January 9, 2002
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
5pm I spent a large portion of today exploring unschooling and homeschooling web pages, and these articles by John Taylor Gatto explain why they exist.
Comments on the unschooling.com disscusion board prompted me to post one of my own:
I'm impressed! This is my first time on unschooling.com and I see great things happening here!
I live on the east coast of Canada and finished the 12th grade in the system. I hated being forced to go to those buildings... and sit with all those people I didn't want to be with(I read and write best in a quiet place because I am distracted easy). I had other things on my mind, other projects I wanted to work on... but they forced me to do what they thought I needed. I'm slow to understand somethings, but I'm creative when I want to be.
Around the fourth grade, I came to the conclusion that one day everyone will seek what they want to know on computers that will have access to the world's library. This was before the net was public, of course. And that is the way it is now. You folks are on the ball. Your time has come. Now that you have access to all this imformation, what do you want to do with it?
On the learning journey, when a student finds a door they cannot open, they must go to someone who holds the key they seek. A teacher is a person holding a ring of keys. That person might be on the net in a far away place, or next door. The student, no matter what their age, is a person motivate to travel path toward their subject. It is impossible for a student to fail anything... unless they quit.
Today, the problem with the public schools and our problem as a society in general, is that we are trained to be consumers and to follow rules. Being creative, living simply and not spending money are not taught. Most of my "teachers" were not people I wanted to be like. Many of the kids I was in school with had no idea what they wanted to do with their lives. They just did what they were told and watched TV.
So... what I do now is travel around to schools( preschool to university) doing slide shows of my kayak journey around North America... inspiring students to build castles on clouds and find ways to make foundations under them.
I'm also working on an after school adventure club... taking students on trips... rock climbing... kayaking... maybe to visit a funky musican... stuff the school can't afford and the teachers don't have the guts or know-how to do. This will be a summer camp as well and we'll make movies with digital video cameras... helping the students build their self-esteem... give them something to show what they have done and help them remember what they learned. This project is called The FAR OUT School, and if you want to learn more about it, please check out my site: http://www.solomax.com
Enjoy your journey!
Love fearlessly!
MAX
