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Welcome to these regular musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings by Wendy Priesnitz.
On the Meaning of Radical – May 2, 2005I had a letter over the weekend from a Life Learning reader. She wanted me to know that while she has been enjoying reading about other people’s learning experiences, she won’t be renewing her subscription because she feels it is “too radical” for her and that we “don’t keep to the homeschooling topic all the time.” I thanked her for using the word “radical” and pointed out that it has a few meanings. My dictionary tells me that it originates with the Latin words radix, which means roots and radicalis, which means having roots. And thus comes the botanical term “radical leaves,” which refers to leaves that arise from the root or crown of the plant. So, for me, a person who is radical is one who examines the roots of issues. And a radical solution to a problem is one that arises from that examination, addressing what we sometimes call the root cause, rather than the more superficial symptoms. I suppose that focus on fundamental change is why radical views, opinions, practices or proposed changes sometimes seem extreme. It is also why I prefer to examine how people learn by living, rather than to isolate self-directed learning as just another homeschooling method or style. When I started thinking about these things 35 or so years ago, I began with the presumption that what was wrong with our education system wouldn’t be fixed by tinkering – by adding more subjects, more equipment, more teachers or more funding, or, in fact, by changing the location of where the teaching took place or the content of the curriculum that was used. I realized then, and believe it even more passionately now, that what’s needed is an examination of how people learn and whether or not schools provide the best opportunity for that learning to unfold. (They don’t.) I also believe that education cannot be separated from how children are trusted and respected in their everyday lives. (They are, all too often, not.) That sort of radical examination of the problem – and
the radical solutions that unschooling families (I prefer the term
“life learning,” but that is another discussion) are living every
day – is what the Life Learning website and Natural Life magazine
are all about. So, no, we “don’t keep to the homeschooling
topic all the time.” Return
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