I’m so tired of factions of rabid ‘pros’ and ‘antis’, each one depending upon the other to justify their existence or their message, dancing a not so merry symbiotic dance until the end of time, revolving but never evolving. Anyone can set themselves up as the opposite of something, and radical unschooling simply sets itself up as the polar opposite of traditional schooling. The real art and creativity, the real way forward is when someone actually has an original idea, a spark of brilliance in their philosophy, the likes of which has never been seen or heard before, and whose message touches people effortlessly in the very core of their being. We need positive, fresh, new ways of approaching the education (aagh! the forbidden word!) of our children, and adults for that matter. Radical unschooling strikes me as being anything but fresh, new or positive. It’s just another ‘anti’ group trying to negate traditional ways in the rather traditional fashion of all the other ‘anti’ groups that have preceded it.

Sorry to burst your bubble, you well-meaning folks but all this nonsense reminds me of an episode of South Park where everyone in the town became rabid hybrid car drivers convinced of their righteous goodness, the result of which created a dangerous cloud of atmospheric ‘smug’ which threatened to collide with the growing cloud of ‘smug’ drifting over from San Francisco with catastrophic results. In the end it seemed as if the hybrid cars created a kind of ‘smug’ that was just as hazardous as the crap that spewed out of the gas guzzlers. I fear the radical unschoolers may be brewing up unsustainable levels of ‘smug’ that may prove just as catastrophic as for the poor citizens of South Park…

It’s easier to find the *need* for & Joy of classes while fully submerged in an unschooling life, than it is to find the *need* for and Joy of an unschooling life while fully submerged in compulsory schooling.

For those of us who ‘get it’, it can seem overkill to eschew certain words…but over seven years ago (before I was a mother) when I started hitting the discussion boards and being reprimanded or corrected for word usage & certain beliefs, I was extremely grateful for the wake-up call. Having the words I use & the meanings I attach to them challenged was a good thing.

I hate that I have been doing this for so long that I’ve almost become ‘sloppy’ with word choice & communicating my Value Set of Anarchism & Radical Unschooling…conversations like these are necessary more for those of us who have been at this awhile than for newbies.

I know my son *teaches* me tons of things on an almost daily basis. I choose to listen & *learn*, because I am genuinely interested in what he has to share (usually).

Judging can be a good thing when it tells us what wouldn’t work for us. But it’s a bad thing when it throws up walls instead of opening lines of communication.

Labels are both helpful and not helpful. Words often have more than one meaning. Life isn’t so cut and dry. And beyond making the choices that fit ourselves and our famlies best, we need to make sure we aren’t alienating others that we may inspire or be inspired by.

In short, everyone is wrong and everyone is right and that’s SO COOL! 😀

I think it’s unfortunate when one person’s negative connotations (e.g. with “teach”) effectively get foisted (whether intentionally or not) on other people, who then start editing their choice of words in group-think fashion. You personally have no trouble with the concept of learning with other people’s help, but others reading your blog may take things the wrong way and start building up an unnecessary psychological resistance to the concept of learning with other people’s help, since possibly for them, that’s what “teaching” encompasses.

I, along with most of us, use the term “teach” differently than the rest of the world. So, you’re right, we need to give some leway to each other in these terms and offer the benefit of the doubt that we are still living a learner-led life. I think unschoolers want to be so specific about this and about using the term “teaching” less and “learning” more, to emphasize how we are different.

I have to admit, your section about rules vs. principles is really refreshing. I absolutely agree with you, though I didn’t have the words before. I almost feel like I can breathe a little easier because I don’t have to hold myself to this really high standard of ALWAYS having a principle.