View source for Psychology 101 for Dr Phil: Unschooling FAQ

{{:ArticleSchool}}
== Experience counts for more than a PhD ==

Dr Phil does not like psychobabble and likes to make things straight and simple. However, he was outmatched at his game by Dayna Martin in Psychology of Learning 101 (see: [[Dr Phil got no clue]]). A seasoned practitioner and a mom of four, Dayna proved that a housewife can beat a PhD as soon as her knowledge is driven by experience, and a good deal of common sense. Even more, I bet that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW_oU-wkFy8 loving moms outmatch theoreticians more often than not]. At least when it comes to [http://daynamartin.com/unschooling-blog/2483/ educating their own children]. Here I compile a short FAQ for Dr Phil in case he needed to ever re-visit the subject. The questions were posed by Dr Phil while interviewing Dayna (rendition is mine for the sake of brevity):

== Free learning is particularly important in kids ==

{{FAQ|In learning, children should not be making decisions until their brain is fully developed}}

The opposite is true. [[Learn drive]] should be the main advisor. [[Pleasure of learning]] is the best benchmark. The younger the kid, the stricter the need for the adherence to the [[Fundamental law of learning]]. Making learning decisions for kids is equivalent to making muscle flexing decisions while learning to walk. Both [[declarative learning]] and [[procedural learning]] have evolved optimum mechanisms for prompt acquisition of skills when exploring the environment. [[Education counteracts evolution]]. Myths like the one harbored in Dr McGraw's mind are the chief culprit in the [[Problem of schooling]]

== Homeschool choices are easy ==

{{FAQ|How can kids choose school over [[homeschool]] if they are not exposed to it?}}

In the same way as a child chooses to fly to the moon upon watching ''Apollo 13'' movie. In the same way as we pick a car having seen it on YouTube. When we are not sure, we can always try out and/or backtrack. That's part of the exploratory algorithm imprinted in the brain.

== Schools foster indecision ==

{{FAQ|If my parents gave me an option to choose to go or not to go to school, I would sit there like a lamp. I would not know what to say}}

Yes! This is what school does to you. Indecision! Problem solving paralysis! To make good decisions, you need to make many. Decision making is also a form of practice. This is what schools often deny. If all is dished out to you by a teacher by the prescription of the [[curriculum]], you learn to rely on others. You learn dependence. You become decision impotent. At the critical moment, you sit there like a lamp.

== Psychobabble is often used to defend schooling ==

{{FAQ|Development proceeds along the following stages: '''Dependency, preparation, performance'''}}

This is exactly the psychobabble that Dr Phil claims to avoid. There are no such boundaries in development. Dependency keeps decreasing. Preparation and performance are continual and incessant. Newborns perform in the recognition of mother's voice, while a 7 year old performs in money counting at the checkout. History is jam-full of neat words used to prop up dangerous theories and strategies, including war. The simple and optimum strategy in development is based on freedom and exploration. The same principles hold from the first breath until the last breath.

== Unschooled kids thrive ==

{{FAQ|I always hated school, but without it, I would be just a vegetable}}

There has not been a single case of a vegetable growing out from the garden of [[unschooling]]. [[Why do students hate school?|Kids hate school]] because they are forced to learn things they are not ready to learn, or things they do not care about. This problem is absent in [[unschooling]] where progress in learning flourishes in the wake of passions. Dayna's oldest kid has recently proved he is no vegetable: "[http://daynamartin.com/unschooling-blog/2483/ Dayna's son graduation]"

== Structure is a crutch ==

{{FAQ|If you provide no structure, so that kids could master some things, they might not be ready to compete}}

The opposite is true. Structure is a form of crutch. [[Free learning]] ensures a never-ending training in learning choices. This works wonders for creativity and problem solving. These are the prime skills humans will need to compete with the machines. Structure in schooling is as useful as a wheelchair in support of a marathon runner.

== Deadlines can wait ==

{{FAQ|Your kids don't work for deadlines. How can they live an adult life without deadlines?}}

In problem solving, efficient work for deadlines is controlled by two key skills:
* time management 
* reducing the extent of the exploration tree (number of nodes visited)
Kids at school have their time managed for them. This is why school is a terrible place to learn time management. Extent of exploration can be mastered only while exploring freely. Again, schools provide insufficient freedom and insufficient time. Preparations to work with deadlines do not require actual deadlines. Adding deadlines to the mix will make an individual employ the toolset mastered in [[free learning]]. Practice shows that unschoolers are highly efficient in managing their time in problem solving. Their adaptation skills are usually fantastic.

== Free people love history ==

{{FAQ|I hated history. How would kids know history unless they went to school? I got interested only as an adult when I noticed that history repeats itself}}

Your own words indicate school did not help much. Time and time again we see that people learn to love history at speeds that are inversely proportional to the exerted pressure at school. Your cure is actually the cause of the disease. Under the pressure of schooling, awareness of history is less likely to develop. This way, without school, you might have made your discoveries about your interests much faster. Unfortunately, your youth was wasted on [[cramming]] history, hating it, and forgetting it. Unschoolers tend to develop their interests early. They have more time to stay passionate about learning. I did not like history at school either. So I sympathize entirely. See how I [[Learning_history:_school_vs._self-directed_learning|learned history in adulthood]]. The key ingredient in my story was freedom. Chances are, you will slowly get to love history too, once you are given a choice to explore freely on your own.