G is for Getting It
I have always been just a wee bit uncomfortable with unschooling's parallels with religion. To get started requires a leap of faith; when you are worried that things won't turn out well, you trust; and after you've been doing it for a while, you get it. And I can tell you from first-hand experience that, once you get it, you feel converted.
We have seen the light.
This enlightenment is very exciting. We want to talk about it, so we proselytize.
In addition, there is some oft-repeated advice in the unschooling community about not using school language to describe our lives. Now, I believe wholeheartedly that language choices matter—words are powerful, and changing the words we use can have a transforming effect—but I'm aware that the result of this expunging of school lingo means that unschoolers have developed slogans—even, dare I say it, commandments—of our own.
Thou shalt not teach.
So, let's see... We embrace a radical philosophy, we talk alike, and we're very excited about our community.
The cult comparisons are inevitable.
What gets me past this? What makes me a willing disciple of this particular religion?
Big hint: There's no deity.
But my first answer really is MJ and Chloe. The happiness and success of those two young women is the driving force in our house, and, hey, my kids are rockin' this lifestyle. Every single day, they show us proof that unschooling is the way.
Yes, just like any story of a deity or force working magic or miracles in someone's life, some of this proof is anecdotal, and some of it hints of self-fulfilling prophecy. And, yes, in some aspects we have failed to control for unschooling; there are schooled kids who have accomplished some of the same things our kids have accomplished.
So, you might argue that unschooling shouldn't receive all or any of the credit. You might prefer to give the credit to my kids' brains and personalities, or to our parenting, or to "of course they can accomplish those things with the kind of free time they have."
I won't disagree. After all, those things are the heart of our unschooling.
But those things don't explain away all of our proof. And to me, a belief system is not a religion—and its members are not a cult—if you can prove its tenets. With proof, it's science.
Finally, if this is a cult, it's the Cult of Acceptance and Individuality. I can "get" that. :-)
5 comments:
Everybody needs something to believe in.
I have those issues too. Not that I don't have a slightly frenzied response to unschooling, I am converted, and baptised and whatever else one does when one gets religion. But there is an aspect to it that is almost faith based. I've looked for study after study after study, I've found some, David wants to do some, but they don't really address that moment when you know it is working. Or those many moments. Nor do they address that doubt that moment before you see it, and how you just push through knowing that in the end, unschooling works.
Scott - I am all for believing in things, but I bristle when people equate my belief in unschooling with some of the other kinds of belief in the world. My belief is examined (constantly), fact-based, supported by results, and unlikely to get anybody killed.
Schuyler - Yes!
well said!
Can't (won't?) argue with that. My point is that everyone has a basic need to believe in something - family, kids, etc. I always tried to believe in myself rather than some unknown greater being/spirit.
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