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Editor-in-Chief of Editor-in-Chief
of Editor-in-Chief of Author of unschooling books Interview on Radio Free School
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Musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings about unschooling, natural parenting, sustainable living and more by Wendy Priesnitz. Archives - May, 2008
A Better Use for Schools – May 27, 2008 Some
Early Gems by John Taylor Gatto –
May 23, 2008 Ever since
Rolf and I started Natural Life in 1976, we have covered the whole range of
topics you see in the magazine today. In fact, in spite of what some other
magazines claim, we were probably the first natural family living magazine. We
launched the business in order to stay at home so our daughters would not have
to attend school. So life learning (known as homeschooling in those
days, but I no longer like to use the term because it conjures up things
in the public mind that are counterproductive to my vision of self-education)
and natural parenting have always been part of the magazine’s
editorial mission. Nevertheless, as I have been working on this website
overhaul, I have been amazed at the breadth of articles that we have published on
these topics in Natural Life over the years. Most of the articles were on
the old site, but relatively hard to find due to the complexity of the index
system that was used. So we have created just three indexes: Green Living,
Natural Parenting and Life Learning. You can access them on the home page (to
the right of the articles from the current issue). We will rotate links to a few
of the articles on those topics on the home page, but you can click on those
three titles and be taken to three specific index pages. And stay tuned, because
more articles will be added over the summer, as we mine the back issues for gems
like some very early John Taylor Gatto pieces. Rolf and I met John at a
conference in the mid 90s and he became a big fan of Natural Life. Check out his articles Beyond
Money: Deschooling and a New Society from 1995 and What Really Matters
from 1994. Going to School Wastes Resources – May 23, 2008 Do Schools Kill Creativity?
– May 22, 2008 One that will be of interest to many of my readers is called
“Do Schools Kill Creativity?” by Ken Robinson. Of
course, the answer is yes. The presentation is highly entertaining as well as
thoughtful, if a bit basic (although 20 minutes in front of a microphone isn’t
a lot of time.) More importantly, Robinson challenges education systems to radically
re-think themselves from the bottom up, perhaps leading to the replacement of
schools as we know them. Although not a revolutionary in the style of Ivan
Illich, Robinson is a great champion
of interest-based learning and understands that creativity is about more than
the arts. Moreover, he has a lot of clout internationally. He is a business speaker and international consultant who,
as one of his many accomplishments, led the British government’s 1998 advisory committee on
creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of
creativity in the educational system and the economy. He was knighted for his
efforts on that project. And in 2001, he authored a book called Out of Our Minds: Learning to
be Creative (Capstone, 2001). Here’s the link to Sir Ken’s TED presentation. Free Range
Children – May 18, 2008 Allowing Kids to Make Mistakes – May 5, 2008 The point she is making involves the tragedy of goal-driven, over-protective parents who don’t allow their kids ever to fail. And, of course, making mistakes is just part of learning…along with picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and trying again. In other contexts, it’s called experimentation or problem solving but, apparently, lots of parents today cannot allow their offspring to risk it. Marano also worries that these same over-achieving parents don’t allow their kids time for free play, an activity that looks to them like a waste of time. When I read the article back in 2004, I jotted down this little sentence: “The best way to prepare kids for the future is to let them play on their own – unmonitored, unsupervised, unstructured.” I guess this is news for some people. Marano also has some interesting things to say about competition, which critics worry self-educated kids won’t be able to handle “in the real world.” She writes, “The stressful world of cutthroat competition that parents see their kids facing may not even exist. Or it exists, but more in their mind than in reality – not quite a fiction, more like a distorting mirror.” I haven’t yet picked up a copy of the book, but it looks
like a good read. Although Marano probably wouldn’t agree with the extended
liberation of unschooling (if she has even heard of it), I am pleased to see more
voices in the wilderness speaking out in favor of trusting kids to do their own
thing…which, of course, is to grow, develop, learn, make sense of the world. Children are People Too – May 2, 2008 There are many issues here, including public breastfeeding, women’s lack of support for other women, the polarization of feminists and mothers (who says you cannot be both?), and the egregious way we think we must separate work and family. In spite of the many responses to Robert’s blog that are prudishly anti-public breastfeeding, that is not what this kerfuffle is about. In fact, Robert, who describes herself as a women’s studies student who breastfed her own son, agrees. Her blog posting and many of the responses there and on other websites (lots by working women) are very clear that this is about the fact that children shouldn’t be full-fledged members of their communities. She said that women “have worked hard to be mothers and political leaders but today’s attitude seems to say that mothers have to be mothers all the time…I’m not a mother all the time.” As a journalist, business owner and activist, I took my young daughters with me wherever I went – to the lawyer, the printer, the accountant, trade shows, business meetings, political meetings and, yes, press conferences. I did that for many reasons, including my belief that they belonged in those places and that accompanying me there was part of their education. I did it from the time they were born until they were old enough to decide not to accompany me…and then, many times, they chose to tag along. They didn’t get in the way or “misbehave” – initially because attachment parented children have their needs met and later because they were interested in what was going on. I was not being selfish and my daughters were not being used as props. Their presence didn’t make me feel or behave any less professionally. They were not a distraction. They were safe. And they can trace their current levels of community engagement directly to those early life experiences. They also learned to choose work about which they are passionate and that work and life aren’t mutually exclusive. Instead of making second class citizens of children (which includes hiding in public washrooms to breastfeed them) as Tammy Robert favors, we need to affirm their rights as first class ones, as people rather than as people-in-training. That includes cultivating more humane and holistic ways of living and working, and finding ways to integrate children and their parents into workplaces. I don’t know or care if Amber Jones’ taking her baby to a press conference was a “publicity stunt,” although I doubt it. But if it was meant to provoke a discussion about the place of families and children in public life, then it was a successful one! Putting our babies on the shelf when they have become an inconvenience (or an embarrassment to certain people) or sending our older children to school when we can no longer stand having them around is no way to fix the deep malaise in our society. From children, we can learn to ask questions, ignore pretension, slow down, scramble across irrelevant or pretentious barriers, consider what is important in life and accept everyone, regardless of age, job or worldview. And yes, Tammy Roberts, you are a mother all the time, like
it or not. Should have thought of that earlier. Return
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– May 29, 2008