The Harm of Coercive Schooling by Peter Gray

Author:Peter Gray [Gray, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781952837012
Publisher: Tipping Points Press
Published: 2020-09-08T01:12:26+00:00

“She chooses her own subjects and learning material daily. . . . She learns much better if she can follow an interest and then hyper focus on it. She may pick something different, and seemingly unrelated, every day, and then tie that randomness into a major project that she will work on for a month.”

“It seems to be a matter of interest. If he is into something he will be focused and attentive for long stretches, if not he gets antsy. As an example, at our local homeschool conference a robotics club had a booth and had a robot there. My son would have stayed there asking questions about the robot for the rest of the afternoon if I had not moved him along.”

“We’ve been unschooling for several years now. He is 11. . . . He is energetic and rambunctious at times, but often finds an interest that holds his attention for hours on end. The only time he fits the ADHD diagnosis is when he is bored or uninterested in something. Or he will be particularly rambunctious after sitting for long periods of time.”

“After a while [of parent-­directed homeschooling] it became impossible for him to learn. His anxiety increased to a level that we were forced to allow him to take anti-­anxiety drugs, which he did for a few months. . . . I then stumbled on self-­directed learning/unschooling and have not looked back! . . . It all made perfect sense. My son makes choices about what he wants to learn, he makes his own decisions about when and how he will learn it, he has learnt to define his own boundaries and takes responsibility for his own learning. If he is interested in something, we facilitate and provide resources, links, take him to places that supply the stuff he needs. He has taken a huge interest in music technology. . . . He has produced some amazing music, he has found out about a variety of things he is interested in, he has self-­defined interests. . . . He is wise, and he knows what choices to follow more than we do. Never would I have believed last year, when everything was so bleak and traumatic, that a year on, everything would be looking so rosy, and so absolutely fascinating as we follow just what it means to give your child the freedom to be themselves.”

“Our homeschooling started out with a curriculum program that she hated following. She would just want to read all of the history book. . . . The piecemeal, parsing out of knowledge that is ‘curriculum’ always galled her. We started unschooling and everything fell into place. . . . The ‘problem’ is that she loves knowledge, wants to go at her own pace (fast), ignoring some subjects while pursuing others, and delving into specialized interests no one else her age has.”

“We began unschooling about four years ago. . . . Today she’s 14½ years old. . . . She is creative, responsible, fun to be around.

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