Fuck Yeah Radical Education

Looking for a guest post on rising out of high school!

radicallane — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:58:43 -0400

Looking for a guest post (for the blog I’m Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write.) on leaving/dropping out of/rising out of high school: making the decision, convincing parents, dealing with school staff, how friends react, making the transition/deschooling, etc. I think this is a super important subject, but one I’m not qualified to write about. If you’d be interested, please email me at unschooledwriter@gmail.con. Please pass on the word to anyone you think might be interested!!

I am asking for something specific @ Notes of a Compulsive Self-Disclosurist

radicallane — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:15:32 -0400

I am asking for something specific @ Notes of a Compulsive Self-Disclosurist:

radicallane:

My son may be small but he has fairly big ideas about how respect feels. He understands that when you won’t look into someone’s eyes you aren’t really listening. He too translates eye rolling into disdain and impatience. He fully gets the inequality of other people making choices on his behalf and shit does he hate that! He is just as offended by being interrupted as the rest of us. He too has hurt feelings if his ideas get blatantly brushed off. Human to human relating doesn’t actually change all that much from age to age. Children are capable of incredible bluntness, sharp-wittedness and unprompted compassion. And it’s true; children can be loud, obnoxious, disrespectful and needy. And they can be told so; nine out of ten kids will quit once their behavior is called out. I’m not sure this statistic stays true for adults.

Here’s what’s frustrating about the sub-cultures I have brushed elbows with, the activists, earth-firsters, queers, anarchists, radical leftists (I realize I’ve got some generalizing going on here but I trust your self-reflectiveness, you know if I’m talking about you and I trust that you’ll keep reading either way). Every one of these little worlds takes diversity, inclusion, and strict political correctness quite seriously. Every ism in the universe is deconstructed and bashed around and spent hours upon hours of potluck time rapping about it all. Each group expects the culture to change according to their seemingly common sense of equality and human rights. What’s so funny is that ultimately, raising children equates to this: you, child, need more than I do and I am willing to give you what you need first. Meeting children’s needs models what these groups ask of the world: care for others especially when others have less. Yet these very groups all too often exclude children, perhaps not always consciously but so often by way of disregarding simple things like event times or spaces and their kid-friendliness. Excluding children by default excludes the parents tied to them.

Just a couple excerpts from a really important post.

Jasie likes stuff!: radicallane: Unschooling: Are We Teaching Ourselves? @ I’m Unschooled....

radicallane — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:20:06 -0400

Jasie likes stuff!: radicallane: Unschooling: Are We Teaching Ourselves? @ I’m Unschooled....:

radicallane:

Unschooling: Are We Teaching Ourselves? @ I’m Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write.

Virtually every time unschooling is covered in the media (such as the newest segment on MSNBC’s Today Show) people, either in the segment itself or in the comments, refer to unschooling as an…

Submit to Fuck Yeah Radical Education

radicallane — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:20:35 -0400

Submit to Fuck Yeah Radical Education:

Links, posts, quotes, etc. to do with radical education: unschooling, freeschooling, home education, anti-school, learning and resource centers, learning co-ops, alternatives to university, etc.

I feel like, with more submissions, this could be a really cool Tumblog!

"One of the great, persistent myths of education in our culture is that children become reluctant..."

radicallane — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:28:02 -0400

“One of the great, persistent myths of education in our culture is that children become reluctant learners as they grow older. In fact, what they become reluctant about it going to school, where they’re bullied, regimented, bored silly, and very effectively prevented from learning…We know what works for children up to the age where we ship them off to school: Let them be around you, pay attention to them, talk to them, give them access to as much as you can, let them try things, and that’s it. They take care of the rest. You don’t have to strap small children down and teach them to speak, all you have to do is talk to them. You don’t have to give them crawling lessons or walking lessons or running lessons. You don’t have to spend an hour a day showing them how to bang two pots together; they’ll figure that out all by themselves–if you give them access to the pots. Nothing magical happens at the age of five to render this process obsolete or invalid.”

- Daniel Quinn

Via the blog Talk Birth

(via radicallane)

"Every child, without exception, has an innate and unquenchable drive to understand the world in..."

radicallane — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:51:59 -0400

“Every child, without exception, has an innate and unquenchable drive to understand the world in which he lives and to gain freedom and competence in it. Whatever truly adds to his understanding, his capacity for growth and pleasure, his powers, his sense of his own freedom, dignity, and worth may be said to be true education.”

- John Holt (via simplycid)

"I recognize June by the flowers, now. I used to know it by review tests, and restlessness."

radicallane — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:55:11 -0400

““I recognize June by the flowers, now. I used to know it by review tests, and restlessness.””

- Lisa Asher, unschooled teen (via liamkenyon)

What is found there: Life advice from an unschooled 21-year-old

radicallane — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:54:38 -0400

What is found there: Life advice from an unschooled 21-year-old :

whatisfound:

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a huge collection of forgotten writing from my year off between college and grad school, 2007-2008.

I especially enjoyed finding this Q&A about my experiences as an unschooler. I’d been invited to speak at a panel discussion about unschooling held by the …

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again....

travelandunravel — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 02:40:05 -0400

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.”

-Pablo Picasso

"A good educational system should have three purposes: it should provide all who want to learn with..."

radicallane — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:47:58 -0400

“A good educational system should have three purposes: it should provide all who want to learn with access to available resources at any time in their lives; empower all who want to share what they know to find those who want to learn it from them; and, finally, furnish all who want to present an issue to the public with the opportunity to make their challenge known.”

- Ivan Illich The Peer Matching Network « Cooperative Catalyst (via adventuresinlearning)

"School-style socialization makes a group of people obedient and easily manipulated by peer pressure..."

radicallane — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:53:18 -0400

“School-style socialization makes a group of people obedient and easily manipulated by peer pressure or ‘authority’; it makes a nation of idiots who wish they were people on TV since they don’t know who they themselves are.”

- Grace Llewellyn, The Teenage Liberation Handbook (via peachersen)

Sudbury: the Unschooling Schools, a Guest Post by Bruce L. Smith @ I'm Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write.

radicallane — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 15:59:49 -0400

Sudbury: the Unschooling Schools, a Guest Post by Bruce L. Smith @ I'm Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write.:

I’ve wanted to share some guest posts on freeschooling and democratic schools on this blog for a while now, and with the recent article on CNN talking about both unschooling and Sudbury schools, this article seems particularly relevant! So I am very happy to present to you Bruce L. Smith on the Sudbury model schools:

After a few years’ teaching in the public schools of Columbia, Missouri, Bruce L. Smith left to find his true calling as an advocate for the Sudbury model of education. Bruce has founded and/or worked for Sudbury schools in Illinois, Florida, and Colorado, where he’s been on staff at Alpine Valley School since 1998. In 2005 he created the Center for Advancing Sudbury Education to promote the visibility and viability of this uniquely empowering form of schooling. More of Bruce’s writings on the subject can be found at http://www.alpinevalleyschool.com/blog and http://news.change.org/authors/bruce-smith.

I’ve known about unschooling for a long time, and I’ve long been struck by its resonance with the Sudbury model of education. For the past fourteen years I’ve worked for these “unschooling schools,” so when Idzie called for guest posts on the subject, I was excited at the chance to share my views on our respective approaches to self-directed learning.

The Sudbury model was first unveiled in 1968 by Sudbury Valley School in west suburban Boston. Since then it’s spread to a few dozen schools (about two-thirds of them in North America), all based on two simple premises: first, that children are innately, powerfully curious, driven to understand and master the world around them; and second, that the best education recognizes and respects this basic truth, allowing all young people the freedom and responsibility to discover their individual paths.

While a number of schools talk this talk, I find Sudbury unusually thorough in also walking the walk. As with unschoolers, Sudbury students freely chart the course of their days, months, and years. There’s no hierarchy of pursuits (e.g., academic vs. hands-on), and all learning happens organically—self-initiated, self-directed, and self-evaluated. Classes and other structured learning situations (e.g., internships) do have a place at Sudbury schools, but only as students seek them out. The bulk of learning at Sudbury schools comes in the course of daily life, and much of it takes the form of play and conversation.

In fact, the philosophical similarities between unschooling and Sudbury schooling are so extensive, I’ve often borrowed from the thoughts of unschoolers to help assure families that trusting their children’s drive is not only valid, but leads to the most effective learning. And that in turn reminds me that unschoolers and Sudbury families have this in common as well: many of our relatives, friends, and acquaintances think we’re crazy and/or putting our children at risk. So sharing our successes—concrete reminders, large and small, of how (and how well) freedom works—seems like one big favor we could do for each other.

Beyond their faith in young people’s nature and competence, what really makes Sudbury schools unique is that their structure is determined by the people directly involved. That is, everything from the rules to the budget to hiring is shaped by a democratic process in which a student’s vote is equal to that of any adult. This structure is flexible—within each Sudbury school, and among the various schools—and changes can be made at any time.

So how do Sudbury schools act like schools? Well, first of all, we do have these physical facilities where students gather on a daily basis. Attendance requirements are partly a legal matter, partly a means of ensuring continuity in the school community. Yet as I’ve suggested, there is significant flexibility here: at my school, for instance, students can arrive anywhere between 8 and 11am, and are required to stay only five hours (though our school is open nine hours, and many students stay past the minimum). With an Open Campus policy, most Sudbury students can come and go freely throughout the day, so long as they fulfill their commitments at school.

And these commitments are fairly modest. A Judicial Committee meets regularly to handle complaints about people’s behavior, and people are expected to serve turns on the committee and testify as needed. Also, Sudbury students are typically expected to do periodic cleaning chores. School governance is overseen by a weekly meeting that reviews the work of the Judicial Committee and considers proposals regarding rules and activities that could affect the normal flow of the day (e.g., field trips, parties, visitors). Then there are clerks and committees to whom much of the school’s business is delegated, along with certification (aimed at ensuring safe, responsible use of school equipment) and age-mixing (Sudbury schools are open to ages roughly corresponding to grades K-12).

In this environment, students not only learn to take responsibility for their own education: they also see what it takes to maintain an institution—though much of that organizational learning is optional. Students can attend School Meeting, serve on committees, and become clerks…or not. They’re expected to abide by the decisions of these bodies and officials, but their involvement is not required. Again, attendance, Judicial Committee, and chores are the only mandatory activities—and even here, students can work to change the relevant policies and requirements. Beyond these areas, students are free to do their own thing, so long as they respect everyone else’s right to do likewise.

In addition to all the freedom and flexibility, Sudbury schools also provide an ongoing, mixed-age community in which young people share responsibility for maintaining a culture of respect. Having such a space outside the family sphere gives our students the benefits of a diverse and vibrant “home away from home,” stretching them to try new things, new ways of thinking and being. In this dynamic, Sudbury students develop superlative interpersonal skills. There are constant opportunities to assess and regulate one’s behavior, and to work with people with whom one doesn’t already have a familial bond. Shy kids learn to speak up for themselves; overly assertive kids learn when and how to hold back. All eventually come into their own in the most thrilling ways imaginable.

Indeed, Sudbury schools foster a greater degree of autonomy and personal strength than I’ve seen anywhere else. These are indispensable qualities, since we all know that learning is not simply about pursuing our passions, but also figuring out how to realize those passions in contexts where people are not predisposed to assist us. Not all learning is sought: some is presented to us in the form of interruptions or obstacles—the people we don’t like or don’t get along with, but with whom we must co-exist; the hoops we must jump through to get what we want; things we’d rather put off indefinitely, but which must be done or learned before we can get where we’re going.

Bottom line, the Sudbury model is easily the most empowering form of education I’ve experienced in two decades as an educator: our students exhibit a maturity far beyond their years, while retaining the best child-like qualities. Articulate and self-possessed, they exemplify confidence and playfulness. Full of enthusiasm and free from fear, they are remarkably adept at knowing and becoming who they are, identifying and achieving their goals.

It is a good, good thing to celebrate the commonality and the diversity of our beliefs and practices. Unschoolers and Sudbury families alike face a status quo that seeks to invalidate us and make it unnecessarily difficult for us to follow our hearts. Getting to know each other’s approach better, sharing our ideas and success stories, and working to build acceptance for what we do can only help as we lay the groundwork for a future in which all children are truly free.

Unschoolers learn what they want, when they want - CNN.com

radicallane — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:55:00 -0400

Unschoolers learn what they want, when they want - CNN.com:

Newest mainstream press article on unschooling and freeschooling (they talk to both unschoolers and Sudbury Valley schoolers). Pretty much the usual: talk to actual unschoolers and freeschoolers, including successful “grads,” then talk to an expert who says it will never work. Right…

believeinthefight: Astra Taylor (dir. of Examined Life) talks...

radicallane — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:17:32 -0400

believeinthefight:

Astra Taylor (dir. of Examined Life) talks about her life being “unschooled”.

Totally amazing.

Wondering if you saw all the post I blog from your site about a month ago! Also have you visit Cooperative Catalyst? Love to have you do a guest post! Coming to AERO in Portland in August?

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:28:51 -0400

I did! I’m really glad you liked those posts enough to want to share them. :-) I’ve read a couple articles on Cooperative Catalyst, since pretty much every time Carlo Ricci, Patrick Farenga, or another prominent unschooling advocate writes something new, it’s bound to come up in the feed of one of the social network sites I’m on! :-P

If you’d like me to do a guest post, please email me at open.eyed.slave@gmail.com with more details.

No, afraid not, Portland’s just a bit too far for me (I live in Montreal, Quebec), and with all the other conferences I’m going to and people I’m visiting this summer and fall, even if it was being held in Albany again I don’t think I’d have either the money or time to attend! If you’re going though, I hope you have a great time. :-) I know people who really love that conference.

An apology to parents

radicallane — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:19:02 -0400

picklemethis:

This is to all the parents.

I’m sorry.

I’m child free by choice.

I was that person who glared at your kids in the supermarket. I was that person who gave you the side-eye in the restaurant. I was that person who muttered under their breath about unruly kids in public, and said it louder in more anonymous venues.

I was that person who cringed on the plane. I was that person who made ‘brat’ jokes (I like babies but I couldn’t eat a whole one). I was that person who whined about the ‘privileges’ of being a parent, and how ‘the world is run by the needs of kids’.

I was that person who said I was ‘doing the world’s population a service’ by not ‘breeding’. I was the person who parroted jokes about clown cars and looked on in horror as full up people movers drove by.

I was that person who made subjective calls on “good” and “bad” parents, never acknowledging the intersections of the kyriarchy or my privilege.

I was that person who did not recognize for almost 20 years that children are human beings too. Different, with different developmental needs, but still Human Beings.

I was that person who bought into the second wave bullshit that undervalued parenting, and that steeped-in-Victorian-age crap that made children ‘other’.

All this has nothing to do with why I chose to be CFbC, but it absolutely reinforces my pro-choice stance. It has to do with my socialization, and being steeped in misogyny that undervalues a woman’s choice. I can also recognize that these intersections mean that sometimes parents don’t choose to have parenthood thrust upon them but undertake it nonetheless, and I support them too.

If I can choose to not parent, it’s equally valid that other women can choose to parent, and along with their kids, deserve to move through the world and public spaces just as much as I or any other person. To own being a feminist, I had to relearn what parenting means to this society. Thank you to everyone who has taught me a little more, put me a little more right, every day.

I don’t need your forgiveness parents, just know that there’s one less person doing that stupid hateful shit towards you and your kids.

Quote of the Day: IDEA

radicallane — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:54:26 -0400

adventuresinlearning:

Quote of the Day :: IDEA

humanscaleschools:

Love this quote chosen by Zuleka Irvin on IDEA’s Blog! If you have not had a chance to visit Paul Goodman’s world, you really need to! Brilliant! This Quote is a prefect summery of both IDEA and my idea of Human Scale Education! Goodman inspired me along with George Dennison to study Human Scale Education and I think his words are so simple and true. We need lots of types of schools including no schools at all!

I just finished reading “Compulsory Mis-Education by Paul Goodman, a recommended read. Here is a quote I found that remarkably summarizes IDEA’s goals.

“Thus at present, facing a a confusing state of automated technology, excessive urbanization, and entirely new patterns of work and leisure, the best educational brains out to be devoting themselves to *various* means of educating and paths of growing up, appropriate to various
talents, conditions, and careers. We should be experimenting with different kinds of school, no school at all, the real city as school, farm schools, practical apprenticeships, guided travel,
work camps, little theatres and local newspapers, and community service. Many others, that other people can think of. Probably more than anything, we need a community, and community spirit, in which many adults who know something, and not only professional teachers, pay attention to the young.”

In small ways I recognize the very experimentation Goodman is referring to.

Big Picture Learning
Democratic/SudVal/Free schools
Unschooling groups and families
Unschooling Adventures Group
Place-based education
Online Education
Specialized schools

In defense of children — Feministe

radicallane — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 14:16:24 -0400

In defense of children — Feministe:

tinysprout:

eddieatthegov:

More on the stigma of raising kids.

Finally people are talking about this.

Priya Ravi: The film that you are about to see is a video...

radicallane — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:01:46 -0400

Priya Ravi:

The film that you are about to see is a video recording of a gathering of families and individuals that met in Deer Park, Bir, Himachal Pradesh in India in April 2011, to discuss and share there learning journeys.

This interaction is a session in which alternative ways to facilitate learning for children was discussed. Parents shared personal stories of how they were inspired or motivated to think of alternative learning environment other than schools, for their children and themselves.

Copyleft (L) - Learning Societies Conference 2011

conza: “Learn Free” is about unschooling which is an...

radicallane — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:12:33 -0400

conza:

“Learn Free” is about unschooling which is an educational philosophy that states children learn best by not attending traditional school, but rather through their own interests and by living life.