Questions of Exposure

by Linda

Question 1:  If you unschool, what guarantees that your children will be exposed to the subjects that might get them excited?

While I don’t pretend to speak for all unschoolers, in our particular style of unschooling, we have a pick it up/put it down approach. By this I mean, that I look for opportunities for exposure based on my own interests and those in which my children have expressed interest. When I find field trips, books, TV programs, movies, etc., that are related – I bring them to the attention of my children. Sometimes I suggest that we take some action, other times I say we are going to take some action (for example, go on a field trip). I look for variety in venues so that I am sure that ideas and information are coming from various sources – not only to present perspective – but to allow different presentation styles which in turn help my children understand what they like, why and how.

How this turns into pick it up/put it down is that if the medium through which we are learning is not working for whatever reason – we put it down. That does not mean that we never look at that subject again – but it means that we need a different type of medium. Perhaps instead of a book, we need a field trip. An example would be science – labs are more interesting and engaging than reading a book. Or instead of a field trip we need a game.

Even within the public education model there are no guarantees. True - you will get some exposure to 8 - 12 different topic areas (depending on what your particular school system deems a requirement). But how effective is that exposure? There are many, many topics that I did not discover until I was an adult. I am still discovering, both because of my own interests and those of my children.

Point is that there is really no wrong answer here. In all cases - whatever you are exposed to may or may not lead to the next discovery. But the interesting thing is - just because you don’t discover it today, does not mean you won’t discover it some other time.
As an unschooler, I don’t worry about what exposure does not happen. I am more concerned about what they get out of what they are exposed to. . . i.e., is it interesting, does it result in follow-on interests, does it have spin-off applications, does it have relational applications, and so forth.

Just because you are exposed to something today, also, does not mean that it will have meaning or application to you today. So, I might introduce my kids to a particular topic - and it bounces right off. But sometime in the future, we may be doing something - and they remember, "Hey! That is just like when we read about . . .".

I also have found that with my kids (all three of them) doing was more important than reading (or studying). Whenever they had a chance to do something they got more out of the situation than if we spent three weeks reading every book on the topic. I have also found that by doing - we identify many more spin-off opportunities and applications than when we read.

Gardening for example, spins off into studying flowers, insects, pesticides (environmental pollution), growing cycles, weather, etc. If we were to spend three months studying gardens via the classroom model - we would all go bonkers. But creating a garden takes months (and years if you are creating a long term garden), and we pick up and put down books on the topics as we need them. We all stay engaged and many types of subjects are covered.

Whatever you decide, unschooling, traditional studies homeschooling, or public school, chances are your children will be exposed to enough variety such that they can take it upon themselves to continue to discover new topics.

Question 2:  What if the perspective that is presented is not complete, accurate, or even truthful?

This is an issue that every parent should consider, no matter if an unschooler, school at home homeschooler, or public schooler. And this is an issue that is very difficult to assess in some circumstances. Likely areas of concern are history, politics, religion, current events, and science.  These subject areas bring risk for a very logical reason: the truth or the facts are often clouded by perspective. Sometimes the truth is intentionally clouded – that which we call propaganda. In other cases, it is simply the result of lack of sufficient exposure to various sources and lack in the depth of research.

History is an excellent subject to pick on, because it is so obvious how history texts, books, films can be skewed. History is written by the victors. The story of the American Revolutionary War has a very different flavor when written by American historians versus British historians. The story of the American Indians is very different in traditional American history books, than if you were to read Black Elk Speaks. The list could go on and on.

The problem becomes more apparent when you consider that you and I were taught through biased sources. I like using the example of the North American Indians – because there is so much misinformation in our literature, history, and current affairs – it is easy to show extensive examples.

There is an excellent resource list about bias in history regarding American Indians at: http://www.kporterfield.com/aicttw/excerpts/antibiasbooks.html. I would recommend that you read through the listings, it will help you to see how your own exposure to literature and history was not comprehensive or accurate.

I want to draw your attention to a resource that evaluated historical information about Indians. It is called the Shocking Truth about Indians. And what is very interesting is that a set of ten criteria was established to evaluate the content of history books. The ten criteria are shown below.

• Bias by Omission: selecting information that reflects credit on only one group, frequently the writers group.
 
• Bias by Defamation: calling attention to the native persons faults rather than his virtues and misrepresenting his nature.
 
• Bias by Disparagement: (disparagement: something that lowers a thing or person in worth or importance): denying or belittling the contributions of native people to Canadian culture.
 
• Bias by Cumulative Implication: constantly creating the impression that only one group is responsible for positive developments.
 
• Bias by (lack of) Validity: failing to ensure that information about issues is always accurate and unambiguous.  (Ambiguous: having more than one possible meaning.)
 
• Bias by Inertia: perpetuation of legends and half-truths by failure to keep abreast of historical scholarship.
 
• Bias by Obliteration: ignoring significant aspects of native history.
 
• Bias by Disembodiment: referring in a casual and depersonalized way to the Indian menace or representing the annihilation of Indian culture as part of the march of progress.
 
• Bias by (lack of) Concreteness: dealing with a race or group in platitudes and generalizations (applying the shortcomings of one individual to a whole group). To be concrete, the material must be factual, objective and realistic.
 
• Bias by (lack of) Comprehensiveness: failing to mention all relevant facts that may help to form the opinion of the student.

Source: http://www.panamgames.net/mainpage/s1Intro/s1intro.html
Now – think about every subject that you teach your children. Think about your own knowledge base. Evaluate that with these ten criteria.

Powerful food for thought. Yes?

Throughout my public school experience – I had been fed a diet of biased information about the American Indians. I did not need to be told this – I suspected that there was something wrong with the story from day 1. But I had no idea to what lengths I had been deceived until I enrolled in a majors-level course in college about North American Plains Indians; from a professor who had been adopted into a tribe and lived as an Indian for ten years. His class changed my approach to knowledge – I realized that I needed to question everything much more aggressively than I had done in the past – I needed to find multiple sources of information and make my own decisions about what was “true”. And even with that awakening, I still did not see all my misconceptions.
When I was in high school (late 1970s) I was taught about a country called the Soviet Union. The stories and pictures that were presented were bleak, scary, and gray. However illogical it seems, I concluded subconsciously that all Soviet people were old (how silly is that?), the country was a huge industrial complex, there were no flowers, forests, rivers, or any kind of beauty. And there was no laughter. Only sadness, despair, misery. I learned this not only through our text books, but the literature and movies.

Imagine my surprise fifteen years later when I traveled to Russia to find a country filled with interesting, engaging and intelligent people. A country rich in natural resources (although perhaps mismanaged – but then who are we to talk about that!) – with beautiful landscapes and interesting wildlife. And a culture that is rich in variety and depth, developed over a thousand years.

I felt cheated, ashamed and silly. Why had I not questioned my education more intently?
The answer is simple and scary:  there had been no reason to question it – until I had the need.
So – now – as a unschooler – as a parent – as a life long learner – I try to remember these two lessons – and look for alternate sources of information – to make sure that I am not perpetuating myths and misconceptions based on my own biases. I try to remember not to be lazy and accept my own knowledge base as fact. And when in doubt – I can look to the ten criteria presented above – as a guideline to making sure that bias is not blinding me.

Question 3:  What about topics that are rarely, if ever, covered in public schools? How do people ever discover those topics?

This is such an interesting question. Most people assume that an education is a destination. You cover a specific amount of material, and then you are finished. But I believe that an education should be learning how to process information, where to find sources of information, and a mechanism by which to test the validity of that information.

I also believe that people who are naturally curious will discover new topics throughout their lifetime. The key as a parent is to provide the foundation from which this curiosity is nourished and encouraged so children do not become afraid to ask questions and to look beyond the easy answer. If you can provide these two situations in your learning environment, then you have provided the necessary tools for them to discover anything and everything that they will need – at the right time.

Linda is a multi-tasking (translation: crazy) mom of three, homeschooling since 1992, world traveler, dreamer, writer (baker, chef and bottlewasher).

Comments

[JoVE]

I think one of the reasons we unschool/homeschool is question 3. My daughter expressed an interest in history at age 8. They don't really do history in grade 3. And now that we are homsechooling, she has discovered an interested in art. We can follow those interests in much more depth than if we were also trying to "cover" all the topics in the provincial curriculum.

[Jackie]

Linda, I really appreciate this post. Your passion for the subject really comes through. My husband and I are raising 6 bi-racial children and finding history sources for them is difficult at times because the "good ol' boys" approach to history is the one that dominates the book shelves. Although I'm sure this approach works for some children, it is heart-breakig for my kids. Primary sources have been invaluable in showing my children a purer, albeit at times less positive, view of our shared history.

[Jan]

Will definitely check out those resources. My epiphany was when I read "Lies My Teacher Told Me" about ten years ago... That book really woke me up and made me realize that I hadn't learned the truth about in public school..