I have a fair number of friends who were unschooled, and sometimes I wish I hd been able to take that path as well. I graduated from the k-12 system, but the pressure and lack of accommodation of my learning difficulties and learning style contributed to a suicidal depression in my first couple years of high school. I love learning, and now I love history, and I recognize that the way I learnt history in high school turned me off of it for years, which is so sad.
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It sort of shocks me that there isn't more effort to change the school system with the current levels of depression and suicide. It's really clear to me that it's correlated to the pressure on kids. I've always thought the modern school system honestly tries really hard to destroy the love of learning. Some kids come out still loving it, but it's rare, and most of us have to find our way back.
I definitely had to find my way out and then back. I love learning, but it's only recently that I've connected what I love to learn with my life path. It took eight years to get my bachelor's degree because the first 3-4 years I was pursuing what I thought I should learn and do, instead of what connected to my passion and what made me happy. Those early years were far harder than the latter half!
So very true. I had the very same issue. I always knew I wanted to be a mom, but beyond that I'm still not sure. Of course it occupies a lot of my time, and I feel it's very important to put a lot of effort into, so maybe in the future there will be something else, but for now mom is plenty. I floundered through my bachelor's though because I was just doing what I thought people wanted me to do. It was pretty miserable really.
I did nursing prerequisites, then marketing, then communication, because I fel they would make respectable and lucrative careers. I didn't have a passion for any of them, though, and it wasn't until I got into Black Studies and then started taking history classes that I figured out what I really wanted to do. The academic job market is scary, but I know that I can't just do something because it's expected of me or because it's popular. Without real emotional investment and passion, I'll end up miserable and burned out. So I think it's best to follow your own truth. :)
Oh, I so agree. I think the best thing about unschooling is giving kids time and space to figure out what their passion is and really devote time to it while they still have so much free time and don't have to pay bills.
Haha, yeah! Being an adult is such a time-suck—who knew? ;)
I know! Bring on that UBI!