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Continuing on that super-ego-and-culture theme, and changing directions a
bit:

We have the luxury of our calm and peaceful lives because the U.S. is not
in the midst of a depression, there's not a war in our area (England in 1940
would've been no place to peacefully unschool; people were a little
distracted, and for a month or so big bombs were falling on them). If I lived without
enough food I would TELL my children to eat and eat now. If I lived in need
of blackout, I would tell my kids to turn the lights off and BE QUIET NOW.
I see this as a luxury of peace and plenty, but proving in those
circumstances that children can and do learn to read and manipulate large numbers without
lessons, that they can pick up information about history and science just in
the course of a fun life, and tie these things in to all sorts of scattered
interests and hobbies and intellectual pursuits is of benefit to the world's
general knowledge. And these things I've listed above are possible because
of the abundance of printed word, and broadcast information, and otherwise
fairly easily accessible information arriving by the second. What we do
wouldn't have been possible in 1850, nor even 1950 except for the wealthiest who
could travel, have educated servants to hang out with children and answer their
questions in a leisurely fashion, see plays and live music, etc.

Sandra





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