Challenging Assumptions blog by Wendy Priesnitz

 

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Musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings about radical unschooling, natural parenting, green living, social justice and more by writer, author and Natural Life magazine editor Wendy Priesnitz. 

Archives - October, 2009

Not Using Their Heads – October 31, 2009
I have been reading a series of feature newspaper articles about brain science and its relationship to education. Believe it or not, the education community – especially the public school system – has never paid much attention to neuroscience. You’d think that understanding how people learn would be at the very basis of how schools function. But any number of writers – me included – have demonstrated and complained for years about the disconnect that puts tradition, misplaced accountability and vested interests ahead of creating optimum conditions in which children can learn. The series of articles makes for a fascinating read. But unschoolers should beware: You’ll be left shaking your head at the apparently radical suggestion that paying attention to how the brain learns would revolutionize the education system. It’s about time that several centuries of science is put to use, although I wonder if the vested interests will actually allow that to happen. And the degree of change required is immense.

And you’ll also likely choke – as I did – on the notion that this sort of understanding isn’t being applied anywhere. I’ve often said that the life learning community provides a wonderful example of best practices in education and that professional educators should be looking carefully at us, rather than always being so hostile. And here is science-based back-up for that opinion. The understanding that children learn best by doing rather than by listening; that more learning happens through movement and socialization than when sitting quietly;, that adults and children can explore and learn together rather than one dictating to the other; that learning happens best when there is interest, motivation and context…these are the foundations of the unschooling lifestyle. And they’re often scorned by teachers and others who are quick to disregard the unschooling lifestyle. In her first article, the author of the newspaper series describes the neuroscience discoveries in this way: “Have you ever seen a baby mastering the task of climbing stairs? The infant will try and try again, utterly absorbed, relentless, until he or she figures it out. A 7-year-old playing an intense game of soccer? What about a teenager trying to figure out a new video game? The climbing baby, the soccer player and the teenaged gamer are submitting to the biological imperative to learn. Each is driven by something within. Each desperately wants to learn.” Of course, that’s how my daughters and so many other life learners have learned. The simplicity and elegance of these ideas – not to mention the need to put control of learning in the hands of the learner – are probably why they have been kept such a secret for so long. But now that they are slowly creeping into mainstream consciousness, not to implement them is a crime against children and against the future of humanity.
Posted: 2009/10/31 9:58PM

The Competitive Advantage of Junior Kindergarten – October 23, 2009
The provincial government here in Ontario – like governments everywhere these days – is posting a huge deficit. However, they’re still going ahead with previously announced plans for all-day junior and senior kindergarten for four- and five-year-olds. “This initiative will further increase the competitive advantage already found in our highly skilled and educated workforce,” the treasurer said. If he means that working parents can help the country be more competitive because they know their kids are safe all day, he might have a point. But do we really want to sacrifice our babies on the altar of competitive advantage? And if he means that teaching four-year-olds to sit in school all day will turn them into obedient employees who won’t mind sitting at their desks all day when they grow up, he’s right but wrong. Competitive advantage (presuming that is what will still be needed) will come, in 20 years, from workers who can think creatively and are passionate and entrepreneurial, not from well trained automatons who like to sit. Check out this bit of wisdom from The New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman about how we need to change our thinking about education. It’s just too bad that notions like competitiveness and retention of the ability to buy a bunch of useless stuff are still motivating people’s thinking. It’s one step forward and a few back on the slippery slope to sustainability.
Posted: 2009/10/23 4:58PM

Homeschooling Without Borders – October 23, 2009
When our unschooled daughters were little – in the 1970s and early 80s – we moved a lot. In fact, we lived in a Winnebago for awhile (before they were born, Rolf and I lived in a VW van…those were the days, my friend!) and then, in rapid succession, lived in a variety of locations across the country. The reasons were varied: We sold a house or two to finance our business; we moved a couple of times to escape stupid educational authorities and nasty landlords who didn’t like us running a publishing business in their houses; we wanted to be nearer and farther away from extended family; we followed job opportunities (again, to finance our business); we liked the adventure of seeing the world. And our business was relatively portable, given enough post office boxes. We were what author Maya Frost calls “location independent.” I knew the lifestyle provided a wonderful education for Heidi and Melanie but, fleetingly, I would wonder if they were missing out on things that kids are also supposed to need – like stability and the chance to make and cultivate long-term friendships. Then, I’d remind myself that, especially when you’re little, home is where your family is and that they were actually growing up in a wonderfully secure environment, albeit a bit turtle-ish, and meeting lots of fascinating people.

That is now ancient family history – although they both have kept feeding the travel bug. So I’ve been delighted recently to notice what could be a mini-trend in this new generation of life learning families to live the mobile lifestyle. Aside from the aforementioned Frost family, without even trying, I’ve recently met some families preparing, planning or dreaming of hitting the road, made contact with other families who split the year between two continents, and discovered this single mom and her kids traveling Europe, this family who took to the road to live more simply and Families on the Road, which even has a directory of traveling unschoolers and hosts get-togethers. (There are many more – just type “RV” and “homeschooling” into Google and you’ll get thousands of references.) Although all this moving around necessitates a small environmental footprint in terms of the stuff that goes along for the ride, mobility that is fueled by petroleum products isn’t cool. So many of these families are converting to biofuels (better to use French fry oil in your vehicle than your stomach), installing solar panels and otherwise greening the ride. I’d love to write an article on the topic for the Life Learning website, so if your family is living and learning without borders, do get in touch.
Posted: 2009/10/23 1:48PM

Misplaced Educational Priorities Mean Everybody Loses – October 22, 2009
Watching the news last night, I saw a number of items about school boards instigating new programs to remedy the poor attention span, disinterest, low marks and vile social atmosphere of schools, among other identified problems. Why, then, I wondered, are increasing numbers of governments around the world spending time and money to harass homeschoolers – whose kids aren’t prone to those ailments. Interfering with a mode of education that works while fiddling with one that doesn’t is an unacceptable waste of taxpayer money, an abuse of citizen rights and just plain stupid...in an ostrich-like way. Or to mix metaphors, they are backing the dinosaur instead of the space ship.
Posted: 2009/10/22 12:28PM

No More Mommy Wars Dr. Phil, We’re Too Busy Remodeling Motherhood! – October 21, 2009
I’ve done a lot of thinking and some writing about the issue of mothering and equal rights. As far back as the early 1980s, I was helping women start home-based businesses (and then balance that work with mothering). All the while, I was co-parenting our two unschooled daughters. I noticed early on that the recognition of and support for motherhood and children’s rights is often left out of the feminist discussion. But trying to get the issues on the table was (and, in some cases, still is) difficult. In the same way that my responses to the questions about where I worked (at home) and what grades my children were in (they weren’t) were conversation stoppers, talking about supporting parents to stay at home with their young children often sucks the air right out of a room...especially among certain categories of feminists. Many people – women especially – simply can’t fathom why an educated, skilled woman (let alone a man) would choose to stay at home full-time with kids. Their reasons range from the need for economic security or simply paying the bills, to career mobility, self-respect and the perceived lack of intellectual stimulation involved with being home all day with kids. (And, of course, some single moms are their families’ sole support so their choice is limited to work or welfare.) Unfortunately, many of these same people often feel the need to quote studies claiming that day care benefits kids. However, society is constantly evolving and, as I’ve written elsewhere, there are potentially many ways to deal with these economic and personal issues – if only we could shift perspectives and, in some cases, priorities – both personally and structurally.

So I’m pleased to see a bunch of books and websites coalescing around this issue. One group I’ve recently been following is MOTHER – Mothers Ought To Have Equal Rights. On their website is an interview with Kristin Maschka, author of the new book This Is Not How I Thought It Would Be: Remodeling Motherhood to Get the Lives We Want Now. On Kristin’s own website is a useful list of remodeling tools. As I have, Maschka has found that a solution to the problem lies in challenging assumptions. She set out to remodel motherhood after beginning to challenge the set of outdated assumptions and social expectations that control how we think about parenthood, women, marriage, money and work. There needs to be a lot more respect for and support of parents in our workplaces, in our education systems (home educators in England are being slandered as child abusers these days) and in the media, and by our governments, so that women at all economic levels can be happy with their identities as moms and with their caregiving role. But there are a bunch of us working hard to create those changes. One place to start, suggests Maschka on her blog, is to contact Dr. Phil and tell him to lay off the “mommy wars” discussion that he likes to fuel...because we’re moving beyond that.
Posted: 2009/10/21 3:05 PM

Unschooling is Getting Some Respect – October 19, 2009
There has been some online chatter recently about whether or not it’s a good idea for unschooling families to talk to the media because the resulting coverage often gets it wrong or is outright hostile. My 30-some years of experience talking to the media on this topic says that some families need to be the pioneers. In the 1970s and 80s, the media often didn’t “get” homeschooling (some still don’t!), let alone the unschooling style that we were living. But every article – full of incorrect details as they often were – was another cobblestone on the path to general public knowledge and acceptance of learning without school as a valid educational option. (Yes, a few of my early media exploits led to adventures with school boards but, since we weren’t doing anything illegal, they turned into educational experiences for the school folks too.) Now that we’ve reached a point where homeschooling is fairly commonplace, unschoolers can open the window a little further. And there is some fresh air blowing in! Recently, I’ve read a number of positive articles in the mainstream media about unschooling. For instance, here’s one from a Maryland newspaper about a couple of physicists who unschool their kids. And here’s one from a Canadian magazine about how unschoolers can go to university without high school. Whenever that happens, I contact the writer, say thanks and provide some further research info. I should also be saying thanks to those families who are willing to go public with their families’ learning lives so that unschooling can someday become commonplace too.
Posted: 2009/10/19 5:14 PM

Being Part of the Climate Change Solution – October 15, 2009
It’s easy to get exasperated about what isn’t being done about climate change, which scientists agree is the single most important threat facing humanity today. It’s easy to be cynical about the fact that governments seem to have found billions of dollars to prop up financial services companies and auto manufacturers but say the economy can’t afford carbon caps. It’s also easy to be cynical about those who think that merely buying a different product – one with a “green” label – will reverse global warming.

But we need to keep our cool. We also need to remember that politicians and stock traders and big box stores are not the solution. (Many would argue that they are part of the problem!) Solving the climate change problem isn’t easy; radical change seldom is. Aside from what governments and corporations may or may not do, many of the solutions are in the form of small, determined steps already being taken by individuals, small businesses and communities. And those of us who are part of the solution should find it easier to live through the coming times, precisely because of what we’re learning by taking those small, determined steps.

Some of the solutions are at least as old as Natural Life Magazine, which turns 33 years old this month, and which is one of those small, determined steps. There are thousands of other independent entrepreneurs working in the fields of renewable energy, green building, sustainable agriculture, zero-waste manufacturing and many others that point the way toward a greener economy. The solutions are also being created by people like the writers in Natural Life who are simplifying their lifestyles, ditching their cars and dusting off their bikes; are planting gardens and learning to grow their own organic food; are building sustainable housing and retrofitting existing homes in energy-efficient ways using local and recycled materials; are creating democratic and non-coercive educational models that respect and trust learners who will grow up into creatively thinking problem solvers; are exposing the dangers of – and suggesting do-it-yourself alternatives to – toxic food and household goods; are reminding us of the importance of staying connected to Nature; and so on.

I’m grateful to the hundreds of these eloquent individuals who have, over the years, taken time from creating change to share their insights and solutions with Natural Life’s readers. Their motivation is not financial, because they don’t get paid! Instead, I think they all sense that sharing information and inspiration is part of the solution. As David Albert wrote recently in his Natural Life column What Really Matters, “I sense a crisis of the spirit rather than an energy shortage. I keep thinking: Reorganize communities, support local producers and import less stuff, redefine work, share resources, enhance conviviality.” That will be a lot more difficult than trying to shop our way out of crisis, but much more effective in the long run.

P.S. Although we have been writing about this issue since long before it had a name, and I have been blogging about it (along with other topics, of course) since 2004, this post is in honor of Blog Action Day, which is today.
Posted: 2009/10/15 5:54 PM

Learning for the Future – October 14, 2009
“In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” ~ Eric Hoffer
 Posted: 2009/10/14 12:14 PM

The Problem With Educational Definitions – October 12, 2009
In June and July, I blogged about how the government in England had hired the ironically named Graham Badman to study home-based education. He recommended that home educated children be registered, something the homeschooling community has been fighting, and pointed out that there were no definitions for the terms “suitable” and “efficient,” which are required in the legislation. And now, the government is commissioning another review – this time trying to define what those words mean for home educated children.

For her part, the Schools Minister has said that all children should be “safe and learning.” (The original review was predicated on some outrageous innuendo suggesting that autonomously educated kids weren’t safe. And, of course, everybody is learning all the time.) So the attempt to define those terms is intended to help the self-appointed educational police determine if home educated kids are, indeed, learning. One has to wonder at the enormity of this task, however. “Suitable” to whom or what? And “efficient” is such an outdated concept. I wrote about that awhile back in Natural Life Magazine.

It has not yet been announced whether or not schools will be judged as to the suitability, efficiency and safety of the education they are providing…or if children will be made to be home educated if their schools are not meeting the defined standards.
 Posted: 2009/10/12 5:04 PM

The Elephant Called School – October 9, 2009
One of the foundations of my work is that if we want to fix the world’s problems we have to radically alter how we educate ourselves. And one of the frustrations of my work is that most of those also working to fix the world’s problems have a blind spot about the foundational need to alter public education. Instead, they think it’s enough to tinker with the system and to run around mopping up the drips created by the atrocities resulting from various government’s right wing whims. I was reminded yet again of this tendency to ignore the elephant in the room by this list somebody sent me of One Hundred Best Blogs For Those Who Want to Change the World. The categories are “General,” “Environment,” “Social Action & Human Rights,” “Inspiration,” “Philanthropy & Funding,” “Health Care,” “Art” and “Leadership & Business.” No “Education” category. Oh, there it is: Number 56 under “Social Action & Human Rights.” One blog out of one hundred. And what about children’s rights? There’s women, gays, animals…. Until progressives admit that our increasingly undemocratic, corporate-driven, competitive, distrustful, disrespectful factory model of education is partly what got us in the state we’re in, I fear we will be ineffective at making real change. We must begin by admitting the elephant is there and then shove him out of the room. Only then will the real work on educational reform and changing the world begin.
 Posted: 2009/10/09 1:05 PM

The Real Purpose of School...Maybe They Could Sleep There Too – October 8, 2009
Susan Ohanian is a long-time teacher, author and opponent of national education standards, among other things. Her writing is always enjoyable. And on her website yesterday, she commented on the American government’s extended school day proposal. Enjoy. Trouble is, I have to wonder if it’s closer to the truth than I’m comfortable with.
 Posted: 2009/10/08 5:07 PM

New Nobel Scientist Was Homeschooled – October 7, 2009
For those who like to keeps lists of famous or accomplished people who were homeschooled, there is another person to add to the list. An 85-year-old scientist born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, is sharing this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in developing the sensor that is widely used in digital cameras. Willard S. Boyle was home-schooled by his mother until he went to high school. Here is his story.
 Posted: 2009/10/07 1:46 PM

A Self-Reliant Education – October 6, 2009
Reacting negatively to a subscription renewal mailing that recently went out for Natural Life Magazine, a reader just informed us that she is mystified as to why we write about homeschooling in the magazine. That subject, she declared, has absolutely nothing to do with gardening, sustainable housing and green living, and we are duping our readers by including education and “kid stuff” in the magazine. Actually, dear former reader, those topics have everything to do with each other. One of the common threads is self-reliance, which is what Natural Life has been all about since we conceived it in 1976. There is no contradiction between growing one’s own food, building or upgrading one’s own house to be energy-efficient, and being self-reliant in terms of one’s own education. And I am always puzzled why people – especially those who are presumably reading the magazine to educate themselves! – would think otherwise. Perhaps this reader understands that but makes the common mistake of not extending that understanding to the lives of children. When we publish articles about how to build a worm composter, or ways to save water in your home, or how to use Elimination Communication with your baby, we are encouraging people of all ages to learn by doing. As Matthew B. Crawford writes in his book Shop Class as Soulcraft, the way we come to know a tool is by using it, and the task of getting an adequate grasp on the world “depends on our doing stuff in it.” And that’s exactly how and why we hope our readers will help their children learn. Seems natural to me.
 Posted: 2009/10/06 12:43 PM

They Dance Alone – October 4, 2009
My eldest daughter Heidi introduced me to the music of Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa in the late 1980s. Sosa died today at age 74. The world has lost a beautiful voice who sang for freedom and human rights. Her music inspired opponents of South America’s brutal military regimes and led to her forced exile in Europe. Her songs Todavia Cantamos and They Dance Alone (which Sting wrote about women dancing in the streets of Chile mourning their dead sons and husbands) performed here with Holly Near are my favorites, but there are so many wonderful examples of her voice online. “Music can't solve problems,” she once told The Washington Post. “Human beings have to resolve their own problems. But music can console people who suffer from problems, and perhaps it can inspire people to try to solve their problems. Singers have to sing whatever they believe in. They have to stay true to themselves. These are the songs I believe in, so I have to keep singing them.” Her voice and words will live on. May she rest in peace.
Posted: 2009/10/04 8:45 PM

Unschooling at Salon – October 4, 2009
Here is the first article in what will apparently be a series on Salon.com about one politically progressive family’s “eccentric choice” to homeschool. It’s insightful, fun and well-written. And by a dad, which is nice to see. (Have you noticed that the philosophy stuff is often done by men – sometimes elderly or childless ones – but the here-is-what-we-do-all-day is typically left to moms?)
 Posted: 2009/10/04 4:08 PM

Unschooling Begins With Not Sleep Training Babies – October 4, 2009
I was browsing one of the big chain bookstores the other day (to kill time between appointments, rather than to buy; I buy from independents or directly from the publishers when possible). And there was a whole huge section – hundreds of books – about how to “sleep train” your baby. Now, I’m not big on training kids to do anything, but I have to wonder about the need to train them to sleep! Of course, these books are about getting kids to sleep in ways that suit the adults in their lives, not because if they weren’t trained they’d stay awake 24/7! As an article about sleep on our Natural Child Online Magazine site explains, how we sleep depends on a wide variety of factors related to our environment, family, genetic make-up, moods, general health and hormonal changes. And, as the same author wrote in another article, “Your baby sleeps and wakes in a certain way because that is how babies are.” I remember coming to that life-changing realization a few weeks into the life of my first daughter in 1972, and accepting that fact made life so much more pleasant. (Sure, I wasn’t sleeping any more than before, but I also wasn’t fighting or trying to train her and that freed up my energy and my soul just to love her in each moment...well, most moments.) I realize now that the need not to control things that weren’t mine to control was also one of the foundations on which our philosophy of natural family life/radical unschooling/autonomous living (however you want to label it) was built.
 Posted: 2009/10/04 2:59 PM

Permanent Recess – October 1, 2009
I’ve just posted a thought-provoking and perhaps controversial article on the Life Learning website by an unschooling mother who let her young child attend school, then had second thoughts and decided that she had shirked her responsibility by allowing the child to make such an important decision. Although the child had been eager to attend school and appeared to be adjusting well, her favorite part of the experience was recess, with its relative freedom, exercise and activity. In that aspect, she knew very well what was best for her.

A study published earlier this year in the journal Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among 11,000 eight- and nine-year-olds. Those who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day showed calmer behavior and more focus than those who had little or none. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the study found that 30 percent of schooled kids have little or no daily recess and teachers often punish children by taking away recess privileges. Other research agrees that a break – especially one in Nature – is a good thing when we’re concentrating (although that conclusion doesn’t seem to me to be rocket science). One study, reported in The Journal of School Health, found that the more physical fitness tests children passed, the better they did academically. And then there’s the research about how time spent outdoors improves ADHD behavior – to the same or a higher degree than medication.

Dr. Stuart Brown, the author of Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul (Avery, 2009) says that people who play as children “learn to handle life in a much more resilient and vital way.” He should know – the California psychiatrist has collected more than 6,000 “play histories” and is the founder of the National Institute for Play. He calls play “a fundamental biological process.” Perhaps the fact that unschooled children enjoy permanent recess (as opposed to 15 minutes a day) is one of the reasons they tend to do so well – not only in post-secondary education, if that is their choice, but in life in general.
 Posted: 2009/10/01 4:13 PM

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Under Pressure: Putting the Child Back in Childhood by Carl Honoré (Vintage Canada, 2009)
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown & Co., 2008)
September University: Summoning Passion for an Unfinished Life by Charles D. Hayes (Autodidactic Press, 2010)

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Take Love Easy by Sophie Milman (Linus Entertainment, 2009)
Live in London by Leonard Cohen (Sony Music, 2009)
Bare Bones by Madeleine Peyroux (Rounder Records, 2009)

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