June will soon be turning into July, and that means my son has been attending his new Montessori school (financed by earnings from Steem!) for about a month now.
I'd like to just briefly detail some of the changes in his attitude I have already seen, and the key differences between learner-centered (common sense!) models and traditional, state-sponsored, top-down approaches to education.
When my son was going to a standard preschool, there were often days he really did not want to go. I have been blown away by how excited he has been this month to go to "Montessori," and by his willing happiness to report back to me what happened there at Fiore--his school--when I return home from work.
His learning guide there, who I will call N., assists Isaiah in doing what he wants to do, and leaves notes for me in a small binder about their work and progress at the end of the day. Where the traditional preschools and kindergartens here in Japan leave very little room for personal choice regarding what activities are engaged in, as N. puts it:
If a child wants to practice folding shirts for three months straight when he comes in here every morning, that is great, and that is what we will help him with.
You see, what the Montessori method has in common with unschooling, as far as core principles goes, is this:
THE LEARNER IS THE HIGHEST AUTHORITY ON WHAT NEEDS TO BE LEARNED. NOT A "TEACHER." THE LEARNER IS THE TEACHER. THE "TEACHER" IS A GUIDE AND A PROVIDER OF INFORMATION AND RESOURCES FOR THE LEARNER.
We are all learners. There is nobody on earth who is not one. Traditional methods of schooling tell us we must depend on somebody else to dispense curriculum, information, and instruction, and we must absorb it from them, regurgitated. This is ludicrous.
How did I learn to play guitar? I loved it, so I learned it.
How did I learn to draw? I loved it, so I learned it.
How did I learn to write? I lo.....You get the idea.
As I enthusiastically dove head first (with no teacher) into those things listed directly above, what made doing them fun was that they were my own. I could learn them my way and at my pace. And the fact is, it wasn't even something you could call "education." I was just doing what I loved, and of course, when you are passionate about something, the knowledge gained thereabouts sticks hard and fast and is, indeed, burned into your brain and becomes part of your soul and spirit. THIS is real learning.
Many critics of the free school/unschool/Montessori-type methods will retort: "Yeah, that's great. But what about math? what about the core subjects everyone needs to know to succeed in life? You can't learn those just by 'following your passion.'" To these I say:
Does not the 4-year-old kid who loves dinosaurs uncannily memorize all of their names and facts about them which you could not remember even if you tried? Is this not English education? Is this not a course in biology?
Does not the guitar player become familiar with math and fractions by feeling that if he plays that one riff in the song too slow or too fast something turns funky?
What about being turned on to Jimi Hendrix? OH! Now you are on to a history lesson about the hippie counter-culture of the 1960s. From there, maybe it leads to early blues, jazz, and the slave trade that brought these to America. See what I mean? Everything is connected, and if a learner is passionate about something, the other somethings relevant to that something will also be picked up, naturally.
Everything outside of this...who cares? Maybe you are a computer programmer in your town. Do you really give a damn about the Shakespeare class you were forced to take in high school? You may, or you may not. You may love your job as a programmer and not care at all about that kind of stuff. If it is not relevant to you--your desires, interests, proclivities, goals, and dreams--why bother? Conversely, the professional writer may have zero interest in programming. Should she be forced to sit through hours of lectures on the subject when she'd rather be writing? Why?
But you know what? Once that programmer needs to create a new game about Shakespearean Zombies pillaging England, guess what kind of research he is going to be doing. Once that professional writer decides to pen some fiction on hackers who break into government computer systems, guess what kind of research she will be doing. See what I mean?
In Summary:
I am tickled pink that my boy loves his new "school." When I think of all the things I was forced to learn back in school myself, I shudder. I thought that I was a failure at math, and felt stupid. It wasn't until I had a professor in college tell me that "numbers are beautiful," that I really started to realize I could do math, and understand it much better than I had previously realized.
In elementary school I was shamed for drawing pictures all day. I used to erase the eyes from celebrities in magazine pictures with an eraser--giving them giant alien eyes--and then photocopy them, writing phony sensational articles and stapling them together to form my very own multi-page tabloid magazines. STEVEN TYLER OF AEROSMITH IS AN ALIEN!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!! I sold these at school for a quarter. My teacher made me throw them away.
SOURCE. Who cares about school when you can be making shit like THIS!?
Guess what I don't remember. ALMOST ALL OF WHAT THAT TEACHER "TAUGHT" ME. Guess what I do remember, and still love. HOW TO ARRANGE, EDIT, AND CREATE UNIQUE GRAPHIC IMAGES AND WRITE STORIES. Nobody taught me these things. Being read to, reading, drawing and chopping up magazines got me here. That's fun stuff, and I did it myself, and with the help of those guides who saw my passion and let me ROLL WITH IT.
Thanks for reading!
~KafkA
(If you missed the last Unschooling Blog Post, about making a Bitcoin paper wallet for my son, you can find it here.)
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)