Unschooling

The Sunday Tennessean reported in a long article that some parents are choosing "unschooling" for their children. That is, schooling which has no plan, but in which the child chooses what he/she wants to study and studies that until they are tired and want to go to another subject. One mother was quoted as saying that in the "real" world learning to write a check and to change the oil in a car were just as important as math, history and reading. Unschooling has no curriculum, no time requirements, no textbooks. Ironically, "unschooled" is a perfect description of the process.

Another 15 year-old-boy who said he wanted to be a chef or a rock star remarked all he wanted to do now was read what he wanted to. (Don't we all?) He reported that he had to spend several weeks "deschooling" after withdrawing from public school. Even chefs and rock stars have bosses who require them to be on time and to finish assigned tasks whether the employee likes the task or not.

The parents have probably forgotten that the world in which they live was created by those who came before who had received "traditional" schooling. I am so tired of people who do not give thought to anything but the here and now and me and mine. The here and now is not all there is to life--the future will come at a pace that will shock and amaze them.

Yes, some public schools have problems which can hardly be allieviated by fleeing parents and students. There are certain things that mature adults have to do that don't necessarily "pique their curiosity". Pity our future in the hands of unschooled adults.