Old/new now "unschoolers"

C

Capernicus

Member
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/03/unschooling.sudbury.education/index.html

One of the comments said something like, "Yes, let the American kids study pizza and XBOX while the Chinese kids study math and science...making them the dominant world power" to which I pretty much agree with.

I think this is good to a certain point (always do what you are passionate about) but I also think it is good to become well rounded and learn/at least be introduced to other knowledge/skills, even if they are just high school classes.

Thoughts?
 
May be better only if you live in an area with a really really really really shitty public school system.
 
interesting, I wonder about their resources though. Like say your kid wants to learn about engines and mechanics. Do they have a shop for that or tools for them to learn with?? It seems if you let kids learn about whatever they want, then you'd have to have a lot of stuff on hand to teach them with.
 
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I dont think this is that stupid of an idea. Seems something along the lines of this guy's talk:





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I don't think its a bad idea as long as you have someone around to keep them from playing video games all day every day.
I've probably learned more in the last few years than I ever have, and simply because I focus on what interests me and learn a lot about it. I do however feel that a generally knowledge should be standard for everyone, regardless of how they get their education. The main reason is that everyone should understand how the government works or how basic biology works, even if they have no interest. The second reason is that not everything you can be in life is endemic to a natural learning situation. If it wasn't for my 7th grade social studies class, I probably wouldn't have gone to college for anthropology/archaeology.
That being said, I managed to manipulate the standard college experience into something entirely different. A lot of compromising with my professors allowed me to learn at my own pace and to study when I had time. When they allowed this, I got A's. When I was put on a rigid schedule... I got C's. I even managed a similar situation in high school where in a few of my classes, I handed all the homework in at the end of the semester. It worked better for me. Also, my senior year of high school, I had no required coursework left and opted to take Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, and Digital Media in the same semester and I got straight A's. All the years before that, I had been a B student, even in the classes I enjoyed. I believe this was simply because I wasn't able to focus my attention where I wanted, as well as a general lack of parallel ideas in many of the classes. Considering I had to take Political Science and US History, I probably would have done significantly better in both of those classes had I had them the same semester.
Ok. That is all.
 
i have a nephew who does that, he's 8 and cant read. pretty much a terrible idea except for about 10% of the population. personally I would thrive off of this like it was nobodies business, during class I ignore teachers and teach myself around 90% of the time
 
yea, but would you have taken the initiative to teach yourself if you werent in a classroom and were at home with a million other things you could be doing.
 
So, if you want to learn calculus and advanced mathematics, who is going to teach you? I could have probably taught myself, but it would have taken so much longer and been far more frustrating. Things like this require some instruction.

The idea, in concept is neat. The issue is that there is so much wasted time in school. I recall that in high school, I spent probably half the time doing nothing. If I'd had that time to explore other things, that would've been nice.

A lot of this seems like the sort of thing people do as hobbies in there free time. A huge thing I gained from school was structure, which is pretty damn important when you get to the real world.
 
actually, yeah. I literally just finished emailing my history teacher to help me with something. I do this regularely over the summer/weekends
 
School is a joke, I taught myself grade 12 calculus (integrals and derivatives) in 2 weeks. Anyone that means business about something will do it outside of a classroom, teachers are a good way to get nowhere most of the time. Textbooks exist for a reason. Do you think Einstein asked God to teach him relativity? I somewhat doubt it, he set out and did that shit on his own. Independence is key, self study is the future, and schools as we know them are dead institutions.
 
It isn't the IDEA of it that's stupid, it's the fact that people think that the average person would follow through with it that's stupid.

School systems kill creativity. They make you forget about your true dreams and force you to become what other people tell you you should be. They put your mind in a box and make you think you want to be some pencil pusher behind a desk your whole life.

This system, if executed well, could have the potential to change the way people look at the world. There would be more people that do amazing things and who are thinking outside the box. I think this system could produce minds and skill sets that people have never seen before. We don't need aptitude test to determine what career path you should take, we just need to take a step back and say, "What do you love? Do that." This method would produce more people who do what they love and less people who are miserable and just trying to get by.

The problem is with the parents. Granted there are tons of people who just flat out don't have the time for this. And that's okay, but there are a lot of parents who just wouldn't give a fuck about what their kids are learning and let them sit in front of the tv all day. It takes a special kind of parent and a special kind of kid to be successful at this. I mean, honestly, your average 8 year old isn't going to say, "I want to stop watching Sponge Bob and start learning math."
 
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