John Rizzo

Is anyone aware of any well written criticism's of unschooling? I
always find it helpful to read the other side of an issue. I would be
surprised if there were not a few educational articles speaking out
against unschooling.

At one time I found a meta analysis of a few older criticism's of Holt,
but can't even locate that anymore. I also couldn't find the actual
articles reviewed by the meta analysis. I remember those boiling down
to the arguments that it takes either an extraordinary teacher, an
extraordinary student or both for this sort of process to work. In
other words, not very compelling.

Any help would be appreciated.

-John Rizzo

Sandra Dodd

-=-Is anyone aware of any well written criticism's of unschooling?-=-

I'm not, and I've been involved in it for sixteen years, and I've
looked.

I collect articles here:
http://unschooling.blogspot.com

There is a pattern followed when people interview unschoolers. It's
a predictable and frustrating pattern. They spend many interesting
hours interviewing children such as mine and parents (such as myself
sometimes) and then they write the article. Then they call two
"experts" (always two), and although the experts know zip, know zero
unschoolers, and only go on the maybe 20 word summary the interviewer
give them, they revile unschooling. And they're quoted.


-=-I remember those boiling down
to the arguments that it takes either an extraordinary teacher, an
extraordinary student or both for this sort of process to work.-=-

There is NO "process" that works well with a dull teacher or a dull
student.

Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Joyce Fetteroll

On Sep 5, 2007, at 4:21 PM, John Rizzo wrote:

> I would be
> surprised if there were not a few educational articles speaking out
> against unschooling.

Unschooling works if there are two factors:

1) The parent understands it.

2) The parent's goals for their child match what unschooling can do.

Academics, who obviously have a lot invested in school working and
being necessary, have a hard time grasping that it can work. So
anything negative they write is from a point of not understanding.

Anyone who has goals that unschooling isn't meant to meet -- getting
any child into Harvard, keeping a child academically on par with the
schools, getting a specific type of feedback that learning is taking
place -- is going to find things to complain about unschooling. But
that's like complaining that the hammer didn't spread butter well.

> I remember those boiling down
> to the arguments that it takes either an extraordinary teacher, an
> extraordinary student or both for this sort of process to work. In
> other words, not very compelling.
Which is an argument from a point of view of not understanding
unschooling.

Which doesn't really answer your question but is a reason why it's
hard to find solid writing against unschooling.

Joyce

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sandra Dodd

-=-Anyone who has goals that unschooling isn't meant to meet -- getting
any child into Harvard, keeping a child academically on par with the
schools, getting a specific type of feedback that learning is taking
place -- is going to find things to complain about unschooling. But
that's like complaining that the hammer didn't spread butter well.-=-

And although the schools don't do so well themselves at getting kids
into Harvard or keeping them academically on par, their solution
seems always to get a bigger hammer.

Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Joyce Fetteroll

On Sep 6, 2007, at 9:12 AM, Sandra Dodd wrote:

> And although the schools don't do so well themselves at getting kids
> into Harvard or keeping them academically on par, their solution
> seems always to get a bigger hammer.

I think because it's implied that because school is the reason
(supposedly) some kids get into Harvard that the process therefore
works and just either needs tweaked for kids outside the norm or the
kids are at fault for not taking advantage of the process.

Joyce

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Robyn L. Coburn

<<> -=-Anyone who has goals that unschooling isn't meant to meet -- getting
> any child into Harvard, keeping a child academically on par with the
> schools, getting a specific type of feedback that learning is taking
> place -- is going to find things to complain about unschooling. But
> that's like complaining that the hammer didn't spread butter well.-=-
>
> And although the schools don't do so well themselves at getting kids
> into Harvard or keeping them academically on par, their solution
> seems always to get a bigger hammer.>>>>

From this week's e-Skeptic, an obituary by Michael Shermer about a
remarkable old friend:

"Although Jerry [Andrus] had no formal degrees, he was one of the most
creative, eclectic, and diverse minds I have ever encountered, a true
polymath. (It sometimes makes me wonder if a college education, especially a
higher degree, can confine the mind and restrict thinking into pre-arranged
categories that attenuates cross- and inter-disciplinary pollination, but I'll
save that discussion for another day.) "

I wonder if most people take the habit of categorical thinking with them
from school to college, or to put it another way, if the mind has already
been confined by school a long time before arriving at college.

Robyn L.Coburn