Links on unschooling and radical environmentalism

The Six-Lesson School Teacher is an essay by John Taylor Gatto damning the school system.

Who Needs School? A video interview with Holly and Sandra Dodd

Resist Do Not Comply is a moving video on Arctic wildlife, climate change, and militant action. Link courtesy of Misko (thanks!).

World At Gunpoint is the first installment of a new column in Orion magazine written by Derrick Jensen. Thanks to ps pirro for the link!

The problem with "Green"

I'm not even an activist myself (yet), but I'm starting to really get annoyed at mainstream environmentalists, mainstream climate change educators, spreading awareness about this problem. And don't get me wrong, it's the single largest issue in the world, more detrimental to our species or countless other species survival than anything else. Problem is, all these mainstream environmentalists, all the governmental parties, they ALL put the onus squarely on you and me. Drive less, they say. Yes, driving less and buying fuel efficient cars lowers green house gas emissions by a minuscule amount. But you know what? The meat-agriculture industry produces more green house gas emissions than ALL transportation in the ENTIRE world. More green house gas than every single car, bus, train, boat, and airplane in the ENTIRE WORLD. Are you hearing anyone say don't eat beef anymore? Of course not! Beef, by the way, is THE food that's the hardest on the environment to produce. Another interesting fact is that if all the countless crops grown to support animals we later eat as meat were instead fed to humans, there would be no global food crisis. Every single human being in this world would have enough food to survive. And here's another thing you hear a lot from so called 'environmentalists'. Use less water. Take shorter showers. Well guess what. Corporations use 90% of the water that's used by humans. Ninety fricken' percent of ALL WATER USED BY OUR SPECIES! There is something seriously wrong with that. Why aren't these facts commonly known? Why is everyone pointing fingers at the wrong people? Well, I suppose, as usual, the powers in charge (governments and corporations) don't want that known. People WILL worry about the environment, so they need to feel that they're doing something, that they can change things. So they're carefully guided in the right direction, so they can all be good little green citizens without ever actually fixing the problem, and, more importantly to the powers that be, without ever harming their profits and production. So you know what? I guess the onus IS still on us, on the common people. But not for the reasons so many people think. If we really want to change things, stop supporting corporations. Stop buying their products. Stop giving them money to deforest our planet, stop giving them money to support death squads that make sure no one stands in the way of Shell's access to oil. Hold them accountable, or, even better, simply bring them down. Deprive them of the means to kill all life on earth. Because THAT ladies and gentleman, is the only way to truly be Green.

I'm tired, and rather pissed off at the moment, from having just watched more of this misdirection of the public, so this may be a rather unintelligeble rant... *Sighs* I hope you understand where this is coming from, anyway.

Peace
Idzie

ELF's and Writing

August 11

Leading from my research into anarcho-primitivism the previous day, I did some research on various groups and organizations that seek to save the planet. The most extreme, and also most fascinating, of these is the Earth Liberation Front, or ELF. Deemed by the US government as one of the top American based homeland security threats. Despite that, they have yet to cause a single death, or even injury. They have, however, destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property, in the name of saving the environment (some targets have been: Mansions that put wetlands in danger, a ski resort that planed to cut down hundreds more trees, and similar things). Although I'm in no way in favour of blowing stuff up, I can understand with the world we live in how easy it is to get discouraged, and to feel that bringing it all down, piece by piece, is the only way left to go.

In other news, I also wrote a piece on unschooling, entitled What is Unschooling? Here it is...

Introduction

What is unschooling? That’s always the first question asked when I tell people that I’m unschooled. Blank looks and curiosity. Homeschooling has now become, if not mainstream, at least well known, with high profile stories of homeschoolers and Harvard. Unschooling, however, although wide spread, is still relatively unknown. Even among some homeschoolers! So what is it you ask? Well, it is a form of homeschooling I suppose, in the sense that unschoolers do not go to school, but whereas homeschooling tends to imply a school-at-home type setup, unschooling is completely different. The unschooling child or teenager directs their own education. Yes, you read that right.

Unschooling Versus Traditional Schools

Unschooling works on the principle that people are born with the desire to learn, and will therefore have quite enough motivation to learn about anything and everything they want to. We taught ourselves to speak, didn’t we? Why would we be unable to teach ourselves anything else we’re interested in? Schools, however, seem to think that we as human beings are born dumb, incapable of using common sense or making our own way in the world. Instead, schools seek to control the child’s/teens life completely, to hold their hands and guide, nay shove, them in all the “right” directions. Schools teach obedience, conformity, and many useless facts. Something few people are aware of is that originally, our school system was designed to educate the lower class, teach absolute obedience to authority, and give the minimum education needed for them to be good factory workers. Our noble, and narrow, views of “Education” are rooted in nothing more than control.

Dispelling Some Common Myths About Homeschooling and Unschooling or What Does an Unschooler Do?

As an unschooler, the parents are not “teachers”. They are there to help as facilitators, helping the child to discover resources and those knowledgeable in different subjects. Although many people equate homeschooling with staying at home and becoming little more than a hermit, most unschoolers spend quite a bit, or even most of, their time outside of the home. Volunteering, working, participating in apprenticeships, getting involved in activism, visiting museums and libraries… When actually in the home (or at a library, or a café, or sitting on the grass in a pleasant field…), many unschoolers devour books. There are amazing non-fiction (and fiction) books on any subject you choose, whether your interests lie in poetry, space shuttle construction, shoe making or calculus. The possibilities are endless, and the unschooler finds themselves unhindered in their learning and growing by the time consuming, creativity squashing school system. Will your average unschooler end up flipping burgers all their life? Absolutely not. Unschoolers regularly score above average on SAT and/or GED tests, or have extremely impressive portfolios of work if they choose not to take tests due to their beliefs on the folly of standardized testing. They get into colleges and universities, some quite prestigious ones, if they so choose. They also quite often decide not to do any formal schooling, and instead pursue their dreams of starting a ballet or circus company, opening a retail store, becoming an organic farmer, starting a home business fixing computers… The opportunities are truly endless.

In Conclusion

Am I biased? Obviously. But I do not regret the years I’ve spent in free exploration, in learning everything that I want to learn, not what my government believes I should learn. Is it for everyone? Perhaps not. But it certainly is a viable option, one that will let you or your kids grow naturally, freely, and follow YOUR dreams, to think outside the box, not the narrow range of college dreams deemed acceptable by the schooling system, and sadly, society in general. Let your love of learning fly as high as the clouds, not get trampled into the polluted muck below.

I don't think it's all that good personally, but the editor of the homeschooling magazine I write for wants me to re-work it into a longer article (including my experiences at Not Back To School Camp) and publish it. Go figure. On a similar not, I'm SO FREAKING LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT CAMP!! Only a month away...