Growing Without Schooling 72

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GROWING WITHOUT SCHOOLING

72

How pcoplc ftnd thlngs out ls thc subJect of thts

lssuc's Focus,

true sense ts thrMngl among our readers. As the storles demonstrate, gotng to the tnouble of ffndtng somethlng out

INSIDE TIIIS ISSIIE: News & Reportr p.2-5 GWS trx Spaln, Numbers

Gros'tngln

Malne, Shanker Opposes Standardlzed Tests, Chlldhood Depresslon,

Dropouts and Drlver's Llcenses

Ilomeschoolers ln Flctlon p. 5 A Chlld Teaches Eerself p. 5 Challenges & Concerns p. 6-7 Not Unstmctured After All, targe Farntly, Vlsual${mpalred Child, A New $ray to Answer Questlons

Watchtng Chlldren Iearn p.8-lo Museum Volunteer. Immerslon tn Baseball, Reslsted Readlng InstrucUon, Sailtng Dcpedltlon, Overcomlng Fear of Math

Book Revlews p. FOCUS:

lr-r4

Gettlng Inforrnatlon

and ftgUrlng Thfngs Out p. r5-r8

Eelplng Chlldren Feel Effcctlve: Intervlew wlth Nlson Stalllbrass p. l9-2o

Apprentlcehlps end Othcr Opportunttles: Talk Wlth Cornellus Bull p.2o-21 Resources & p.2l-22 Older Eomeschoolets p. 22 1990 Dlrectory p. 25-38

Llfelong leamtng sounds good. It sounds llke somethlng anyone would want. The trouble ts, these days lt ls used, more oft.en than not, as a slogan to advance the cause of llfelong 55:hmltg. 'Contlnutng EclucaUon- and'Adult Educatlon' are about urays to spend more tlme tn school, not necessart\r (althouEh for some they may be also) about remalnlng curlous and tnterested tn learnlrag new thlngs throughout adult llfe. When we say grou'tngs'tthout schooling, on the other hand, u/e mean learntng, thlnldng: nndfng thfngs out, masterlng new sldlls, without necessarf$ gofng to school, and we don't thlnk of ttrts as somethln$ that has to stop-at a parucqlar age. curloslty, resourcefulness, and tnterest don't and shouldn't belong only to chlldren. For thls lssue of GWS, we asked several GWS readers to tell us how they went about flndlng out somethlng! that the.y vranted to know. we were partlcularly lnterested ln storles of flndtng out or learntng somethlng that was not rlght at hand. somethtng that the wrtter had to work a blt to uncover or under-stand. Judgtng from the storles we recelved, Melong leamtng ln the has advantages beyond the tmmedtate one of gettlng the answer. It makes us feel tJ:at we can nnh or flgure thtngs out, that we are capable and resourceful. We learn that questlons are not shamefrrl, and that they uork, they help us get somethlng that we want. Sharl Bromfleld, who ls, as lt happens, the only young person who contributed to thls lssue's Focus, wrttes about her e.:cperlLnce with seeklng out tnformatlon: 'I learned that there are plenty of resouroes beyond Uoot<s and my parents.' It seems to me ttrat thls is precisely whatwe wantyoung people to knon' about the world - that there are mzrny tools for flndtng ttrlngs out, and that they are capable of ustn$ them. Too many of us are shy about askfng questlons, about uslng the resouroes that are avallable. I(athertne McAlptne wrltes, 'There \ilas a time, not tm long ago, when I was so shy about asklng strangers for asslstance that I d send [my sonl Nathanlel... Thanks to hts orample, and the demands of homeschooltng, IVe become conslderably more assertlve.' I suspect ttrat many adults have found that chtldren help them ask questlons they mtght not otherwlse have asked. I know that I'm more llke$ to ask questlons about somethtng I see gotng on lf I have a chtld wlth me who wants to know. I think more about helplng the chtld than about my own embarrassment, and then I IInd that the embarassment has vantshed. Ftnding ansqrers to our questlons also shapes our vlew of the world as a place where tnformatlon and help are avallable and accesslble. Our societlr makes lts lnner worktngs and lts knowledge less accesslble and less visible than they ought to be. Often the hardest task ls not asklng a question but flndlng out whom to ask lt of. And yet desplte thls, the storles tn this lssue remtnd us that flndtng ErnswetB to our questlons ls not always as diftcult as we mtght have ercpected. over and over agatn the wrlters remark on the helpfulness of others, on thelr wllltngness to search out the answers to someone else's questions. Tttls ls encouragflng. We need a soclety that ls helpful and open tn this respect. Stephanle Judy, wrtttng about her father who took up ss'lmmlng ns an adult, remlnds us how much children beneflt from seelng adults who dldn't stop learntng (or seetng themselves as able to learn) when they left school. Of course, modeling lnterest and resourcefulness for chlldren shouldn't be the on\r râ‚Źason that we confinue to learn new ttrlngs throughout our adult llves - as we often say here, one should do thlngs because they are fun or lnterestlng or valuable, not because they mfght be good for chlldren. But tnterested and curlous ctrildren, who are enjoylng learntng about the world, need to know that thls wtll not, or need not, stop abruptly when they become adults. Susannah Sheffer

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