Unschooling is, well, unbelievable
No, I did not say homeschooling — I said unschooling. Unschooling, unlike homeschooling, or get-on-the-bus-and-go-to-class schooling, is a movement that, basically, allows a child to lead the direction of what they will learn. Yes, children lead the way. Parents who unschool their children don’t have specific curriculum or a set schedule for their children to follow. The children are allowed to explore and learn as they become curious about a topic. Children are encouraged to do as they please whether that means, watching television, playing videogames, playing outside or reading a book.
So you say if there is no set curriculum and no standards for testing, how do you know the child is learning enough to be competitive in today’s society? Good question. Interestingly, there are nine states that currently have no laws regarding education in the home: Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas. The remaining states require varying amounts of testing and notice. If you unschool your child, they may also experience difficulty being accepted to a College or University (assuming they would want to go) as institutions of higher education can set their own requirements with regards to admissions.
I see so many down-the-road issues with this concept. What if you have a child that shows absolutely no interest in anything mathematical? What if your child doesn’t ever want to read? What if you raise your children in this fashion and, because they can’t get into College, they never get Government funding to find a cure for the common cold and, instead, wind up spending their days asking “would you like fries with that?” How do these children enter a workforce that does have schedules, timelines and specific requirements?
How can America stay competitive with the World if we don’t encourage and foster a standard of learning in future generations? Science, technology, engineering and mathematics are vital to our global well-being. (Was I happy to have to take those classes – no? Am I glad now I had to take them – yes?) How much of a common history will these children miss sharing with their peers?
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Unschooling/
http://www.parentdish.com/2010/04/19/the-unschooling-movement-schools-out-forever/1
http://anunschoolinglife.com/post-tribune-unschooling-article/
Emergence 
May 10, 2010 at 6:13 pm
This reminds me of that movie “Accepted”. But you make a good point, what kid at 10 years old is going to want to study math and history on their own? Sure, there are educational video games and tv shows these days, but enough for them to compete with peers for jobs when they’re 18?? I wonder what the statistics on the success of this “unschooling” are. Interesting for sure!
May 11, 2010 at 11:20 am
I tried to find some statistics, but was unable to locate any. I know one of the articles mentions that advocates of unschooling say there are children in ivy league universitites, but I couldn’t find the statistics for that either. It would be interesting to know and to know the retention and graduation rates — it is one thing to be accepted and another to graduate.
May 10, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Part of the formal learning process is learning how to learn. And one of the most important (and easily overlooked) aspects of learning how to learn is learning to understand and appreciate how others learn. The commonality of the foundation received from formal education is every bit as important as the actual knowledge that foundation is comprised of. It is similar to how popular culture works. One generation to the next has difficulty understanding the other because they lack a common foundation, and so they have a basis for comparison instead of a basis for understanding. Kids who are unschooled are going to be even further removed from their generation than kids who are home-schooled. I swear, sometimes I think the government should require a license to be a parent.
May 11, 2010 at 12:38 am
Reminds me of a friend I had who was homeschooled, and because his parents didn’t really believe in the State of Arizona’s right (or responsibility) never filed his graduation papers for completing 12th grade material — without him knowing it.
Flash forward 6 years, he’s got a great work history, an nice resume, is a candidate for a really good job with Border Patrol, only he’s never actually graduated from 12th grade. And they don’t really like GED.
I guess he straightened it all out, but here’s a clear example of parents not knowing how much they could derail their kid’s future.
Lori
May 11, 2010 at 11:23 am
I’m sure there are unschooling parents who are doing a fantastic job, just as there are homeschooling parents doing a fantastic job. However, I’m also sure there are plenty of parents who aren’t. It is a big decision to make and one requiring much responsibility on the part of the parents. I think it is a decision made with the best intention, but as we know, the best intentions don’t always provide the best results.
May 11, 2010 at 12:05 pm
This is amazing. I do not have children, but an uneducated and undereducated society impacts everyone. Also, if children can do whatever they want whenever they want, what are the roles of parents?
And as an employer, I am concerned about attracting people who have been raised with few, if any, guidelines, rules (yes, they can be good) and standards. They are going to “tax” the workplace in ways that we have never experienced before. And I don’t mean that in a good way. 🙂
As always, Tammy, this was a great post!
May 12, 2010 at 7:55 pm
A frightening idea!
July 18, 2010 at 1:25 am
I got a sad email from the tutoeing company I sometimes work for. The email was from a parent whose kid goes to aa school here in Massachusetts that a) costs $7000 a year and b) seems to run on the “unschool” mentality:
“Our son is 11 years old and attends the Sudbury Valley School. We would like tutoring for him on the weekend, starting in September. He has not had any academics at all, as this is the philosophy of his school. He taught himself to read and his word comprehension has been tested at a 5th grade level (by an outside evaluator). His reading comprehension is not good, however. The main point of what he has read often eludes him! He has never had formal math and only knows the plus and minus signs, but is quite intelligent and does the math in his head for daily life easily and effortlessly. He has matured and thrived at Sudbury Valley, but we want some formal academics taught so he has choices for attending traditional schools, should he so choose. His weakest point is writing, and is at kindergarten level or less. He has a mild case of NonVerbal Learning Disorder, according to the evaluator, and it is clear that writing is agonizing for him. We live in the South End.”
July 18, 2010 at 1:32 am
*tutoring. I need to cut my nails!
If you’re interested, I could use your insight on my blog. It seems I’ve started quite a stir with an article I wrote on unschooling…
http://zerosumruler.wordpress.com/
July 19, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Yes, you have created a stir! I just posted a comment. Thank you for reading my blog.
December 28, 2010 at 7:59 pm
You claim that “If you unschool your child, they may also experience difficulty being accepted to a College or University (assuming they would want to go) as institutions of higher education can set their own requirements with regards to admissions.”
Unschoolers have no more barriers to higher education than regular homeschoolers and they do not have any problems getting in. Yes, they have to meet the requirements, but higher education institutions, as you point out, set those requirements themselves. And since prospective students with non-traditional learning histories tend to talk with admissions folks to clarify how they would be expected to meet requirements without transcripts and grades those admissions folks have seen for themselves the quality of that candidate pool. When un-/home-schoolers decide that getting a degree is a valuable goal to pursue they usually have well thought out reasons for choosing that particular school, they have usually done their “homework” so they know what the usual requirements are, and they usually have assembled some form of portfolio or narrative to demonstrate that they have been pursuing direct experience or studies that are pertinent to the goals they to which they ultimately aspire.
If you think about the job of an admissions officer as picking the students who are most likely to take fullest advantage of the learning opportunities that their school has to offer, then finding students who are that clear about their own goals, that clear about how the school’s resources can help them fulfill those goals and that willing to do the work necessary to be prepared for the challenge of demonstrating their capabilities is ideal. Since the admissions office has discretion about requirements they use that discretion very liberally to favor those students who make a good impression. The best way to make a good impression, especially in a highly competitive school, is to stand out in exactly the ways that the school expects it’s best students to behave. Home-/un-schoolers have an inherent advantage in that regard because they have to prove the relevance of their previous learning rather than rely on the generic classification systems of test scores and grades.
From my perspective the claim that unschoolers will have particular difficulty getting into higher education does not make sense. I suspect that the claim about difficulty getting access to higher education is probably built on an assumption that unschoolers would, by the nature of their learning history, be incompetent students. If that is the case then I agree with the idea that incompetent students would have difficulty getting into higher ed., however the assertion that unschooling inherently leads to incompetent students is false. I am currently attending Reed College, an elite school of higher education, I have also been involved in many alternatives to traditional schooling for many years, and I personally know extremely competent students who were unschooled.
Enjoy,
Don Berg
Site: http://www.teach-kids-attitude-1st.com
Free E-Book: The Attitude Problem in Education