The Unschooling Movement?

            Are you familiar with “Unschooling?” A recent article in CNN.com discussed this little known alternative educational philosophy where “the child is in control of his/her learning and they are free to decide what they want to study, when they want to study[i].”

            Unschooling began as a response by its founder, John Holt who authored the book “How Children Fail” in 1964.  Holt believed:

“that living is learning…children should follow their

innate curiosity and passions rather than being forced

to learn hordes of information they will never use[ii].”

Holt’s philosophy is largely based on the principals of John Dewey’s (1910) Education & Experience.  From Dewey, Holt believed that learning could occur within the confines of a non-traditional school structure with an observant teacher who guided students to naturally learn curricular concepts through their natural curiosity and exploration.  Holt divergence from Dewey occurs when Holt places primary responsibility on the child while Dewey believed the teacher and student equally share responsibility for learning.

            Currently there are 20 private schools called Sudbury that follow the unschooling philosophy.  The schools are democratically run with each student and adult receive 1 vote. Only students set the rules and the rules can only be changed by a majority vote of the student body.  Classes are offered, but not mandatory and “staff members” do not have to have a teaching background since their purpose is to guide students in their individual pursuits[iii].  Children as young as 6 years old attend the Sudbury schools where there is no age or grade segregation. However, the Sudbury schools boasts a 90% college acceptance rate, with alumni who are mathematicians, geologists, and doctors.

            Critics of unschooling argue that to place the responsibility for formal learning on children as young as 6 years old without structure and without a trained/certified adult is poor child development practice.  They further argue that while a child can learn naturally, they need a trained/certified adult to help them make them make the leap to higher functioning and reasoning. 

            Critics of unschooling also argue that students will have a difficult time adjusting from the unschooling environment to the traditional, structured academic environment of college and the structure of the real world.  In college, there is a prescribed curriculum, deadlines for assignments and exams, attendance and participation requirements, and graduation requirements.  In the real world there are expectations about punctuality, work deadlines and a rigid structure.

            Finally, a glaring omission concerning unschooling is the cultural capital its students bring prior to entering the Sudbury.  An underling theme from the examples cited in the article is that Sudbury students came from affluent backgrounds that afforded them greater cultural capital to handle such an open and unstructured program.  It would be interesting to learn how students with little cultural capital would do in the unschooling environment.  Would these students eventually find their way in an unstructured academic environment and thrive?

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[i] www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/03/unschooling.subury.education/index

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.