Unschooling 9 : What about academic goals, degrees and certificates?

Today a school friend whatsapped  me. He viewed the videos of my live sessions with Express Parenting (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) and shared that he resonated with everything I shared. His only worry was about the future and how would unschoolers manage without clearing exams and getting degrees and certificates. He also wanted to know about how unschooled children would get admissions into professional courses. 

Though I answered his questions briefly, I felt I hadn't done much justice and hence here I am writing down my take on all questions around future, certification, admissions into mainstream professional courses and the job scene for unschoolers.

I believe that no one can predict the future and how much ever you plan for your future - you never really know whether that is definitely going to happen. The lockdown and the Covid 19 pandemic has demonstrated this unpredictable nature of future. Having said that, my experience with schooling says that school children are drilled into making their lives organized and planned. They are constantly told to prepare for something that would happen in the future. Attend school, learn your lessons, practice - so that you give exams and do well in them. It is all about competition and better grades. This is true for non academics too - practice for a sports day, practice for a performance, practice to compete. The ones who follow this plan are lauded as being disciplined. Children get trained rather tamed or conditioned to follow routines. The method used to achieve this is through rewards or punishments and  through bribes or threats. Children learn to follow these schedules either in fear of all the threats, punishments, telling down, meanness inflicted on them or in do it as a competition with other children or for rewards, praise and bribes. Many efforts are put in to get them to do what the curriculum demands - this results in them 'learning to think in a certain way' - to ignore what they want to do, follow what is planned for them by someone else and build confidence through competition and comparison.

As the control over 'a child's autonomy' - one of the most important ingredient of growth and learning shifts to somebody else, the child stops using their own mind and feelings to decide what they want. And some children like I was during my childhood - start living a life of eternal confusion as our heart wants us to do something and we are forced to do something else - our confidence and self esteem falls and we get labeled as - border line, average students or slow learners. In short the sense of identity shapes on the basis of something external (behaviour meted out to them by their teachers, parents, classmates and significant others). Some children fight to keep their agency intact and these children become school misfits, they either get into trouble all the time or learn to get things going their way as much as possible by resorting to behaviours such as playing pranks, playing truant, making excuses, copying, lying, bullying, using unfair means to appear as good children. These children get labeled as hyperactive, attention seekers, attention deficit, bullies, class disrupts etc. 

What kind of future can we predict for such children? A future where a child grows into an adult who learns to simply follow orders without thinking of whether this is what they want? A future where one has to resort to therapy, counseling, coaching - as they aren't able to resolve their own challenges? A future something external such as consumerism and capitalism takes over your life and makes you so dependent on 'money' that your goal shifts to earning more and more to be able afford the every increasing 'wants'. If this is what a parent wants for their child - then 'schooling' is the best option.

I must say, I feel happy when I see the school system hackers - the ones who learn to get away from the clutches of the system and exercise their agency...and remain aligned to their heart and mind - for according to my experience these are the ones  who lead a wholesome life. Children who also enjoy academics and organized learning also seem to be happier as academic learning is their interest area. 

Now imagine a life where your child follows their passion and their interest. Their curiosity becomes their guide to learning. They 'learn' because they want to and not because they have to. Imagine a life where a child can get immersed in their area of interest for as long as they want and for not mere 30 - 40 minute periods. Imagine a life where a child's sense of accomplishment comes from what they have learnt and not what reward they received. Imagine a life where a child grows to be an adult who makes decisions keeping his mind and heart aligned. A life where a child is happy and content. A life where the child learns to own their decisions and choices and believes that life is a journey - there are no mistakes or failures - only learnings that help you decide on your next step in life. This is what I aim for my children and I know that this won't happen if someone else is always deciding for them or their decisions are based on fear. 

One might say that I am being very idealistic and and the real world is different. One has to learn to compete and go ahead of the others in order to make it in life. To this, I say, my children are living a real life. They learn from living a real life. They interact with real people every day. Real people in the open world and not amidst closed classroom doors. They learn to be independent and they are making choices everyday. Decisions are not being made by others for them. They learn to excel by defeating themselves - the previous level they were at and move ahead. They do not compare or compete with others. They simply aim at getting better in what they are interested in. 

Secondly, they are internally driven or intrinsically motivated as they do things as they want to and are not looking for any external validation. I do not say that they do not display their skills or knowledge...what I am saying is that external rewards do not play a major role in their motivation. The goal itself is highly motivating. One will find these qualities among some schooled children too - these are those with strong resilience and internal locus of control and aware parents - who nurture them to believe in themselves and rarely use force to make them behave in a certain way.

So what about academic goals - We do not follow any standardized curriculum or syllabus. Children decide on the extent or the depth of any knowledge or skill they aim to learn. There are times when a much younger unschooler has already mastered a concept taught for a higher age group or it could also be that an unschooler is lagging behind a schooled child in certain skills. The belief that a child learns when he feels the need to learn takes precedence over any academic goals. Every child is unique and learns at their own pace - thus standardization does not work. Also with all the technological advancement - we have google for all the facts and figures...what is required is the application of these facts and figures when a real life situation arises. This is possible by living life and being part of varied experiences.

When I say the above lines - I am often asked about degrees and certificates. How would unschooled children manage without these? 

I would like to say that we are not against degrees and certificates. All I say is that my children would go for degrees and certificates if they feel the need for one. Fortunately, there are open boards that allow children who have opted out of the schooling system to give exams. We have NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling), Maharashtra State Open Board, Cambridge board (IGCSE) offering examinations and certificates. Post these examinations the unschooler is eligible for all required entrance examinations for all professional courses and admissions to any university except the medical profession  A PIL has been filed to allow unschoolers / homeschoolers interested in becoming doctors to be deemed eligible for such courses too. We also have the option to learn alternate healing practices. 

There are many universities that accept unschoolers / homeschoolers in their programs. In India we have an initiative called Swaraj University that has a two year program that uses self directed learning approaches and has been designed for those who want to direct and design their own learning. 

I know of many grown up unschoolers who are well settled in their lives as techies, artists, graphic designers, writers, film makers, chefs, restaurateurs, social entrepreneurs, business entrepreneurs. Thus there definitely is tremendous scope for unschoolers and this scope is growing every year. 

At present, I am happy that my children are living a life where they are in charge. They are learning to take informed decisions based on what they sense around them and on the advice given to them. I am happy that they make most of their present and are in the 'here and now'. 

I do understand that this is difficult for many to digest. I also believe that if our education system starts re-imagining education and learning and gives a serious thought to how children learn - they would put in more efforts to transform the irrelevant system of learning instead of researching and developing more and more strategies to get all children to fit inside one box.