Credit where credit is due: credentializing experiential knowledge.

With all the years of experience, research, presenting and writing I’ve done on unschooling education, I think I merit a Ph.D. At least a Master's degree.
Of course the irony is that I am a proponent of unschooling- curriculum free, self-directed, passion- based learning. That usually implies no grading, diplomas nor certificates.
But our current way of valuing education and acquired skills is by issuing pieces of paper.
So here’s what I propose: lets give credit where credit is due. If you can prove you’ve got the knowledge through experience or osmosis and show that you’ve earned that piece of paper, you should get it.

You can pay for it -don’t get me wrong. It will be far cheaper than buying it through an institution of higher education-places that currently hold monopoly on credentialism.

I’d like to know if anywhere in the world you can get degrees etc for the work you have done outside of a university.
It happens with unschooled kids who skip school and high school and prove that they are ready to go straight into colleges and universities- and get accepted in.
Jane Godall skipped over her undergraduate and Master degree-straight to a Ph.D. I want to see more of this happening.

I asked folks on Facebook if they knew of places where credentializing experience-based work is happening. I didn't get the answer I was looking for but fortunately, things are beginning to move in that direction.
I got some responses mostly to do with apprenticeship. Apprenticeships are nothing new. Ever since people have lived on this planet, children have been learning along side the grown ups. That’s direct exchange of knowledge. Today, this could mean that the employer trains the youth. Learning by doing.
Over in India, one person explained that when he applied for the Teach For India Fellowship, examiners judged his application based on his essays, performance in  a mock teaching session, group discussions and so on, and a personal interview where they could see first hand if he had what it takes to be a teacher.
Fellowships like the TED Fellowship take a similar approach where you don't need a degree to present a talk. You need to know your stuff.As we all know, having a degree in a subject doesn’t mean you are fit to get a job in the field.
Someone else pointed out that Zoho University is getting noticed as an alternative to conventional university education and certificates.
Then there’s the Thiel Fellowship out in San Francisco which according to their website says it ‘brings together some of the world’s most creative and motivated young people, and helps them bring their most ambitious ideas and projects to life.

Thiel Fellows are given a no-strings-attached grant of $100,000 to skip college and focus on their work, their research, and their self-education. They are mentored by our network of visionary thinkers, investors, scientists, and entrepreneurs, who provide guidance and business connections that can’t be replicated in any classroom. Rather than just studying, you’re doing.

Nice work if you can get it.
Here in Hamilton, the McMaster Discovery Program offers university-level non-credit courses to Hamilton residents who face barriers to post-secondary education.
Here's what they say:

Modeled after similar initiatives in other Canadian cities, the program aims to create opportunities for local residents to take part in a process of learning and discovery in the liberal arts tradition, to inspire a passion for lifelong learning, and to foster engagement and mutual learning between McMaster and the communities it aspires to serve.

Of course, there's also the 'open source' movement in education that I keep harping on about and if you don't know about it, you should. Sanford, MIT and other top notch universities have already begun to open up their courses for free. Doesn't solve the problem about credentializing but who knows, maybe society is starting to question credentialism itself?
Your thoughts and comments welcome- as always.

Success tips: 6 habits for truly memorable education.

Success tips: 6 habits for truly memorable education (based on the article ‘Success tips: 6 habits of truly memorable people,’ by Jeff Haden).

I am going to explain how you can make education a memorable affair based on tips from a rather inane article I just read on how you can make yourself a memorable person. I had to question though, why anyone would seek to make themselves memorable. It seems to me that being memorable is an outcome of following where your passions and interests lead and these then having an impact on the world around you- rather than consciously setting out to merely

‘be memorable.’

Anyway, criticism aside, let’s begin.

1. Don’t see. Do.

If you are familiar with natural learning and unschooling, you will recognize immediately in this idea that ‘doing’ is the biggest part of self-directed learning.

For a memorable education, it’s about gaining experiences, developing skills, pursuing your deepest passions. So of course you are going to be doing. It is not about being passive; lamely swallowing what is dished out for you like a receptor to fill. No. It’s about action;-having agency over what you want to learn and when you want to learn it.

Author, former teacher and natural learning advocate, John Taylor Gatto says it best: “You don’t get an education. You TAKE and education.”

2.  Do something unusual.

Here’s a creed to go by for memorable education: ‘Create the extraordinary,’ or ‘Embrace the curious and the strange.’ ‘Unusual’ is thought provoking and stimulating. ‘Unusual’ is welcomed and celebrated. We aim to be intrigued.

3. Embark on a worthless mission.

While the writer recommends doing something crazy for the heck of it and see where it leads, just for fun, I want to say something about ‘worthless.’ Fun is not worthless. Fun is integral to being human and is necessary and valuable. ­Also, when ‘nothing’ is going on, often it could be a time where kids and grownups alike are actually emptying themselves of the ‘every day’ routine of life. What’s more, fun opens up all sorts of opportunities leading to life-long passions that who knows, might end up as an occupation.

4. Embrace a cause.

When you are following your heart, bumping up against like minded people pursuing similar interests is inevitable. Your education is immediately and effortlessly enhanced as you are doing ­­­­something that’s meaningful to you; within the company of collaborators and supporters.  

5. Let other people spread the word.

About how great you are, as the article suggests? Nah. Someone said it somewhere, “The more you know, the less you show.”What really happens is that when you are self-directed and pursuing your education through your interests, opportunity knocks, doors open, the universe aids you along.

6. Get over yourself.

This is my favourite. We are all learners, every single one of us. When you’re pursuing a memorable education, that fact is in your face. You don’t forget it. You’re not ‘done learning’ because you’re not in school, or because it’s summer time. You’re not going to stop learning because you’re too old. You ‘get over yourself’ means you don’t put limitations on yourself and you learn from everyone around you. You dare to try new things and new ideas.You contribute. And you nurture the ability to laugh at your mistakes and failures, and not let fear of ridicule stand in your way of learning and leading a good life.

School closure? A golden opportunity.

What children need is not new and better curriculm but access to more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them." John Holt



Three high schools are closing their doors in my city of Hamilton and no, it's not so that kids can unschool.

We are told that there are not enough students to fill these schools. So what do they want to do? Build a super school down town that students from area catchments will attend. The school will cost a pretty sum of 32 million dollars.

Humm. While I agree that these under-populated schools should be closed down, I think it is wrong that kids will have to travel outside of their neighbourhoods to attend school.

Here's what I propose.

The new school? Unschool.

We are living in the age of information. Everything we want to know is available to us at the tap of a finger on a tracking pad. It's magical, isn't it?

All we need to do is search google for the information. Do a bit of digging about. Find links. Get resources.

Then why, why are we still using an antiquated approach to education that in all honesty,  is rooted in the Industrial Revolution era philosophy of 150 years ago?

Frankly, our times demand a new approach to education. Think modern, modern, modern.

Forget the school building. Hell, forget school.What we need for the 21st century is an 'open source' approach to learning.

We have heard of the concept 'open source' in internet circles; anything can be learned over the internet. There is a new openness to educational resources; for example MIT (Open CourseWare) is now offering up to 1800 on line course materials for free - their motto being "unlocking knowledge, empowering minds."

'Open source learning' as coined by author, John Taylor Gatto is based on extending this idea to all learning, to everyone. The underlying premises of open source learning is that learning is available everywhere in life and not restricted to 'places of learning'-namely schools.

Resources are every where to be found in the day to day world; people, art galleries and science centres, businesses, professional schools, museums, community centres, libraries, the internet, and so on.

Why not try opening small learning cafes and learning centres right in the neighbourhoods? Library style.

Give the kids the tools they need- the computers, the paper, the printing press, the gardening tools, the art studio, the sewing machine, the video cameras, the kitchens. Give them the teachers, the instructors the mentors (seniors would be great for this).

Give them access to institutions of higher learning and the professors therein.

Give them the community!

Everyone has some facility-something they can excel in. We need to enable ability and talent by giving youth the opportunity to be active participants, captains of their own education.

An Open Letter to Lisa Luper-author of 'Open Letter to Lazy Homeschoolers.'

Photo by a lazy homeschooler

You have enjoyed the freedom to homeschool that previous generations have worked so hard to earn and have forgotten the price they have paid for your freedom. 

With freedom comes responsibility. 

We were expected to outshine our public-schooled peers, and we did. 

All this said with that pious, 'purer than thou,' accusatory, judgemental attitude ("we are superior") masquerading as concern. Oh soooo concerned is Lisa Luper, the conscientious and well-schooled author of An Open Letter to Lazy Homeschoolers. She is so worried that homeschooling will get a bad reputation because of those lazy-ass, no good, homeschooling parents. You know the kind she's talking about. Go on Lisa -you can say it: Unschoolers.

She's so anxious about what the neighbours will say. She's afraid people might paint all homeschoolers with the same scruffy brush. So like a prim and proper schoolmarm,  Lisa Luper casts about, wagging her finger at what she doesn't understand; that terrifying but awesome and invigorating thing called freedom. That which nurtures intrinsic motivation and delight.

A lazy homeschooler having too much fun

What we see here is a failure to understand that true learning can only come from the learner. I guess Lisa Luper, authenticity in learning has never been your goal.

How do you know what those who "worked so hard" so that we could home educate our kids today would have wanted for us?

Maybe they had a grander vision than your narrow, self-conscious, and fearful position on education. Maybe they dreamed that future generations would push against those boundaries, ever more strongly and more forcefully than their own times would have allowed them to.

Maybe they would have hoped that their actions would inspire future home educators to tread where they could not; go beyond the confines of learning and education as an exercise in completing curriculum.
Maybe their dream for us was that one day, all children would be valued as they are, and their interests - no matter what they be - accorded respect.

They might have longed for the days when the importance of some topic, French or Math, would be just as important and valuable to society as knowing how to Grow and Can Vegetables- everything being equally as fascinating and intriguing as any other area of human endeavour.

They might have wished for freedom in learning.

Your misguided platitudes, your simple take on the subject of home education are outdated.
Lisa, my hope for you is that one day, you'll come to see the ignorance and paucity of your thoughts.

You might also like:
http://radiofreeschool.blogspot.ca/2011/09/idle-unschooling.html

Taking Kids Seriously

The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.
Henry David Thoreau

These days, expect to read here, more words that come from kids of all ages- starting from babies all the way up to young adults.This is because unlike what society says, young people have much to contribute to daily life and it is time we acknowledge that.

We're in a culture where kids are viewed mostly as beings who need taking care of, or who need things (usually expensive things).

I remember interviewing Dr. Ellen Langer, professor of psychology at Harvard University back in 2004  who said,

"You are more likely to talk to somebody if you assume that the person understands and appreciates what you're saying and has something to offer you in return.
The mistake that some people make is to assume that the child is not going to understand what the adult finds interesting."   

Dr. Langer pointed out that if when talking to a child, we maintain a limited view of what the child has to offer us not recognizing that the child has something to teach us, "it's exhausting when it could be enlivening. To really understand you have to take the perspective of the other and people don't always do that with children." 

Children see things in a different way than we do. Why isn't that celebrated? Why isn't that awesome? Why doesn't that have value in the everyday world?

Maybe it is because we don't like being challenged (by them) to diverge from our safe and familiar thinking.

What children do naturally-ie. bring fresh ideas to a situation- we grownups will do reluctantly. 

If you pay attention to your state of mind when you're engaging kids, you might notice that you're likely to be waiting for an opportunity to teach them or to correct them; to make them see your faster, better, smarter way.

When you listen to kids, really listen what you'll often hear is that they want to be part of the action. They want the opportunity to do what we grown ups do-case in point, my 2 year old nephew has long since figured out how to use his mother's cell phone, switch channels on the TV, and I wouldn't be surprised if they tell me he's programming their laptop next!!

For me, one of the worst faults about institutionalized learning is that it forces kids away from the everyday world and gives them very little opportunity to contribute in a worthwhile and meaningful way. 

Kids who have big, bold ideas find it difficult to be taken seriously.

For example, my daughter has started a campaign (actually it began years ago when she was about 6 years old. One day, her dad who was going off to vote, took her along. When he told her there had been a crazy time when women were not allowed to vote, her outraged and righteous response was "that's fluckin stupid.").  

Today, she asks the provocative question, "Why aren't youth allowed to vote on issues that will shape their future?

I'm interested in seeing kids being taken seriously and getting the respect we give to adults. 

Unschooled Musician

The path less trodden (The road not taken).

I was reading an article by Kate Wong in the latest copy of Scientific American. 'First of our Kind' is a piece that starts with an introduction about how the origin of our genus, Homo, is one of the biggest mysteries facing scholars of human evolution.

Based on the meager evidence available, scientists have surmised that Homo arose in East Africa, with Lucy’s species, Australopithecus afarensis, giving rise to the founding member of our lineage, Homo habilis.

But, recently discovered fossils from a site northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, could upend that scenario. 

The two million old fossils represent a pre­viously unknown species of human with an amal­gam of australopithecine and Homo traits that suggest to its discoverers that it could be the ancestor of Homo.

What I found equally interesting in the article was how the actual discovery of these 'shit disturbing' fossils was made.

It was Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa who discovered the fossils, the fossils that he and his team believe could revolutionize researchers' understanding of Homo's roots.

Wait. It was Matthew Berger, his son who actually found and recognized the fossil peaking from the earth, while chasing his runaway dog.

How did they come to be at this spot at the right time? They took the path less trodden; 'the road not taken.'

For 17 years, Berger had been taking the dirt road that winds through the John Nash Nature Reserve, NW from Johannesburg, to a cave he was excavating. This was an area that had seen many scientists, since 1948, seeking  fossils of hominins (modern humans and their extinct relatives).

There was another path, explains Wong: "little did Berger or the expeditioners before him know that had they only followed this smaller path -- one of several miners tracks used until the early 1900s to cart the limestone that built Johannesburg from quarries out to the main road- they would have made the discovery of a life time."

Yes. The discovery of a life time.

While surveying the reserve for potential new fossil sites in the area, Berger turned right on the miners track he had passed by for 17 years that fateful day in August 2008.

He returned to the site, weeks later with son Matthew and their dog Tau. When Matthew shouted to his father that he found a fossil, Wong continues, "Berger doubted it was anything important- but in a show of fatherly support, he made his way to inspect the find." (You know what I am thinking here. A subject for another post. Kids contributions should be valued. Kids have valuable contributions to make to society).

Bingo! The discovery of a life time!

So what does this mean to people who are learning by following our passions?

Deviating from the path well trodden brings it's own rewards- it's own trophies. To do the same thing over and over, to always err on the side of the 'known' yields little of importance.

What's more, the discovery suggests that human features did not necessarily evolve as a package deal as we thought. "The extreme mosaicism evident in A. sediba [as it is being called], Berger says, should be a lesson to paleoanthropologists.

Had he found any number of its bones in isolation, he would have classified them differently. ....."And like the blind men studying the individual parts of the elephant, he would have been wrong."

Again, there is another lesson to be learned from Berger's experience. The idea that we study things individually - that is subjects separated from the whole picture, is good until it interferes with us seeing the bigger picture- that is loosing sight of the forest for the trees.

I think that this one of the biggest problems with schools that are hell bent on compartmentalizing every piece of knowledge into little blocks. We end up losing sight of the interconnectedness of things and that leads to the mess we find our selves in - on all fronts.