I just watched the Radical Unschooling portion of Radical Parenting on Discovery Health. As expected, I’m slightly disappointed. I didn’t have high hopes for the program because going on television and trying to explain Radical Unschooling in 20 minutes is similar to learning Chinese in an hour. I hate the word impossible, but it’s likely that it can’t be done.
First of all, it is hard to bring a valid view of Radical Unschooling using such a young family. While Sarah and Chris Parent did a wonderful job, we really needed more examples and a few of those spectacular teens and grown unschoolers I know! Discovery Health obviously chopped it all up and left in the points that could easily be argued, but understandably so! If the show wasn’t shocking or somewhat entertaining then no one would watch it!
One expert kept calling it “experiential learning”. I really took to that right away. What a great way to describe how unschooled children learn! Right after that, another expert told us that these children were left “on their own” for things like reading, sleeping, and playing! This couldn’t be further from the truth! Unschooled children have their parents all the time. I don’t know any unschooled children who are left “to their own devices” as another put it. What they failed to grasp was that the parents are there all the time acting as facilitators and guides; meeting the children’s needs and supporting their passions and interests.
The big issue seemed to be college. A huge, huge point that I think Discovery Health failed to bring to light, is that children can and will learn what they need to know, when they need to know it. There is no magical age that one needs to learn anything at all. That fact has been proven again and again by grown and successful unschoolers all over the US. The one thing that unschooler’s will recognize however, is that college is a choice, not a requirement.
It’s really hard to present unschooling to the general public. I applaud the Parent family for their decision to unschool and the way they presented themselves, but I think Discovery Health is highly misinformed on the subject and crazy to try and present it in a 20 minute segment.
My ten cents.
For more information on Unschooling there are helpful links on the side of my blog or you can read more of my writing by following the links below.
The program will air again. Here’s the link for the schedule. Radical Parenting
The War on Kids is a documentary directed by Cevin Soling and presented by Spectacle Films. It is a film that focuses on the injustices to children that are happening everyday in school. It dives deep into the problems that exists concerning zero tolerance policies, security systems, the war on drugs, administrators and teachers, pharmaceuticals, public education, homework, and socialization.
Early on in the documentary we are told that children are assumed to do bad things unless they are absolutely controlled. Or are we reminded? Not so much when I was a child, but present day schools have adopted zero tolerance policies on weapons, drugs and alcohol. The War on Kids gives a multitude of examples of children being arrested, handcuffed, fingerprinted, and dragged out of school for seemingly minor infractions. Children are being suspended for spit wads, pointing their fingers like guns, for having magic markers and Midol because administrators think they should “err on the side of caution.”
In the lesson on Zero-tolerance we see appalling, yet real comparisons drawn between a school and a low security prison. Both are a policed institution, complete with metal detectors and security cameras. For those who may not see it, it brings to light the destructive effects that controlling a child’s waking moments, thoughts, actions, appetite and body functions can have on a young person.
Especially important and insightful is the segment on pharmaceuticals. It brings to light a lot of interesting and abhorrent facts concerning the drugging of our children. The parents, the doctors and the teachers who drug children in order to force them to be someone other than who they are should be ashamed of themselves. Drugs like Ritalin, and Adderall (and anti-depressants) destroy a child’s brain and immune system. It causes depression, anxiety, stunted growth, obsessive compulsive disorder, psychosis, permanent ticks and in the worst cases suicide and death. All in the name of behaving, sitting still, and paying attention? Really?
While I feel that knowing about atrocities like the ones shown in the film is important, I do not believe that school can be reformed. The way the institutions run require these failures. It’s fuel for more funding, more studies, more testing, and more control. It keeps the school reformers focused on school reform and not the actual problem, the institution itself. Children, human beings, should not be controlled any more than you or I. While the film shows many extreme examples, like the shooting in Columbine or the SWAT team raid in Goose Creek, SC, it’s not wrong in making these assumptions about all public schools. It’s worth noting that at my small high school in Vermont (which incidentally has a VERY LOW crime rate) my father was allowed to smoke cigarettes on the steps in his youth. The next decade saw the school system stopping kids from leaving during the day, in the following decade stopped them from hanging out in certain areas, and a few years later built a fence to keep students on the grounds. After I graduated, the students saw new security cameras installed that even point at the bathrooms. They already have a “resource officer” (policeman) so what’s next?
It also includes interview footage with John Taylor Gatto, and some other familiar names in the anti-school crowd. I definitely recommend it. However, please know that it’s a strong film with extreme views and heart-wrenching footage. It’s a warning for the future. If schools continue on this path they will be freeing prisoners rather than graduating students. Many already are.
Long Version 10:20
Short Version 2:46
The Paskowitz family, considered to be the “first family of surfing” is comprised of 8 boys, 1 girl, and 2 parents. Dorian, the father, dropped out of mainstream society, raised and educated his children traveling from beach to beach in a 24 foot camper. The movie gives us a peek into the seemingly wonderful lives of these beach bums. Yet, the children tell stories of pain and struggle living in mainstream society. Something they were completely unprepared for as adults. Even though they admit the good moments far outweigh the bad, they are unable to shake the pain of sibling rivalry, control, aggression, and abuse. There are so many “ah-ha” moments. So many, “so close” moments. It’s easy to see why the children are in so much emotional pain, and where Dorian went wrong.
As I watched I couldn’t help thinking how different their lives would be if he applied mindful parenting to it all. If he knew of unschooling, and had the support from others like we do today, even if not in person.
So while I identified with Dorian tremendously, being out of place in mainstream society, wanting to keep your children away from school, wanting to be in “superior health”, unschooling has taught me so much about free will and choice. About how the complete absence of things like money, will only make my children crave or worry about it even more. I’ve heard some people call him narcissistic. But I don’t think so. I think he was abusive and controlling at best. Narcissism is an emotional issue.
Surfwise was inspiring. Thoughts immediately filled my head of my children, or travel, or living life now, of continuing my journey out of the mainstream. At the end of the film, looking back on his family Dorian Paskowitz said “A man learns to control himself before he controls his children.” He knew where he went wrong. I think we can all learn from his mistakes and know that our children need their free will. Whether they are in school or packed like sardines in a 24 foot camper, they need to be able to explore and to make their own decisions.
He also says: It is easier to die when you have lived, than if you haven’t. That’s a statement that will stick with me for a very long time. I want to live, like REALLY live. 
This afternoon, we watched The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. We perched ourselves on the couch and chairs and shared a big bowl of popcorn. Usually Milo loses interest pretty quickly and retreats to tower building or crashing. Skylar and I immediately became captivated by the birds and by Mark Bittner. I’m not really a bird lover or bird watcher, but Mark’s story is heartwarming and enchanting.
Mark Bittner was born in 1951. After spending 4 months hitchhiking through Europe he landed in Berkeley, California where he worked as a street performer. After realizing that his musical dreams were about to go asunder he found himself in North Beach of San Francisco where he spent 15 years “studying “Eastern” religions and other subjects that interested him: history, Italian, guitar, and clarinet”. In 1988 he became the caretaker of a house on Telegraph Hill. After two years he spotted 4 parrots in the gardens. After 3 years, 4 became 26. And this is where his journey with the parrots begins.
The documentary begins with Mark feeding the parrots and chatting with passers-by who are either fascinated or somewhat disgruntled by him. He hand feeds the parrots and they all seem to trust him enough to do so. Throughout the documentary he maintains an intimate understanding of the birds and their personalities and activities. He often discusses the bird’s relationships, reproduction, and even deaths as if they were human. He has a rare view of these extraordinary creatures, and gets to know them in ways most ornithologists probably dream about.
As related to unschooling, Mark is being added to my “Ultimate Unschooler” list. After school, Mark found his own way, he learned what interested him, and he followed what delighted him. Not only did these things lead him to having an important place in this world as an advocate for these parrots, but he found his present wife, and is has now become interested in writing. He seems like a genuine person who is content with his life and where it has taken him. I love that.
I really suggest this movie for anyone interested in birds, in parrots, or in the human spirit. In the words of Skylar, this movie “makes my heart feel warm”.
