I was channel surfing this evening and came across a story on Nightline about something called “unschooling,” a theory of “education” espoused by a woman named Dayna Martin.
As nearly as I could tell, her approach consists of doing nothing — nothing! — about educating her kids. She gets away with it because somehow it gets classified as home schooling. But she is not teaching her kids anything. She thinks learning is driven by one’s desire and that her kids will learn for themselves whatever it is they want to know. How will they get into college? Maybe not all kids need to go to college. What will they do for jobs when they grow up? Shrug. What if they need to know algebra? Not everyone needs to know algebra. (That was the one thing she said that I could half way agree with.)
The kids have no rules. They go to bed whenever they want and get up whenever they want. The 11-year-old son stays up till 1 or 2 a.m. Mom thinks it’s great because it means he’s had 3 or 4 hours to himself to do whatever he wants. There are no family meals. The kids eat whatever they want, whenever they want. The only “rule” is it has to be something that’s in the house. (Well, duh!)
Martin has several “broadcasts” posted on YouTube that I’m not going to waste your time with. (I didn’t waste my time watching them, either.) But they’ll come up if you search for her name and “unschooling.” I noticed comments were not being allowed on them. I’ve never seen that done on YouTube. Just a wild guess, but I’ll bet the flaming and abuse got too intense for her.
Can you say “crackpot”? I really feel sorry for her kids and for the others whose parents she’s managed to influence. They are going to be totally unprepared for life in the real world. And if her kids decide they’d rather stay home with her than ever move out, she’ll have earned it.
You couldn’t be more right about this loon.
Well… maybe one improvement… you could have said, “Lazy Crackpot.”
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Damn, I left out “lazy”? Purely an oversight.
Wow. That’s just ignorant. No pun intended.
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Gotta wonder what sort of upbringing she had … but I don’t care enough to go research it.
Well, it’s not much of a theory, that’s for sure. But I have a weakness for crackpot theories. I think this is possibly an extreme over-reaction to the opposite parenting style. A kind of “helicopter parenting” which compels loving, well-intended moms and dads to over-program their kids to the point where they have little or no free time. Thus they are less likely to learn how to entertain themselves or make use of unstructured contemplative opportunities. There is such a thing as over-education, but this kind of thing can give home-schooling a bad reputation. As Terri does, I wonder how Dayna was raised.
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‘Twas me was doing the wondering (which makes me wonder again if this is the best way to add my comments. Adding them separately means they end up in the comments widget, which I’d prefer to fill with readers’ comments). Perhaps I should return to the conventional approach.
To anyone who immediately throws this family style out of the window I would recommend searching for videos of grown unschooled children.
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Are any of them college graduates?
Absolutely. Please check it out when you can. There are so many videos on youtube that they post about their experiences being unschooled. It’s amazing hearing these young people speak – their world view is so much more comprehensive (I don’t know a better way to describe it) than their schooled peers of the same age. They are so eloquent, bright and unique
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You can be eloquent, bright, and unique and still be poorly educated.
Did you watch any of the videos of the unschooled adults yet? A lot of them went to college, btw. It seems you are under the impression that education at a college is for everyone. I think it is for some and not for others. It depends on the individual. Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams were all self-educated. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Paul Allen didn’t get college degrees. There is going to be a documentary about the lives of grown unschoolers coming out at the end of this year that will help shed light on the whole thing. My point is, before speculating and jumping to conclusions or writing anything back to this post, do a little research on that which you so quickly discard as quack pottery. Thanks.
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Anyone can post anything on YouTube. I’d be more interested in formal studies and evaluations by independent third parties.
Of course college is not for everyone. But I think a minimum of a formal high school education is. I’m very much in favor of letting children pursue their own interests and direct their own learning — in addition to, not instead of, their formal educations.
Read the book “Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us” and you will likely come to a different conclusion. I also highly recommend you learn how to critically think and stop spouting ad hominem attacks.
I wonder if this comment will be censored or accepted?
Accepted as written.