Perhaps my title is a little harsh. I should have said, not giving kids a DIRECTION in which to head, a "PURPOSE DRIVEN" life, produces worthless children. (I'm not using "purpose driven" in the sense that religious writer Rick Warren uses, to "find what God has in store for you," but rather, the PURPOSE is to achieve the best education you can, so that you are ready to be a contributing member of society. You do not want to be a drain on your parents or on society by living on welfare your entire life, you want to stand on your own two feet, be an independent woman (even should you desire to get married and have kids) and at all times support yourelf so you are not a burden on others... just as they should not be a burden on you.
There is apparently a movement afoot to "Unschool" kids. Kids don't have to go to school, instead they sit around and watch TV all day long, learning "naturally". Thus they gain no knowledge, no sense of responsibility, no idea that other people have to work to give them what they get for free (9 out of 10 of these parents and their kids are probably on welfare.)
[This is different from home schooling, please note.]
Edited: For some reason the video from YouTube on unschooling is not showing up. Not sure if its my own system, or if the video has been removed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I could address a few issues here but I will stick to the one that I disagree with the most, and that is the basic assertion that a person CAN somehow become worthless, as though a person's value is something that can be lost, or that must be earned. The truth is, each person has an irrevocable dignity, which has nothing to do with what they do or don't do, what they have the ability to do or don't have the ability to do. We are valuable because we are. Above all else, I hope this fundamental truth is something that my children will know.
ReplyDeleteMyFeminineMind
>>The truth is, each person has an irrevocable dignity, which has nothing to do with what they do or don't do, what they have the ability to do or don't have the ability to do.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, I'm afraid. People should reach up to their potential, not waste it. Obviously, not all people have the same intellectual capability, and I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about people who are intelligent, yet choose to sit on their butts all day long watching TV, drinking beer, getting high. Worthless people, who contribute nothing to society.
>>>I guess I better let my unschooled kids know.
More to the point, how old are your unschooled kids? What are their ambitions, their goals? How will they achieve them?
I'm not trying to be sarcastic, I really want to know.
You ask: "More to the point, how old are your unschooled kids? What are their ambitions, their goals? How will they achieve them?"
ReplyDeleteMy 7 yr old is ambitious about inventing and refurbishing robots. He spends hour upon hours researching robots and learning the language of schematics, science, math, and robotics. Yes, technically it's all English (except math which is math) but it's English words that are not normally spoken in about town. We have two family friends that are Engineers that work with him when he gets stuck and he takes an engineering class on Fridays. Next month he will be starting a class where he learns to make better schematics and blue prints for the ideas he has of things he wants to create.
He is also an aspiring artist. We spend many days at gardens and museums researching great artists and their techniques. Both my kids take a weekly art class; currently they are learning the techniques of the Pop Art Movement.
My other child is 5. She is fascinated by creating clothing and furniture her toys and dolls. She has a small sewing machine and meets every so often with a costumer friends of ours. She has created a binder of design aspects that she likes and is incorporating them into creating her dream bedroom. She's been having lunch and shopping with a professional set designer we know. She also takes ballet classes at a local dance school and looks forward to participating in their yearly performance. This year will be her third performance.
Unschooling is not about abandoning your children. It is about exposing them to as much as possible and when something lights them up helping them to get as much experience and knowledge about that pursuit as possible. Unschooling is about nurturing your childs natural obsessions.
I spend many hours a day trying to stay ahead of them to provide them with as much opportunities as possible. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a drafting class for a 7 yr old? I'll tell you, it's hard.
My kid are VERY aware that contributing to society and your community is important. As an aside, none of the unschooling families I know are on welfare; in fact, I'd go so far as to say it's a luxury to be able to spend the time and resources on our children in this way.