How to recognize a fake unschooler?
This text is part of: "Problem of Schooling" by Piotr Wozniak (2017-2024)
Peter Gray, Danny Greenberg or John Holt dedicated their lives to documenting the power of free learning, which is commonly referred to as unschooling. Unschooling is becoming more and more popular. It becomes a buzzword even in countries where it is still not legal.
However, there are number of fake stories on the net aimed at painting homeschooling and unschooling as dangerous practices. They are usually written as a report of an unschooler whose life had been ruined by unschooling. Having seen a few of those stories, I can now easily define the common denominators. Here comes my diagnostic tool for debunking a fake unschooler. Using unscientific DSM-5 approach, we may try to diagnose a fake unschooler if 7 out of 11 of the following criteria are met:
- rabidly liberal (conservatives do not seem to troll in this field as they do not seem to have a mission to save the world)
- intolerant of religious freedoms
- accuses parents of being poorly educated religious fundamentalists
- accuses parents of the opposition to: vaccination, transgender, global warming, Obama, etc.
- believes that "unschooling", which starts at teen years qualifies as unschooling
- proves that his own work got him to college against all odds
- proves his deficits while showing great strengths in many areas
- believes that school is hard work that nobody likes and everybody needs
- shows anger towards unschooling community and practice
- reveals one or more characteristics of people affected with 50 bad habits of schooling
- shows meager understanding of unschooling
Children are very inept at lying. So are fake unschoolers. If they understood unschooling, they would become convinced. As they do not, their fake stories are very transparent. Nobody believes Trump, when he says his Covid test shows "bottom level of virus or zero" or when his health is "extremely best in the world". Ignorance can only be concealed with silence.
For a specific case see: Debunking a fake unschooler