Writing With Purpose

My oldest son never much cared for writing. Like so many boys in homes and schools across the world since time has begun, my son declared that while writing was something potentially useful in certain situations, it should not under any circumstances be embarked upon without a vital clear purpose and motivation of intent. In other words, there is no reason in the world why any child with zillions of more important things to do like wading in streams, reading comic books, and playing with tinker toys should ever be prevailed upon to take time out of his schedule for things such as rote copying or report writing. There is way too much to do in the course of a day, and life is just too darn short.

Brandon was a reader from the time he was young and has loved books passionately since the day of his birth. Every chance he ever got to listen to a story or find books on a subject that interested him were almost religiously followed up on, and he was one of those kids who just woke up reading one day without anyone ever showing him how to do it. He was (and is) a voracious reader, but his attitude toward writing was the complete and total antithesis of voraciousness, and astonishingly enough he never got the slightest inclination to do it. The only evidence I had that he even knew how to write came every Christmas when it became 'necessary' for him to write an extensive list of requested toys at the risk of something getting overlooked. In these situations, he miraculously sat down and churned out 3-4 page long descriptive toy lists with next to no effort in near-perfect penmanship. I was aghast.

I witnessed this phenomenon several times before realizing that there was a harsh and vital truth behind the idea that children need a reason to learn. Without a purpose for every element of skill that takes place in a person's life there is just no way that 'lifelong' learning is remotely possible. It is a wasted pipe dream at best. Even worse, everything that the tax-funded establishments spend years teaching kids around here is promptly forgotten the moment a child walks out the door in 9 out of 10 instances. Why? Because it does not serve the purpose of the learner at that time. Education is more a matter of timing than anything else in the world:(.

Something interesting I have noted lately, is that a child will never lose face in the event of a forced activity. Rather than subjugate him/herself to a higher authority and risk losing his (or her) identity entirely, kids will revolt in ways that are incredibly, logistically brilliant. They daydream, they fail to apply themselves, they misbehave accidentally and on purpose, they become downright disruptive, and most brilliantly of all, they simply forget what was taught as soon as it is no longer necessary to remember it. Are these marvelous examples of creative non-compliance, or what? It's very simple when you think about it. The human spirit refuses to be broken, and refusal takes all forms from babyhood to adulthood. No child will allow herself to be shoved and humiliated without mounting some sort of defense. Should we be surprised that kids revolt in school nowadays? It has nothing to do with peer pressure and course materials. It is purely an act of self-preservation:(.

Back to the writing issue. I decided that since no one can stop the flow of the ocean after all it was better to run with the tide than against it. Suddenly, at the age of 13, my darling son found a group of kids who shared many of the same interests and used email to communicate their battling monster/hero gangster swordsmanship scenario sequences every day. Suddenly, the boy who never wrote was whipping off page after page of questions, comments, opinions, and discussion points with textbook grammar usage, standard spelling, and shockingly creative expression. I spent weeks in a state of astonishment at the volume of material that was pouring out of him, and I realize now that my years of worrying and wondering were all in vain, and that the ability of Brandon to express himself perfectly resided in him all the time waiting for the right time, the right place, and the right purpose.

So this is what unschooling is all about, in my opinion. Free-schooling also. And even the movement of homeschooling in general. We are born with inherent tools and timetables, and all the instincts need is a little time, space, and self-motivation to develop. We as adults cannot force these issues. We cannot bestow tools that do not exist or force a talent to surface before development dictates that it should. All the cleverness in the world will not bring a horse to water if it does not want to drink. It has to need to drink.

In my opinion the most important thing we can do for any kid is not to teach them skills. It is to have perfect faith in their ability to unfold. No one knows what a person will do later in their lives. No one can see the future or find a way to tailor education to individual destinies if no one has the remotest idea of what those destinies will be. Self determination is the only hope for reaching adulthood intact and becoming mature, self-actualized human beings. That must be the future of education as we know it.

More streams of consciousness next week (with luck....:^),

Anonymom:)