Is Unschooling Beneficial or Harmful for Child Development?

[ViewsofMars]

It's just so stupid, for most of history an edcuation was the privilege of the wealthy. Women were denied formal educations as were the poor. And now we have people that willingly decide to remain uneducated. So many people fought for so long for the opportunity to get an education and these people throw it away.

And let's not forget women's rights have and still are ignored by some men. (Some men see eye to eye and fail to see the female's point of view.) Those men can wreak havoc on a female's life even in the 21st century. I've known a few professional women that have left the field of science due to harassment or threats or insults by men in the workplace. I personally have been a victim but hung in there!:) I usually advise females (young or old) to set their goals high. Work hard and seek a job where you have direct contact with the CEO and other females within the organization to discuss concerns that may crop up. Also, educational standards where I live are set extremely high for K-12 grades. Property tax includes school bonds. Let's just say, the money that flows out of my bank account for those school bonds is just under a thousand a year. I don't mind because the kids in the my school district are extremely intelligent, active in sports, and very happy.

 

[Count Iblis]

Is this a good or bad thing?

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/unschooling-homeschooling-book-tests-classes/story?id=10410867

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEUzsooa1JE

It was good enough from 200,000 BC right until the late Middle Ages.

 

[D H]

I've been lurking so far on this topic. I'm out of the lurking closet now.

I had originally stated that people are being unfair towards THESE people because they have decided to be 'unschooled'.

Snarky reply: Life is unfair.

The vitriol (well-deserved) is not aimed at the kids. It is aimed at the parents. Those kids will most likely be good at one thing only: Collecting money that is not theirs. They might get this money from the government, or they may get it by more nefarious means. There is, perhaps, a bit selfish going on here, that many of us do not particularly like parents who are raising their kids to be welfare bums or worse. Or maybe not. Maybe, just maybe, we have the best interests of those kids at heart.

Having a high school (or college) education says this about someone: he is capable of doing something he doesn't want to do. And that is very valuable to an employer, because no job is without drudgery.

That has to qualify as the understatement of the month. If would love a job that is 50% or less drudgery. The drudgery may be necessary, but it is still drudgery. Learning to deal with that is important.

frankly most of the pioneers of science actually discovered things out of their own curiosity while they had little or no formal education at all.

Now we're getting to the heart of things. You are talking about people who are six or more sigma away from the norm.

First off, Desiree, please name one pioneer of science who had little or no formal eduction. Certainly not Einstein. He had a PhD in physics, which he obtained before his miracle year. Certainly not Newton. His mother tried to "unschool" him. Fortunately, educators convinced his mother otherwise. Certainly not Gauss, or Poincaré.

Our education system is not aimed at the 6+ sigma people, those who come along less than once a generation. It can't be. Those people come along less than once a generation. Our education system certainly does need to be improved. That does not mean throwing it out.

 

[ViewsofMars]

One observation I've made over the years is unschooled children and adults cuss in public. If children see adults cussing then they think it is ok to cuss too. I don't think the cussing language in dialogue with someone else is considered good manners. I see it only on the Interent. The cusser's use those little stars on their keyboard.

 

[Proton Soup]

It was good enough from 200,000 BC right until the late Middle Ages.

even in the middle ages, you would expect them to be working in some sort of apprenticeship situation unless they were aristocracy.

 

[Evo]

even in the middle ages, you would expect them to be working in some sort of apprenticeship situation unless they were aristocracy.

Even back to the earliest humans, you learned a skill in order to contribute and survive. Going back to earliest recorded history, obviously, you had scribes, you had farmers, shepherds, stoneworkers, artists, you name it.

 

[Desiree]

First off, Desiree, please name one pioneer of science who had little or no formal eduction. Certainly not Einstein. He had a PhD in physics, which he obtained before his miracle year. Certainly not Newton. His mother tried to "unschool" him. Fortunately, educators convinced his mother otherwise. Certainly not Gauss, or Poincaré.

Our education system is not aimed at the 6+ sigma people, those who come along less than once a generation. It can't be. Those people come along less than once a generation. Our education system certainly does need to be improved. That does not mean throwing it out.

I agree with you. I also totally disagree with the complete lack of education. However going through present worldwide education system to get 'educated' is not the only/best thing to do. There are lots of ways and opportunities in life to learn and acquire knowledge and skills. I am not a fan of the idea of having kids sitting around at home all day and doing nothing. Off course such kids will be 'socially paralyzed' in their adulthood, however in order to prevent that, current education system is not the only/best option for them.

As for the pioneers of science, I meant those people who, off course, were educated, but not necessarily formally through their prevalent education system at their time. Their accomplishments and contributions to science were partly due to the knowledge that had been passed on to them from previous generations, and mainly due to their own curiosity.