Generalists versus specialists
Sunny
I am a generalist. I have a broad range of interests, but I would confess that my knowledge or skills in any one area are not deep or at an expert level. I'm happy to read a couple books around a subject, or try out a new hobby for a while, or start a project. But I do have many unfinished projects, and half read books hanging around the house. I feel guilty about this sometimes- not being able to finish what I've started, invested my money and time, got my expectations up. But sometimes the original energy that sparked my interest goes, another distraction of a new thing comes along, or I get frustrated that my skill level is not progressing as quickly as I think it should.
I don't know if this is a result of my formal schooling experience with superficial learning, or just a personality trait.
Other people are specialists, and I can imagine how unschooling would really help learners like this. Being given the freedom to delve into an interest, for as long as you want, in as many modalities as you can find. My husband is like this. I admire his ability to set his learning goals, and he can quite literally spend all his waking hours on acquiring a new skill. He really wants to achieve that expert knowledge and skill level. And it's self-motivated. I wonder why I don't have that drive, and if other generalists like me, would do as well in unschooling. Jack of all trades, master of none?
For generalist-type unschoolers, I wonder how we support in depth learning, and recognize when a particular focus is just naturally waning because one has had her "fill" of it, or it's actually some frustration or another block that needs to be challenged by others to overcome.
I guess I want to know why some people are motivated to be specialists/experts, and others not, and if schooling has something to do with it.
I don't know if this is a result of my formal schooling experience with superficial learning, or just a personality trait.
Other people are specialists, and I can imagine how unschooling would really help learners like this. Being given the freedom to delve into an interest, for as long as you want, in as many modalities as you can find. My husband is like this. I admire his ability to set his learning goals, and he can quite literally spend all his waking hours on acquiring a new skill. He really wants to achieve that expert knowledge and skill level. And it's self-motivated. I wonder why I don't have that drive, and if other generalists like me, would do as well in unschooling. Jack of all trades, master of none?
For generalist-type unschoolers, I wonder how we support in depth learning, and recognize when a particular focus is just naturally waning because one has had her "fill" of it, or it's actually some frustration or another block that needs to be challenged by others to overcome.
I guess I want to know why some people are motivated to be specialists/experts, and others not, and if schooling has something to do with it.
Joyce Fetteroll
On Jul 31, 2012, at 5:12 PM, Sunny wrote:
By supporting them rather than pushing them "for their own good." If someone really wants something, they'll go after it.
Talk to them. Draw them out about the obstacles that might be getting in their path, what's bothering them about what they want to give up on. And listen. Help them move obstacles out of the way. But accept their feelings if they want to quit.
So it's vague, but the question is vague. It's much easier to help people with real right-now problems rather than what-if "straw man" problems. "What if" kids can be what-ifed into reasonable sounding situations but situations that wouldn't actually happen. Real kids have real reasons for the choices they make. The "why" is more important than the "what".
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> He really wants to achieve that expert knowledge and skill level.I think the sooner you embrace who you are right now, the sooner you will either be a) happy about the genes you were given so can work with that to do what you want to do or b) recover from the damage school did to you.
> And it's self-motivated. I wonder why I don't have that drive
> For generalist-type unschoolers, I wonder how we support in depth learning,By getting to know your kids rather than looking for generalized answers for generic kids. ;-)
> and recognize when a particular focus is just naturally waning because
> one has had her "fill" of it, or it's actually some frustration or another block
> that needs to be challenged by others to overcome.
By supporting them rather than pushing them "for their own good." If someone really wants something, they'll go after it.
Talk to them. Draw them out about the obstacles that might be getting in their path, what's bothering them about what they want to give up on. And listen. Help them move obstacles out of the way. But accept their feelings if they want to quit.
So it's vague, but the question is vague. It's much easier to help people with real right-now problems rather than what-if "straw man" problems. "What if" kids can be what-ifed into reasonable sounding situations but situations that wouldn't actually happen. Real kids have real reasons for the choices they make. The "why" is more important than the "what".
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Meredith
"Sunny" <sunny_sof@...> wrote:
"Block that needs to be challenged by others" is a schoolish idea, based on the way people learn in a school environment where they don't have a lot of choice in terms of what or how to learn. People naturally push themselves to overcome challenges when they see value in doing so, even kids. What's really marvelous as an unschooling parent is getting to watch that happen naturally and discover how to support a child's natural process.
Part of my daughter's process involves frustration. Time and time again I've seen her run into a challenge and get frustrated, cry, complain, walk away, and then go back and try another tactic, another way of solving the difficulty. It's something she does playing games, building, drawing, writing, programming. Often I can't help - and that's frustrating for me, but my attempts to help are generally more frustrating for her. So I sit on my hands and bite my tongue, commiserate and point out when I see or hear of others having similar challenges so she doesn't feel like it's such a personal failure.
And there are other times when she'll run into a challenge and decides that's all she really wants to know about whatever she's doing, and move on to something else. Maybe she'll go back to that thing months or years later, maybe not.
It's not inherently better to be a dabbler or a sinker - often people are a bit of both, or a kind of cross between the two. I'm a bit of a generalist within the realm of fiber arts, I have a few things I do a lot of, but mainly I dabble. Over the decades I've picked up a lot of skills and knowledge, some of which has become useful in unexpected ways, but not all.
---Meredith
>> For generalist-type unschoolers, I wonder how we support in depth learning, and recognize when a particular focus is just naturally waning because one has had her "fill" of it, or it's actually some frustration or another block that needs to be challenged by others to overcome.************
"Block that needs to be challenged by others" is a schoolish idea, based on the way people learn in a school environment where they don't have a lot of choice in terms of what or how to learn. People naturally push themselves to overcome challenges when they see value in doing so, even kids. What's really marvelous as an unschooling parent is getting to watch that happen naturally and discover how to support a child's natural process.
Part of my daughter's process involves frustration. Time and time again I've seen her run into a challenge and get frustrated, cry, complain, walk away, and then go back and try another tactic, another way of solving the difficulty. It's something she does playing games, building, drawing, writing, programming. Often I can't help - and that's frustrating for me, but my attempts to help are generally more frustrating for her. So I sit on my hands and bite my tongue, commiserate and point out when I see or hear of others having similar challenges so she doesn't feel like it's such a personal failure.
And there are other times when she'll run into a challenge and decides that's all she really wants to know about whatever she's doing, and move on to something else. Maybe she'll go back to that thing months or years later, maybe not.
It's not inherently better to be a dabbler or a sinker - often people are a bit of both, or a kind of cross between the two. I'm a bit of a generalist within the realm of fiber arts, I have a few things I do a lot of, but mainly I dabble. Over the decades I've picked up a lot of skills and knowledge, some of which has become useful in unexpected ways, but not all.
---Meredith