Own it! Stay Solid! A Radical Handbook for Youth. Book Review

The book itself feels lovely to the touch. It reminds me of the reaction I’ll often have, when in the presence of art paper—this too makes me want to grab my conte crayon and get doodling.
Judging from the cover, Stay Solid: A Radical Handbook for Youth, seems to be about young people, just being themselves. But what is the book like inside?

When I do open to the pages, I am not disappointed. Edited by Matt Hern and contributors at the Purple Thistle Centre, this collection of essays is a guidebook that basically says to young people: “Hey. You’re okay. I’m okay. We’re okay.”
It's okay to be whomever you want to be; okay to dream; okay to be passionate; okay to agitate for better, because it’s not enough and you want some more. And you are right to have expectations, great expectations (why do I keep quoting Dickens?).
Here’s a book about creating your own adventure. It’s a book that is in the know of what young folk are talking about and acting on. Mostly, it’s a book about hope.

You’ll hear from those who are challenging misogyny, questioning authority and advocating for social justice (feminist, racial, LGBTQ, Indigenous etc). Based on firsthand accounts and experiences, the book covers everything from activism, environment-care, sexuality, relationships, to education, work, travel, art, media and so much more. Stay Solid is filled with quotes from well known thinkers and activists. The illustrations are fun.

This book is the mentor you never had. It’s the uncle or aunt you longed for—whose support you could count on no matter how ‘unreasonable’ your parents said you were. It’s the parent you wish had loved you unconditionally, no matter your sexual orientation.  Reading through the pages, you feel like you are in the company of friends and allies who aren't judging.  Everything we grownups scoff at—idealism, fun, bravery and dreams—are what you are urged to hold onto.
Go after the life you envision, believe in. Embrace who you are. Own the hell out of it. Claim it. Be proud of it. It’s yours, it’s you. Make no excuses. Take responsibility. And when you’re out there, be real. Coming to you live. Coming at you authentically. Unashamed. Unapologetic.  Own your life.

Notes:
1. I would have ditched the ‘radical’ in the book title (and so would my 16 year old). Justice is not radical, it’s right. But, hey, title works I guess.

2. This book is not only for the young.

Skin Color: The Shame of Silence. Book Review.

Skin color matters.
If you think that in today's society, skin color is no longer an issue, you are probably still being white.

 History matters! At a conference for Christian groups to learn from Indigenous people about moving towards reconciliation and justice, one of the participants—a reverend of a church—later said to me, "I expected to be inspired! I expected to learn something new, something I hadn't heard before. Instead I was made to feel guilty and uncomfortable."
"If it has to be said over and over again, maybe that’s because people like you have yet to take responsibility for your inherited white skin privilege," I wanted to say. "Did you think you would come here not be challenged?" I replied instead.
The poor man was expecting great things of others and very little of himself!

This is an example of why we are nowhere near a just society for all.  It is why we need books such as Skin color: The shame of silence by Conrad P. Pritscher.
White people need white awareness education by white people.White people need to acknowledge their white skin privilege. White people need to be challenged and they need to challenge the deeply ingrained, deeply harmful belief of white supremacy that is ingrained in our culture.
This book helps white people talk to white people about white racism, “since people of color have been talking about these racial matters until they are “blue” in the face and it does not seem to make a dent in the institutionalized racism (white racism) that continues to exist in our society.”(23)

Pritscher defines himself as a recovering racist—‘recovering racist' implying that "although European Americans are often born and acculturated into a racist society, in a position of power and greater wealth because of their ancestry, they can recover from this societally inherited disease if they choose to by actively fighting the racism in themselves, as well as in the larger, institutionally racist society.

Education
Not until we have higher levels of white awareness (by whites) will we have a noticeable reduction in racism.  Education is at the heart of how we can reduce racism and Pritscher’s writing is an offering of how to do so—in and out of school.
So before you protest loudly, “I’m white but I‘m not racist. I don’t need this book,’
I invite you to pause for a moment. If you are living your life blind to your white privilege, you are part of the problem.
Pritscher argues that if as an educator, you are not actively addressing issues of racism, then you are likely perpetuating racism: “If you are actively permitting the status quo, you are permitting racism period. The responsibility is yours to work towards racial justice.” (36).

It does not surprise me when Pritscher postulates that the demand for certainty in our society—to exist in comforting constraints—breeds and upholds attitudes of rigidity and inflexibility of mind.
He argues that currently, schooling provides conditions for the continuation of racism. He points out the connections that have been made between rigid thinking, (“closedness’), conformity and desire for predictability to heightened degrees of racism. He emphasizes that there is a strong link between "dogged and excessive obedience to authority" (which schools often cultivate) and a tendency towards racism.
  “Should we ask what kind of schooling promotes people who are prone to fear and aggression, are resistant to change, and are intolerant of ambiguity?  What continues to foster such high needs to obey authority and to be certain?” Conrad asks (18).

Pritscher explores the pitfalls of traditional schooling (including college and universities), and the idea that it tends to control students minds to the point where students often seek additional control, conforming to the dictations of the 1%.

High Quality Education

Education is not enough. What is required now is a fundamental shifting of how we educate; a high quality education described by Pritscher as comprising of self-direction, “which is thought to help people be more tolerant of ambiguity, be more open to change.”
Quality learners will be less prone to fear and aggression, which is after all the root of racism.
Pritscher explains, “Self-directed education (quality learning rather than ‘training’) fosters freedom and in turn, racism reduction. To self direct your learning is to be open to the unexpected, the surprise and the habitual chaos. It is to be unafraid of ambiguity, uncertainty but nurtures the believe in oneself, not external authority and in turn less suspicion of others.”

Other examples of what white people can do to unlearn racist ways include ‘living room sessions,’—inviting friends and families to share discussions on oppression, contacting school boards, school superintendents, teachers, city council members, and others in positions of power, with phone calls, letters to the editor, e-mails etc. and expressing the view that “we now, as whites, need to be a traitor to whiteness if we are to be loyal to humanity.”

Pritscher covers the roots of white privilege and the contribution of our 'image and idea makers' (experts and researchers in the fields of social sciences, psychiatry, medicine, education) towards perpetuating oppression, when they tell us what is normal, abnormal, deviant) “These images and ideas are used to label, divide and oppress people, often in ways that are difficult to detect.”

But: “There's no one natural category for anything, yet the mostly white value system generally holds that there is.  We too often believe that there is an essential nature of man.  Once this nature is discovered through science, it is used to determine value.  One of these implicit white values was, and continues to be for some whites, that whites are better than African-Americans and other people of color. (38).

Pritscher very kindly takes in to consideration your white feelings:
“This does not mean white people are bad.  It means the way we have taught our young has not changed in over a century.  We, our parents, and grandparents often unconsciously hold that which prevents us from noticeably reducing racism.”(21).

In conclusion, speaking as a person of colour, white people need to take their hurt feelings out of the picture (“Oh I feel so awkward—“me, me this is all about me and my feelings”). They need to stop undermining the experiences of people of colour, ("Some of the nuns are hurt by all this talk about how bad the residential schools. It wasn’t all evil.”). They need to be willing to do this work so that we can have a just society for all people.

With Pritscher, “white people can no longer in good conscience, avoid  dealing with the bigotry and racism that is ingrained in white communities. It is white people’s responsibility to educate themselves on these issues.”

The Muddle-and getting out of it.

'Never Wonder!'

'It's a muddle,' is the way Stephen Blackpool puts it in Charles Dickens' Hard Times-as he tries to make sense of the injustices of the world he lives in. That dim and weighted world of back breaking labour -overseen by greedy, callous Masters.


In this world, the 'self made' men exemplified by Mr. Josiah Bounderby, a manufacturer, mill owner and tyrant believe that the poor deserve their poverty. Faceless 'Hands' complain because they expect to be "set up in a coach and six, and to be fed on turtle soup and venison, with a gold spoon, as a good many of ’em do!’


Poor Blackpool, a weaver in Bounderby's employ doesn't stand a chance at happiness in this muddle of a life. He has no hope of ever being with the woman he loves, is ostracized by his co-workers and sent packing by the boss.
Blackpool dies with the lingering feeling that it doesn't have to be a muddle if only others had a stab at shaping the works they live in.


The novel itself starts with a classroom scene where what is wrong with the world of work is equally wrong with the world of schooling.
"Now what I want is, Facts," says Thomas Gradrgrind, instructing the new teacher at his school. 'Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will be of service to them.
The children are warned that they should 'never wonder.'  Sissy, a new student is told she is stupid and fanciful because she can not describe a horse factually. Louisa, daughter to Gradgrind and future wife to the far older Bounderby, and Tom junior her brother are wrung through their father's educational system- a system which demands that they not have feelings at all.
They end up emotional cripples; ruined by their father's system.


It's a hard, hard time.
The book was written during the Industrial Revolution, and the introduction of compulsory education. This is when the 'muddle' is created.
150 years later, despite our advances in technology, health and social and ethical rights, we are still living that muddle.The gap widens between those who have and those who don't.  
Stephen's words still ring true today:

"Look how we live, an’ wheer we live, an’ in what numbers, an’ by what chances, an’ wi’ what sameness; and look how the mills is awlus a-goin’, and how they never works us no nigher to onny distant object-‘ceptin awlus Death. Look how you considers of us, and writes of us, and talks of us, and goes up wi’ your deputations to Secretaries o’ State ‘bout us, and how yo are awlus right, and how we are awlus wrong, and never had’n no reason in us sin ever we were born. Look how this ha’ growen an’ growen sir, bigger an’ bigger, broader an’ broader, harder an’ harder, fro year to year, fro generation unto generation. Who can look on’t sir, and fairly tell a man ‘tis not a muddle?"

When it comes to education- we still don't get it.'Schools are failing,' is the refrain. 'Pour more money into schools,' they say. 'Schools kill creativity,' we hear.
But the cycle continues and the students get the blame. If you fail it is because you didn't work hard enough- you weren't good in school.
And like Stephen the 'losers' go through life feeling that something doesn't add up, but not knowing what.


But many of us are extracting  ourselves from the muddle. When it comes to schooling, we are beginning to understand educational independence
We don't believe what we are told-that you can only get educated at school and that is the only valuable education you can get.
We challenge that notion. We discover that what you learn by your own initiative has more worth than what is imposed on you in an institutional setting.
We start by believing in ourselves. Trusting in ourselves means giving up beliefs we have about ourselves and what we can or can't do.
We must go into it wholesome, clear about our goals, and extricate ourselves from the muddle that is other people's beliefs.
Today, more than ever, education means taking charge of your learning and how you want to act in the world.

Unschooling Rules?

Who is this book for? Who is the audience? 

 That's the first question to come to my mind when I opened up the pdf file for the Unschooling Rules:55 ways to unlearn what we know about school and rediscover education.

 Is it written for people who don't know anything about unschooling? Is it for people who know about this strategy for educating and who want to show case how good a job unschooling does?

After reading this short, concise work, I think the author Clark Aldrich would have done better to name the book Unschooling Schools or Unschooling Lessons:What  teachers should know or Transforming the classroom with Unschooling.

Turns out the book is aimed at people who have numbers of children in their care. If you are thinking of starting an alternative school the book is for you.

In an ironic choice of wording,  Unschooling Rules is more of a handbook, a curriculum for how to educate kids better. Using the knowledge garnered from unschooling proponents, Aldrich describes how 'self-directed learning' theory can be applied to a school setting/ or to a group of kids situation.

For the most part, Aldrich does a very satisfying job of summarizing the unschooling philosophy in a very simple, clear way.

But there are paragraphs where I'm thinking, "Yes. But no."

Take this:

Whatever learning activities adults want children to perform, they have to model themselves. If they want children to read novels, they have to read novels. If they want children to do science experiments, they have to do science experiments. If they want children to write blogs, they have to write blogs.

Unschoolers understand that 'modeling in order to influence' is inauthentic and kids know.
They know when you are doing something for 'their own good.' You, the adult with a young person or young people in your care should not do a thing with the goal of trying to 'get' them to do that thing. Do it because you love it.
There are so many pursuits out there- why restrict kids to what YOU think is the most worthwhile?

Here is another idea that does not fit with unschooling philosophy:

Math must be part of a critical core curriculum. It is one of the few subjects, along with reading and writing, worth making mandatory. No one should enter the productive world, nor can they make good life decisions,without a deep and comfortable experience with math.

This is an opinion:Aldrich's opinion.

Still, the author offers useful ideas and tips that not only those new to unschooling can learn from, but even the seasoned unschooling practitioner can make use of.

However, there remains a perfect tool and context for math for the many people who do not share that passion. And that is a good spreadsheet, which can be created with Microsoft Excel, which many people have on their computers.


The built-in math functions of a spread-sheet have accurately captured a range of abilities necessary for planners, decision makers, and scientists to use.
Finally, spreadsheets allow for accessing in-formation visually through symbols as well
as graphs. Will Wright, the brilliant creator of SimCity and e Sims, mused in a conversation we had if it wouldn’t be better initially for a person to teach math without showing any numbers at all!

Aldrich has grasped the fundamental of unschooling with the idea that less is more when it comes to education:

The truth here is that for schools, getting out of the way may be the best thing they can do. Students,
left alone, will build things. They will create unique,surprising ways to meet specific needs that only they understand (even if the need is to enable an elaborate prank).

In short, a useful book.

Why Don't Students Like School?

Why don't students like school? Seriously?

You'd think with a title like this, you're in for some juicy reading from a person who understands the kid's point of view.
But don't judge a book by its title. The author Daniel Willingham, a cognitive scientist is well meaning but falls short of the mark.

According to the research he quotes, humans might be curious but we don't like to think. Why? because it's hard.

And this basically is the reasoning behind why students don't like school.

So the point of the book?

It serves as a heavy duty 'how to' handbook for teachers and educators to give them tips on how to get their students to enjoy learning (since according to him, we humans avoid using our brains at all cost); to create, like a magician might, opportunities to "feel the rush" of a discovery more often.

It basically asks of teachers that they try to make schools "not a place of boredom and drudgery" but excitement and discovery (38).

Willingham says people need background knowledge in order to think critically but he also says "It's better to have a smattering of knowledge than no knowledge."(35). I'm not so sure. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, or so the saying goes.

An exhausting read.

To me, it seems absurd to first carve out specific places of learning and then proceed to create these expectations. What an incredible tall order to deliver. To have to take on such a responsibility seems daunting, unfair and even presumptuous.

Frankly if I were a teacher I would want to give up.

If you're authentically excited about something then that automatically generates enthusiasm in those others who resonant with what you're into-it will still do nothing for those who aren't interested.


Taking offense at the 'bright lights' that have 'denigrated school" the author simply fails to see the obvious; that the 'background' knowledge he insists develops critical thinking was an interference for these thinkers who wanted instead to pursue what they were passionate about.

Background knowledge comes after-as a result of following your interest and building on that solid foundation.

The book has merit only insofar as a platform in which to once more expose schooling strategies as fundamentally intrusive.

Teaching is an act of persuasion he says. And that to me says it all.

What Really Matters? David Albert and Joyce Reed tell us what!

What Really Matters? I love the title of this book because it has you questioning your priorities right off the bat.

In this collection of essays- conversations between veteran homeschooling advocates Joyce Reed and David Albert, we get to the heart of the matter:what is learning really all about?

I read the book cover to cover and found within its pages useful tips and encouraging words of wisdom as well as liberating ways to think about how people actually learn.

Most of all, I felt energized and inspired by Reed and Albert's living examples of the wonderful world that can unfold when we trust our kids; that they are learning what they need to and want to.

How do we do this? And what does it look like? These two 'elders' share their beautiful stories with us, and it makes everything seem so much more lighter.

As we read through the pages of these essays, we can look at our own children's learning paths in new light-and be heartened that they are capable of forging just as an extraordinary a path as the children of these advocates have done.

We can do our best to help them along the way-but not too much. Like Albert and Reed did (and continue to do, I'm sure), we need to offer; expose and then step back so that they can explore and discover what they are passionate about.

In keeping with my 'learning in community' theme of the past couple blog posts, there is one chapter in the book where Albert writes in a thought provoking essay called "The Curriculum of Beauty' about there being moral and ethical beauty- and how to find these in 'beautiful relationships' stepping outside our security zone to seek out these people.

"Seek out not only opportunities for service in your community or your world, but contact for your children with those who work, in their own ways, big or small for peace, l justice and equity, often at risk to themselves or in sacrifice of their own creature comfort.

He suggests having tea parties, "lots and lots of tea parties," as an easy way to get the ball rolling.

This is a book that I would give to anyone who wants an indepth depiction of what joyful learning and living, authentic education looks like.
It's published by Natural Life Books.

The Homeschool Liberation League

"The Homeschool Liberation League" by Lucy Frank is a middle-grade novel coming out in July.

After a summer at Wilderness Camp, thirteen year- old Katya decides that she absolutely cannot go back to school. At school she can’t eradicate invasive alien plants, go on foraged-food-finding missions, or just be herself. Her parents, despite being “school kind of people,” are willing to give it a try, but Katya has to stick to their (just-like-school!) assignments. This isn’t what she had in mind.

So with the help of a mysterious violin-playing boy, Milo, and new friend Francesca, Katya comes up with a plan to save her homeschooling experience. The three become the founding members of the Homeschool Liberation League––but will it be enough to convince Katya’s parents that her ideas about learning might be just right for her? (Amazon.com review)

Check out this review as well
http://kpl-teen-reads.livejournal.com/74511.html

Sounds promising.

Life Learning

Home based education pioneer, Wendy Priesnitz , has just put out Life Learning: Lessons from the Educational Frontier.

It's a collection of essays from the leading edge of educational theory and practice. Priesnitz has collected essays from back issues of Life Learning magazine. that describe both the philosophy and the experience of life learning/radical unschooling

I have an essay in it too! Makes a good introduction to those not familiar with the ideas of un schooling-and is a handy companion to those unschoolers who are faltering.