Nothing Precluded

The real reason we keep the kids out of school: So they can do all the heavy lifting

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve interviewed a passel of adults who were unschooled, on top of the handful I interviewed a bunch of months back for an upcoming feature story in Outside magazine (September, I think; I’ll be sure to let ya’ll know when it comes out).

I conducted these interviews because it seemed the most honest way to answer the questions I often field from other parents, which generally revolve around my sons’ future educational “opportunities”. To be perfectly frank, Penny and I have absolutely no agenda regarding Fin’s and Rye’s path toward and through higher education. If they want to go to college, and can figure out the finances, good on ‘em. But we do not view college as being anything more than one of many options, and to be perfectly frank again, I am rather bemused by our culture’s obsession with college-level learning, which is rooted in the rarely-questioned assumption that higher education is a fundamentally good thing, an assumption that is itself based (at least in large part) in economic self-interest. How many times do we hear soaring tuitions justified by presumed future earnings? How often do we hear that college is the gateway to prosperity?  The answers to these questions are, of course, many and often.

What if they want to go to college, these parents ask me, and I’m fine with it; I understand how deeply the assumptions underlying this question are rooted, right down into the compacted subsoil of what it means to be successful. In some ways, what it means to be American. What’s sort of interesting to me, though, is that no one asks the parents of conventionally schooled children what if they want to be free? What if they want to learn things they’ll never learn in school? Because as I’ve pointed out many times before, children only have so much time and energy. There’s only so much they can learn and do.

Still and all, I thought it’d be interesting to talk to some adult unschoolers, in part to see what had become of them, but also to learn what hindsight reveals about their atypical educations. And lurking unflatteringly in the back of my mind was the notion that perhaps these fine, upstanding people would provide fodder for my replies to the questions I field about my children’s possible futures.

Briefly, here’s what I found: The majority of unschoolers I spoke with attended college (8 of 9). Furthermore, every single one I interviewed who had attended college (some earning master’s degrees) felt as if being unschooled had actually advantaged them. The common refrain? “I wasn’t burned out on school like all my classmates.” I’d have to go through my notes to be sure, but I’m almost certain that every single one of them said something to that effect.

All of those who went to college found it remarkably easy to gain acceptance, although a few did have to take classes at their local community colleges before being accepted into their schools of choice (a brief sampling: UVM, St Lawrence University, University of South Carolina Law School, College of the Atlantic). Math seemed to be a particular weak spot.

Every single one of those I spoke with feels gratitude for their unconventional paths. Not a single one expressed regret, or wishes their learning had been different. They all feel as if the freedom to learn at their own pace, and of their own design, has imbued them with a love of learning they don’t see in many of their peers. Those with children said they plan to offer their kids similar opportunities, with the exception of one mother who told me her husband just wasn’t having it.

All of the unschooled adults I spoke with are gainfully employed, still in college, or parenting full time. Jobs ranged from political pundit, to carpenter, to farmer, to analyst for the federal government. None felt as if being unschooled had limited their employment opportunities.

Clearly, this was a pretty small sample. There’s no scientific rigor, here, and I’m not pretending otherwise. For all I know, for every unschooled adult I interviewed, there’s another dozen doing five-to-ten for mugging little old ladies. But it at least illuminates the truth that an unschooled childhood does not preclude a satisfying career, or meaningful personal relationships. Obviously, it does not preclude college.

In fact, after talking to something like a half-dozen consecutive unschoolers who’d attended college, I was somewhat relieved to find one who didn’t pursue higher education. Therefore, I can confidently say that unschooling does not preclude not going to college, either, and thank goodness for that: I’d sure hate to think Penny and I are limiting our children’s options.