The goal of unschooling (and how to screw it up)
Sandra Dodd
I love and fear facebook. :-)
Someone quoted Joyce this morning, and I responded, partly out of fear.
The quote:
"The goal of unschooling is not education. It is to help a child be
who she is and blossom into who she will become. Learning happens as a
side effect." ---Joyce Fetteroll.
My response:
********
God, I love Joyce, but I don't love this quote taken in isolation.
Too many unschooling families are neglecting to create/find/encourage
learning oportunities. (Not Joyce's.) Too many unschooling families
seem to outright REJECT things that remind the parents in any way of
school. Museums. Books. Documentary films. Games that have
"educational" anywhere on the box.
If the very first goal of unschooling is to create a learning
environment, all the other good things WILL happen.
If unschooling is seen as all-but learning, everything except
learning, it's carts before horses. The cart won't get far without
learning as a goal.
I agree about "education." I don't like the term. It's seen as a set
of knowledge separate from other things in the world. But this quote
laid out for anyone to find will "support" and encourage the "woohoo!"
unschoolers and could cause more problems for the support lists on
which Joyce so generously volunteers to help people understand it.
I think when unschooling works well, learning is a side effect of
everything. Unfortunately, it is possible for learning not to work
well.
********
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Someone quoted Joyce this morning, and I responded, partly out of fear.
The quote:
"The goal of unschooling is not education. It is to help a child be
who she is and blossom into who she will become. Learning happens as a
side effect." ---Joyce Fetteroll.
My response:
********
God, I love Joyce, but I don't love this quote taken in isolation.
Too many unschooling families are neglecting to create/find/encourage
learning oportunities. (Not Joyce's.) Too many unschooling families
seem to outright REJECT things that remind the parents in any way of
school. Museums. Books. Documentary films. Games that have
"educational" anywhere on the box.
If the very first goal of unschooling is to create a learning
environment, all the other good things WILL happen.
If unschooling is seen as all-but learning, everything except
learning, it's carts before horses. The cart won't get far without
learning as a goal.
I agree about "education." I don't like the term. It's seen as a set
of knowledge separate from other things in the world. But this quote
laid out for anyone to find will "support" and encourage the "woohoo!"
unschoolers and could cause more problems for the support lists on
which Joyce so generously volunteers to help people understand it.
I think when unschooling works well, learning is a side effect of
everything. Unfortunately, it is possible for learning not to work
well.
********
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-I think when unschooling works well, learning is a side effect of
everything. Unfortunately, it is possible for learning not to work
well.-=-
I'm undecided whether I mean for that last phrase to say "...for
unschooling not to work well."
Both are possible.
Unless and until the parents deschool, they will see "learning" as
"school-stuff."
And natural learning doesn't work well until the parents see real,
natural learning in real, natural situations.
And unschooling doesn't work until natural learning is flowing and
being appreciated and encouraged.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
everything. Unfortunately, it is possible for learning not to work
well.-=-
I'm undecided whether I mean for that last phrase to say "...for
unschooling not to work well."
Both are possible.
Unless and until the parents deschool, they will see "learning" as
"school-stuff."
And natural learning doesn't work well until the parents see real,
natural learning in real, natural situations.
And unschooling doesn't work until natural learning is flowing and
being appreciated and encouraged.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Bob Collier
--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
Bob
>Wherever you saw the quote posted on Facebook it came from me. I posted it first. I'd read it somewhere shortly after an online exchange of views in which I'd explained why my son's removal from school was a parenting decision not an educational one and that his happiness was the primary objective. I thought Joyce's words summarised my thoughts about that very well, but of course that was in the context of my thoughts about that. Given that only I knew the details of that exchange of views elsewhere I can see Joyce's words were indeed out of context.
> I love and fear facebook. :-)
>
> Someone quoted Joyce this morning, and I responded, partly out of fear.
>
> The quote:
>
> â"The goal of unschooling is not education. It is to help a child be
> who she is and blossom into who she will become. Learning happens as a
> side effect." ---Joyce Fetteroll.
>
> My response:
>
> ********
> God, I love Joyce, but I don't love this quote taken in isolation.
> Too many unschooling families are neglecting to create/find/encourage
> learning oportunities. (Not Joyce's.) Too many unschooling families
> seem to outright REJECT things that remind the parents in any way of
> school. Museums. Books. Documentary films. Games that have
> "educational" anywhere on the box.
>
> If the very first goal of unschooling is to create a learning
> environment, all the other good things WILL happen.
>
> If unschooling is seen as all-but learning, everything except
> learning, it's carts before horses. The cart won't get far without
> learning as a goal.
>
> I agree about "education." I don't like the term. It's seen as a set
> of knowledge separate from other things in the world. But this quote
> laid out for anyone to find will "support" and encourage the "woohoo!"
> unschoolers and could cause more problems for the support lists on
> which Joyce so generously volunteers to help people understand it.
>
> I think when unschooling works well, learning is a side effect of
> everything. Unfortunately, it is possible for learning not to work
> well.
>
> ********
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
Bob