourages exploration of activities led by the children themselves, facilitated by the adults. Unschooling differs from conventional schooling principally in the thesis that standard curricula and conventional grading methods, as well as other features of traditional schooling, are counterproductive to the goal of maximizing the education of each child.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling




basically the kid gets to design his or her own curriculum, or can just play all day-- the idea being that the kid will naturally gravitate towards learning the things that he or she has an aptitude for.... What say you?
 
If you have a self motivated kid with some natural intelligence, it may have some potential.

Absent both of those, I'm not sold on it.

I'm all for self learning and new approaches and whatnot but education at some basic level needs to have some sort of structure.
 
I would have loved it as a kid! Unfortunately, I also would not have learned to read. But man, I would have been a kickball star!
 
I wish I could have done that. I would have gravitated toward drinking, video games and eventually prostitutes. ( by the 4th grade) then I would have graduated myself and went strait to retirement.

On a more serious note kids crave structure. While it is inherently in their nature to rebel "most" appreciate it on some if not many levels. The raging hormones and quest to identify with other peer groups would be prove to be an undoing for most kids, particularly in American society.
 
Last edited:
basically the kid gets to design his or her own curriculum, or can just play all day-- the idea being that the kid will naturally gravitate towards learning the things that he or she has an aptitude for.... What say you?

So, it's basically how the world worked pre-near universal education. Only without the farms and actual work for the kids.

I'm gonna go with not a good idea, unless we really do want a generation learning to drive via GTA.
 
if done decently well, this would work - it's all about the buy-in - everyone invests more if they have put something into the process -- kids (even into college) work hardest on projects they design vs. projects they are given

plus i think the future work place is going to rely much more heavily in applying knowledge and adaptability than on technical expertise
 
When your child comes home from school today....don't ask them 'what did you learn?', instead ask them

"Did the teacher try to get you to THINK or BELIEVE today?"


Teaching curriculum in American schools is simply shoving a bunch of beliefs on kids to recite, remember, and regurgitate.....none of it engages them to THINK critically on their own.

Assimilate, get in line, and just do what you're told....
 
When your child comes home from school today....don't ask them 'what did you learn?', instead ask them

"Did the teacher try to get you to THINK or BELIEVE today?"


Teaching curriculum in American schools is simply shoving a bunch of beliefs on kids to recite, remember, and regurgitate.....none of it engages them to THINK critically on their own.

Assimilate, get in line, and just do what you're told....


I somewhat can agree, but I'm still putting on my tinfoil hat, just in case.
 
Why does it always have to be one way or another? An extreme? So we either have traditional learning, which is too boring and structured for the really bright kids, and not engaging and progressive enough to bring out the smarts of the slower kids, while the rest of the class stays mediocre; or we have "unschooling," which sounds exciting in theory, but leave me with the impression that the bright kids would not have their intelligence fully exploited, and the slower kids would basically be forgotten, and the rest of the class just sorta confused and wondering what to do.

Why not a combination of the best parts of both ideas? Traditional schooling has produced plenty of smart people in the past, but could be improved by implementing new ideas such as some of these. For example, I like allowing a class to be led to a certain degree by the interests of the students, but there still must be some kind of structure to ensure the most vital knowledge is disseminated.
 
Sounds a bit like Montessori.

Though there is some direction in Montessori schools, a good deal of the "schooling" is self directed under certain areas of development.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori

Applying this method involves the teacher in viewing the child as having an inner natural guidance for his or her own perfect self-directed development. The role of the teacher (sometimes called director, directress, or guide) is therefore to watch over the environment to remove any obstacles that would interfere with this natural development. The teacher's role of observation sometimes includes experimental interactions with children, commonly referred to as "lessons," to resolve misbehavior or to show how to use the various self-teaching materials that are provided in the environment for the children's free use.
 
Sounds like the Big Daddy school of parenting. Eventually, Scuba Steve will have to teach the kids to bathe.
 
when your child comes home from school today....don't ask them 'what did you learn?', instead ask them

"did the teacher try to get you to think or believe today?"


teaching curriculum in american schools is simply shoving a bunch of beliefs on kids to recite, remember, and regurgitate.....none of it engages them to think critically on their own.

Assimilate, get in line, and just do what you're told....

usa usa!!!
 
Unschooling refers to a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including child directed play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum

We always did that after school. We called it "ridin' bikes", "hangin' out at the Quick Stop", "goin' fishin", "goin' huntin", or "doin' chores".
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom