Unschooling in School?
Technically, no, but…
As we witness the daily atrocities committed against Palestinians at the hands of Israel and the United States over these last 11+ months, I think it’s more important now than ever to rethink schooling, parenting, and liberation, especially in the United States. Those of us living in the U.S, especially those of us who are citizens, need to come to terms with the fact that our country is aiding genocide and committing war crimes in Palestine. This is not a hard fact to come to terms with when one knows the history of genocide against the Indigenous people of the land we now call “America”, but this is a history not taught in school. Fortunately, thanks to social media and the internet, more “Americans” are learning the history of the so-called United States of America through the Native perspective rather than just the colonial narrative of “discovery” and “Thanksgiving” that we grew up hearing.
I have no doubt that future generations will look back at this time and see this “Israel-Palestine Conflict” as the Holocaust and ethnic cleansing it really is. Our future children will equate Zionism with Nazism and white supremacy. But, to make sure this horror of humanity doesn’t happen again, we need to collectively change how we educate and parent so that future generations are not brainwashed into fundamentalist thinking or subdued into an ignorant state of being.
I truly believe that unschooling is a beautiful way to raise globally conscious, empathetic, critical thinkers. As Ki from Woke Kindergarten tells us, “white supremacy needs robotic, soulless, apathetic kids who do not have the ability or opportunity to think critically about their circumstances, identities, relationships, bodies and the world around them as a way to justify their abuse, subjugation and exploitation for capital.”
However, since this country is a capitalist hellscape, many caregivers and children are unable to unschool because it is a form of home education that requires a caring adult be home to facilitate the child’s learning.
The logistics of being a home educator are different for many folx and span a spectrum of class and privilege. There are those who’ve made big financial sacrifices in order to unschool, like living in an apartment or with family, rather than owning a house or condo, not having a car, using social services and federal funds, and leaving well paying jobs for jobs with less pay but more flexibility. There are others who work standard 9 to 5 jobs virtually from home and focus on unschooling in the evenings, leaving the daytime care of the kids with a babysitter or loved ones or, if the kids are older, to themselves. And there are many, like me, who have the financial privilege of being the home caregiver because of a partner with job security and a salary that covers everyone’s needs.
Whatever the journey to unschooling has been for families, I want to honor the conscious intention behind those choices, which is why it is not technically possible to unschool inside of the school system. But, since unschooling is also a “love-centered approach to parenting and caregiving”, it is possible to unschool in theory. I don’t want to be a gatekeeper to the possibilities of liberation, so I believe that one can borrow from certain unschooling characteristics in order to create an environment of autonomy, respect, and trust, even when kids are in school.
The ways I believe unschooling can be used within the school system are:
Reparenting yourself
Tapping into an unschooling mindset
Cultivating a culture of unschooling
Engaging with your radical imagination
I will attempt to break each of these down in upcoming posts; one post per topic. Please stay tuned. Thanks for reading.
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