The crux of the educational problem: The age-old bad meme of an "authority" presiding over a learner's activities
Sometimes, homeschooling mimics traditional pedagogy (i.e., teacher-directed learning), as do supposedly enlightened private schools (e.g., http://www.vandammeacademy.com/)
Identifying, integrating, and experiencing what you're interested in--the essence of unschooling
The leniency versus authoritarianism educational/parenting paradigm must be dispensed with and replaced by a respectful model
Fears of parents about unschooling their kids, such as they're not "teachers"; but you don't need a permission slip, just an intrinsically motivated kid (which fortunately comes naturally:)
A variety of useful resources for learner-directed homeschooling (unschooling):
http://www.unschooling.com/
http://www.unschooling.info/
http://www.unschooling.org/
http://sandradodd.com/unschooling
http://www.holtgws.com/whatisunschoolin.html
http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/unschool.html
http://www.unschoolingamerica.com/
http://borntoexplore.org/unschool/whatis.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Unschooling-Handbook-Whole-Childs-Classroom/dp/0761512764
We need to see kids as little people, capable of achieving great things, just like good tutors do
And we need to come to terms with the fact that the learner has a teacher within
Only in the educational system are grades given supreme importance; objectively speaking, they are irrelevant to one's life and well-being
An educational system that demands students' obedience to authority is primes people for accepting the principles of communism--even though Americans are taught, via statist propaganda, to see themselves as enemies of communism
Around the world, it's the theme of statism that presides
Virtually all monopolies are coercive (using the coercive tools of government), not natural monopolies, with government itself on the top of the sordid, unjust heap of protection rackets
It's important to distinguish between what is unethical and what is unjust, as well as what is psychologically respectful (unschooling) and what is not (traditional, controlling, or teacher-directed, methods)
The kinds of socialization that take place in the prison system, i.e., in the governmental schools, aren't good for anyone (Ayn Rand quote referenced in http://www.logicallearning.net/libertyeducation.html)
In order to maintain its power, government must control money and schools (fiat currency and fiat education)
The discipline and self-esteem movements as manifestations of the coercive system
http://www.logicallearning.net/learnerdrivened.html
To doubt students' capability and initiative to direct their learning processes does NOTHING to foster their growth, and it only perpetuates widespread self-distrust
Students should be seen as consumers of educational services, not obedient servants
It's important to distinguish between self-efficacy and self-esteem, and to define self-esteem properly--as well as to see it as impossible to achieve in a coercive educational system, which is always contrary to development of intrinsic motivation
Governmental school teachers are conduits for implementing a command-and-control pedagogy
The idea of change on a national and individual level is pretty disconnected
Job tickets as main goal of "higher education" (John Holt quote referenced in http://www.logicallearning.net/libertyeducation.html)
Unfortunately, it's easier (in the short term) to not take responsibility for one's learning process
How Academic Guilds Police Higher Education by Gary North
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north632.html
Freedom and Beyond (Innovators in Education) by John Holt
http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Beyond-Innovators-Education-John/dp/0867093676
Holt's experience of teaching student-directed learning to Harvard grad students revealed the psychology of coerced students: "You don't care about us, otherwise you'd tell us what to do."
Yet, the educational buck has to stop at some point, and it might as well stop at the individual learner, not some conjured "authority" (i.e., just another individual)
Decompressing from a schooling environment to an unschooling environment takes a little time, time to restore the independent decision-making ability and intrinsic motivation of the learner
Unschooling: What is Deschooling? (Dayna Martin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9meP3a64MzY
Dayna Martin: Common Unschooling Questions Answered
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-NheCjqDMM
Couple more resources: http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/ ; http://www.homeedmag.com/HEM/171.00/jf_art_unsch.html
An idle (and busy) school teacher is a Devil's workshop--a teacher-directed learning environment commonly leads to controlling learners and thus stripping them of intrinsic motivation
The chicken and the egg problem of statism and statist education; we need to reconfigure the dna to create a new species of thinking and acting--new and respectful memes need to replace domination memes
Einstein, the rule breaker! Ad astra, and beyond...
bumper music "School's Out" by Alice Cooper
http://www.myspace.com/officialalicecooper http://www.alicecooper.com/
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