I have just discovered the term “unschooling.” I have never before run across this concept though I believe it is the best way to learn and follows my personal philosophy of education. To me, the ideal educational system is one where the student wants to learn and he or she chooses what he or she wants to learn when he or she wants to do it. I believe the role of a teacher is to help the students discover themselves, find new ways of viewing something, become better thinkers, enrich their lives, and become contributing members of society. The role of the teacher is to help the student figure out who he or she is and who he or she wants to be, find what he or she is passionate about, and find what he or she wants to do. What the student “wants to do” and “wants to be” is a dynamic situation. The student will change. After he or she has been a mechanic for a while he or she might want to be a chef or a sailor or a teacher or a translator. Why do we have to “Grow up” and pick one thing to be for the rest of our lives? That’s silly. Life shouldn’t be about getting to some point in the future. It should be about exploring, learning, discovering, adventuring. Think about it: we are not put in to school the second we first draw breath, and yet, we learn. We learn to speak, we learn to write our names, we learn the colors, how to count, and we are always, always asking questions and wanting to know why. Why should education be any different as we grow older.
I now have this image in my head, a scene really—almost like one of my story ideas—of a school. No, not a school. I’d call it the Temple of Learning. It would be like a boarding school. People of all ages would come together and live at the school. There would be an extensive library, computer lab, science labs, classrooms, etc. There would be classes in all manner of things and students would pick and choose what they wanted to do that day. If they did not want to go to class, that was fine. They would learn when and how they wanted. Everyone is the teacher and everyone is the student. True, there would be Temple of Learning Staff (called…. Dedicates) who were usually in the role of the teacher most often, leading class, but they are not required to be experts. They simply facilitate and mediate and direct students where they can find information, answer questions if they can, etc. There would be things like art, music, math, science, literature, history, languages, philosophy, linguistics, meditation, swimming, horse back riding, dance, fencing, archery, juggling, communications, astronomy, anthropology, psychology, sociology, sailing, religion, etc. If there was something a student wanted to learn and no one present could teach it (and books and internet were not enough), an expert in the field would be called to give a talk. The entire school could come if they wanted—but it would be a choice. Like a Sci-Fi con or Women’s Spirit. Field trips would be organized, hands-on labs, etc. There would be plenty of extra curricular activities and a large support system.
A student should not have to feel guilty for not going to class because he or she is busy experiencing a different aspect of life. A student should not have to postpone doing something he or she wanted in order to do homework. What if the student was reading a blog and came across an unknown term? The student would then investigate and therefore would be learning. Why force memorization and make learning a chore if the student can find pleasure in learning when it is done on his or her own terms?
