Monday, March 20, 2006
Unschooling Only for Children With Curiosity
The article linked in the headline above is entitled "‘Unschooling’ lets children pursue their own interests" and is written by Vincent J. Schodolski. I think it does a nice job of summarizing unschooling and presents it in a positive way. I wanted to make a couple of points about the article that really jumped out at me.
1> The obligatory education professor is quoted as saying, "It is not suited either to all kids or all parents," said Tom Hatch, a professor at Columbia University Teachers College in New York City. "It requires students with considerable curiosity and independence, who come up with and get interested in questions and can sustain some interest in them." This struck me as sad beyond words that a teacher of teachers believes that only some children are curious! Now I can certainly tell you that only some 9th graders, who have been in the system for 9 or more years, are still curious. But that is the system acting on the child. ALL children are naturally curious!
2> I loved it that one of the moms quoted is a former teacher. And I loved what she said: that "she felt like "an advanced babysitter" for kids who did not want to be in class." Been there, done that!
3> The important thing about education is learning how to learn. There is no way to know precisely what knowledge you will need in the future--so you learn as much as you can about as many things as you can; you learn how to learn and about educational resources and how to use them; and you learn how to think and to have a flexible, creative mind. Many of the unschoolers quoted, and even the ed. professors quoted, stated something similar. The difference is that the ed. professors think that the schools are teaching these things by using state-mandated, across-the-board curricula and the unschoolers know that the schools are not managing to teach these things.
As for our family, we are unschooling this "Kindergarten" year. How's it going? Ask Thomas to tell you about factors or inverse. Ask him where honey comes from. Ask him to read you The Little Engine That Could. Ask him how a steam engine works. Just be prepared to listen...!
Update: I had just finished posting this, when I surfed over to Why Homeschool, where Henry was talking about homeschooling so as to keep alive the precious curiosity of his children! Wow--great minds, huh?
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"This struck me as sad beyond words that a teacher of teachers believes that only some children are curious!"
I wonder if the professor really means that some children are not curious about the "right" things. He may see children who focus on insects as children who don't have "good" curiousity.
Thanks for stopping by, Henry!
Perhaps you are right and curiosity that doesn't match the topic of the day somehow doesn't count?
Or perhaps he's been in the education business so long he can't remember what a curious child looks like?
Whatever the case, his attitude really hit a sour note with me.
Yuck, "only some kids"! My three and five year olds bombard me with questions, observations, and theories (some quite humorous) from the minute they wake up (with the sun) until they finally fall into bed at night. This guy must not be a parent to think that only "some" kids are curious!
We're going to be unschooling "kindergarten" next year as well...I can't see it going any differently than it is right now, so we'll see! :)
"must not be a parent"--yeah, I had that thought as well.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Michelle! I hope "Kindergarten" goes wonderfully for you next year!
I think all children are born curious, but traditional schooling methods can destroy that. I know that unschooling works better for my daughter than my son, who does not have curiousity past the latest video games. We tried, but it isn't good for him.
I definitely believe that traditional schools can destroy a child's natural curiosity, but I did not mean to imply that I think unschooling is for everyone. The great thing about homeschooling is that you have the control to unschool with one child and do unit studies with the other (or however it works in your family). Who knows your child better than you? Then, who else could match his learning style better than you?
Thank you for your comment!