Unschooling.

I have no business having an opinion on any of the numerous “alternative” “methods” of “educating” “youth,” as I am unmarried, un-betrothed, without children, and literally can’t pick up a piece of clothing from my floor, BUT I saw a story on Nightline a couple of weeks ago that horrified me.

According to Nightline, over 150,000 thousand families in the U.S. subscribe to “Unschooling” … which is exactly what it sounds like.  Instead of going to a traditional school with a classes and educators and other kids, they stay home, and do whatever. the. shit. they. want.  Is this worse than the benign neglect of children? I say yes. At least with benign neglect, there’s still a chance for them to learn how to take care of themselves but the willful assertion that everything they do is right and good and perfectly acceptable as they run the roost is creating filthy, tired, bad-dressing (the worst offense) sociopaths. In eight years, all of the children featured will either be eating food of other restaurant patrons plates (a la Helen Keller before Annie came around) or beating me to a bloody pulp when I ask if they have the time.

I don’t have any personal experience with it, but based on what I’ve seen on TV and in movies, the job of a parent is to prepare their kids to go off into the world.  Some of the better parents I’m sure would like them to be a productive member of society, make a difference, be the change they wish to see.  While other parents, you know, just don’t want the kids to steal their reefer or beat up those mathlete kids down the street.

It seems like a variation on that terrible late 70s early 80s ‘I’m your parent but also your pal’ movement which created this generation of perpetual adolescents. Which while great for the economy, the culture and the country [/sarcasm], it isn’t doing anything for my love life.  But let’s be honest… is anything?

In conclusion: these people are horrible, to offset this trend my kids will go to school thirteen hours a day (Sorry, Atticus, Zipporah-Renee, Ilusha and Ixel), and these kids are going to be pissed when they realize that a) they don’t know anything and b) they don’t know how to learn things. That sentence is going to be completely nonsensical to them.