As my first thread about this topic has become overloaded and clogged with posts dealing with other things, I start a new one. I maintain that children, apart from being smaller than adults, are otherwise their equals - and should be treated as such. In my opinion, unschooling isn't so much about children as it is about freedom. I claim that every person - independent of their age - will do exactly what serves them best if we just let them. Of course, if we start out forcing children into doing what we think they should do instead, this doesn't work anymore. Then they'll end up being adults who aren't really able to live - who are addicted to destructive behaviour in every respect. That's the situation we have now. I maintain that our role as parents is to support our children in what they want to do on their own - and not to force our will on them. I maintain that this is the only way that children can grow up to be healthy. As I have already pointed out in the book section of this forum, Naomi Aldort is one person who did that. The effect this had on her three children speaks for itself. Check it out on http://www.naomialdort.com/. Moreover (I cannot emphasize it enough), she wrote a marvelous book, 'Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves'. In it, she shows with unparalleled insight what's going on in children's minds and hearts - and what happens to children if we treat them the way we usually do, forcing our will on them. And most importantly, she shows us how we can move away from this paradigm, how we can learn to totally respect children, how we can start to treat them in ways which support their growth instead of hindering it, as we do it now. To sum it up, it's rather that we can learn from them than the other way round.
Children aren't always the equals of adults and vice versa. But their views should still be heard as it is possible that they have better experience or a better point of view in the matter at hand.
a human brain isn't even developed fully until well into "adulthood" so they really shouldnt be thought of as equal to their parents. among other things i disagree with this whole "unschooling" idea. however useless and retarded traditional schooling has been to me, it has taught me more useful things than i could imagine. perhaps it is just my own will, but i dont think my own situation is unique - traditional schooling still require parents to be parents, however shitty the parents might be...you cant let kids just roam free from the get-go...
Just because your mind is developed doesn't mean you're are equal or unequal to an undeveloped mind. I'd rather have a child who's mind is still developing as an equal than an "Adult" who's mind has been developed with propaganda and lies. The only true knowledge out there is that nobody knows anything.
I don't agree that you should start a new thread about this just because you didn't like the responses to your other one. This is why I posted some forum guidelines here but it appears I must have breached some rule in doing that. My opinion: Most 'home schooled' people I know have difficulty adjusting to the real world. Unless there is some sort of alternative lifestyle waiting at the end of somebody's unschooling (where all of a person's social, vocational and basic living needs are catered for), I don't think it is a constructive way of introducing a person into society. If anybody is going to make a change to society, and to the way we teach our children, they have to have a realistic idea of how it works. That is what regular school is for. You have to be in it to be able to deconstruct it. I also think that schooling by one or two parents would be more suffocating and pigeon-holing than schooling by a variety of different teachers with different ideas. Like PurpByThePound said, it might be retarded in some ways, but going to a regular school can get a person a rounded, full education, with the assistance of skilled teachers. There is always time for parenting and nurturing your children on the side. I don't know what schools are like in America, but one of the main themes throughout my studies was critical thought. I can't remember being forced to take anything at face value. I can only remember being respected for my opinion, but being judged for the effort I put into my work.
Here's an interesting site I just found about schools and education: http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/ Even though it's from India, I'd say its content is relevant for the rest of the world, too. It also features some nice films: http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/naitaleem_samplefilms.htm
Obviously, the term 'equal' leads to confusion. Let me try to make clear what I mean. We are of course all very different - every person is an individual - with very different traits, abilities, views. In that sense, no two people are equal. What I mean with regarding children as equals is to stop thinking we're superior. To stop patronizing them. To behave towards them as we would towards other adults. This may at first seem to be an odd idea, as children are clearly limited in many respects as compared to adults. But not only does it work, I claim it is the only meaningful way of behaving towards children. Treating children as equals means acknowledging that what they feel and what they think has as much right to exist and as much value as what we adults feel and think. It means that we have as little right to decide over their fates as we have to decide over the fates of other adults. I experienced that you can talk to even a baby of only a few months in exactly the same way as you would to an adult - and the incredible thing is, the baby understands much of what you're saying. The more seriously we take them, the more they understand us.
I didn't. I wrote down the reasons for starting a new thread above. If I didn't make myself clear, let me state them again: 1) My first thread on the topic became so long that it's practically not possible any more to see what's going on in it. 2) As is often the case in this forum, some people started to write about other things than what the thread is about, which makes the thread awkward to read and the discussion hard to follow.
Unschooling is ridiculous because it doesn't prepare our children for the real world. A child needs to be a child. A child needs to be with other children, not just adults. Without proper socialization, then the child will have a difficult time handling social situations when she/he gets older. A child is psychologically different than an adult. It doesn't mean it is wrong, we celebrate their talents, interests, and dreams. For an example, we have adult conversations and children conversations. I wouldn't talk about going out drinking with children, but of course I could talk about that with adults.
