control
Sandra Dodd
"Unschooling is a radical branch of home-schooling where kids control
what and when they learn -- free of teachers, schedules and tests.
Unschoolers say it's intellectually empowering. Critics call it
irresponsible."
That's the intro statement from the article "Endless summer"
http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/10/03/unschool/index.html
The article's not new, it's from October 2005, but a couple of things
stirred it this week and I keep thinking about that intro line.
I've been interviewed lots of times, and no matter how clearly the
interviewer or researcher thinks she understands it or no matter how
convincingly they summarize their understanding for me, it seems
there's always a grating flaw that makes unschooling look CRAZY once
they write it down, or makes it seem mean or misguided or neglectful
or that the parents aren't doing anything.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, since even people who actually try to
put it into practice in real homes with real kids can have a heck of
a time balancing out what they're trying to do and what's going to
make it worse or better.
But control... I think the idea of control is a hard one to get.
Who's in control? If an interviewee or the subject of a study says
"no one is in control" that's a heck of a sound bite, and conjures
visions of crazed debauchery. And if it's only rephrased to the
point that the interviewers or researchers get the idea that we're
talking about "self control" it's still dealing in "control."
But if we could ignore the parenting and potential wildness ideas, I
want to talk about "kids control what and when they learn." In
another post.
Sandra
what and when they learn -- free of teachers, schedules and tests.
Unschoolers say it's intellectually empowering. Critics call it
irresponsible."
That's the intro statement from the article "Endless summer"
http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/10/03/unschool/index.html
The article's not new, it's from October 2005, but a couple of things
stirred it this week and I keep thinking about that intro line.
I've been interviewed lots of times, and no matter how clearly the
interviewer or researcher thinks she understands it or no matter how
convincingly they summarize their understanding for me, it seems
there's always a grating flaw that makes unschooling look CRAZY once
they write it down, or makes it seem mean or misguided or neglectful
or that the parents aren't doing anything.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, since even people who actually try to
put it into practice in real homes with real kids can have a heck of
a time balancing out what they're trying to do and what's going to
make it worse or better.
But control... I think the idea of control is a hard one to get.
Who's in control? If an interviewee or the subject of a study says
"no one is in control" that's a heck of a sound bite, and conjures
visions of crazed debauchery. And if it's only rephrased to the
point that the interviewers or researchers get the idea that we're
talking about "self control" it's still dealing in "control."
But if we could ignore the parenting and potential wildness ideas, I
want to talk about "kids control what and when they learn." In
another post.
Sandra
Sandra Dodd
-=-Unschooling is a radical branch of home-schooling where kids control
what and when they learn-=-
Kids don't control what they learn.
Parents can't control what they learn.
Teachers can't control what they learn.
There's a line from Shakespeare's Henry V, when he's talking to
himself the night before the battle , when he says "Canst thou, when
thou command'st the beggar's knee,
Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream,
That play'st so subtly with a king's repose..."
There's an old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't
make it drink," and a parody joke punch line which is too sexist to
be politically correct these days, "you can lead a whore to Vassar,
but you can't make her think." Well...
If there are things one person can compel another person to do,
learning isn't among them.
No one can control what anyone else learns.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
what and when they learn-=-
Kids don't control what they learn.
Parents can't control what they learn.
Teachers can't control what they learn.
There's a line from Shakespeare's Henry V, when he's talking to
himself the night before the battle , when he says "Canst thou, when
thou command'st the beggar's knee,
Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream,
That play'st so subtly with a king's repose..."
There's an old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't
make it drink," and a parody joke punch line which is too sexist to
be politically correct these days, "you can lead a whore to Vassar,
but you can't make her think." Well...
If there are things one person can compel another person to do,
learning isn't among them.
No one can control what anyone else learns.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]