A conversation with Michael Fogler
Helen Hegener
At 8:41 AM +0000 5/14/01, [email protected] wrote:
July/Aug issue, but we ran an interview with Michael Fogler in our
Sept/Oct, 2000 issue, and the entire interview is online:
http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/HEM/175/afogler.html
Here's a brief excerpt:
A conversation with Michael Fogler - by Peter Kowalke
Unschooling Meets the Workforce
As a lifelong unschooler, I've grown up with the luxury
of studying what interests me. Supposedly I should be able to make a
living by following my interests, too. But what if my passion is
writing well-researched stories about everyday people, something that
isn't very lucrative? To answer my question, I visited Michael Fogler
in his Lexington, Kentucky, home. Michael is a homeschooling father
and author of the book, Un-jobbing: The Adult Liberation Handbook,
which asserts that it isn't necessary to give up an interest in order
to make a living without a job. His secret, it seems, is just using
common sense.
Peter Kowalke: Unschooling is to learn without going to school. Is
un-jobbing to earn without having a job? Could you explain what it
means to "un-job"?
Michael Fogler: In a sense, Yes, if we define job as an activity we
do for money which we really wouldn't be doing if it weren't for the
money. That is what I see as so wasteful in our society: millions of
people spending the bulk of their able-bodied lives in activities
that they wouldn't be doing if they didn't need the money attached to
it. Can we not do only activities which are in alignment with our
values and sense of purpose, with some of these activities also
bringing in income? I say yes. So, I see a life of un-jobbing as a
life in which all of the activities that a person does are activities
that the person really wants to do, whether they are income-producing
or not. This person is doing what he/she truly wants to do, period.
"Work" and "play" become blurred, virtually one and the same. They
blend together into, simply, Life. John Holt once proclaimed that
learning is not the product of teaching (something I have come to
agree with). Similarly, living is not the product of "making a
living" (i.e. the job) in our culture. So, my thing is to encourage
(conscious) living in every moment and to change "making a living"
(which should be more accurately called "making a dying") into
"making a life."
Peter: The recent advertising campaign for the job site, Monster.com,
points out that no one grows up wanting a bad job; we all want to
earn money by doing what we love. But even career guides admit that
we can't always do what we love without some sacrifice. Besides
having a marketable interest, such as computers, how does one "make a
life" by doing what he or she enjoys?
The rest of the interview is here:
http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/HEM/175/afogler.html
Hope this helps,
Helen
>I'm back on digest for this list, as we're into deadline for the
>Hi,
>Has anyone read Unjobbing by Michael Fogler?
>My dh is really unhappy in his job, and I'd like to get it ro read,
>and maybe he will read it too.
>I was just looking for thoughts on this book if you have read it.
>Unfortunately our library doesn't carry it... I'll keep looking
>though.
July/Aug issue, but we ran an interview with Michael Fogler in our
Sept/Oct, 2000 issue, and the entire interview is online:
http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/HEM/175/afogler.html
Here's a brief excerpt:
A conversation with Michael Fogler - by Peter Kowalke
Unschooling Meets the Workforce
As a lifelong unschooler, I've grown up with the luxury
of studying what interests me. Supposedly I should be able to make a
living by following my interests, too. But what if my passion is
writing well-researched stories about everyday people, something that
isn't very lucrative? To answer my question, I visited Michael Fogler
in his Lexington, Kentucky, home. Michael is a homeschooling father
and author of the book, Un-jobbing: The Adult Liberation Handbook,
which asserts that it isn't necessary to give up an interest in order
to make a living without a job. His secret, it seems, is just using
common sense.
Peter Kowalke: Unschooling is to learn without going to school. Is
un-jobbing to earn without having a job? Could you explain what it
means to "un-job"?
Michael Fogler: In a sense, Yes, if we define job as an activity we
do for money which we really wouldn't be doing if it weren't for the
money. That is what I see as so wasteful in our society: millions of
people spending the bulk of their able-bodied lives in activities
that they wouldn't be doing if they didn't need the money attached to
it. Can we not do only activities which are in alignment with our
values and sense of purpose, with some of these activities also
bringing in income? I say yes. So, I see a life of un-jobbing as a
life in which all of the activities that a person does are activities
that the person really wants to do, whether they are income-producing
or not. This person is doing what he/she truly wants to do, period.
"Work" and "play" become blurred, virtually one and the same. They
blend together into, simply, Life. John Holt once proclaimed that
learning is not the product of teaching (something I have come to
agree with). Similarly, living is not the product of "making a
living" (i.e. the job) in our culture. So, my thing is to encourage
(conscious) living in every moment and to change "making a living"
(which should be more accurately called "making a dying") into
"making a life."
Peter: The recent advertising campaign for the job site, Monster.com,
points out that no one grows up wanting a bad job; we all want to
earn money by doing what we love. But even career guides admit that
we can't always do what we love without some sacrifice. Besides
having a marketable interest, such as computers, how does one "make a
life" by doing what he or she enjoys?
The rest of the interview is here:
http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/HEM/175/afogler.html
Hope this helps,
Helen