Little Red Schoolhouse, Talbot County, MD, Author Shopkins91, (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported and GNU Free Documentation License)
Unschooling (to be distinguished from homeschooling) is a controversial educational philosophy which has gained rapid popularity online, and allows children to direct their own learning [1][2]. A rosy picture is painted of care-free learning, without pressure, stress, structure, or restrictions.
The assumption is that children pursuing only the subjects which interest them will learn more naturally and easily. The corollary assumption seems to be that subjects of little immediate interest to them will be of no later use.
Some parents are not even teaching their children to read or write, and are actually proud of that fact.
The Rousseau Connection
Whether its proponents are aware or not, unschooling derives loosely from the writings of an 18th Century philosopher. In his work Discourse on Inequality, Jean-Jacques Rousseau proposed that human beings in their “natural” state were inherently peaceful, egalitarian, and good. They had simply been corrupted by civilization.
This idea has great appeal to those who believe wholeheartedly in Darwin’s theory of evolution. It suggests that a return to Eden is possible, a return to innocence and union with nature. All we need do is discard the trappings of civilization – trappings like law and formal education.
Unfortunately, this is nonsense, spiritually and otherwise. Innocence and ignorance are not the same.
Literacy Highlights
Literacy has been prized by civilization for thousands of years [3]. We denote pre-history as such because literacy did not exist. All knowledge had to be passed down orally. Continue reading
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