One of the best pieces about homeschooling I’ve read in a long time is Penelope Trunk’s “Generation Z Will Revolutionize Education.” Our son is now 20 and homeschooled for ten years, from the end of second grade until he entered college full-time. He was born on the cusp of Generation Z (as I was born between the cracks of the Baby Boomers and Generation X) , and our homeschooling experience echoes and bears out many of Ms. Trunk’s observations and predictions. She writes:
“[W]e will have a generation of kids who grew up with largely a self-learning, self-directed model. They are more accustomed to figuring out what they like to do, and doing it on their own. The crisis to figure out what to do with one’s life will not last so long because Gen X will raise more independent and self-directed kids.’
I see this self-direction not only in our son but in his friends. It’s not that they don’t worry about the future or struggle to choose a career, but most of them definitely do not experience the decision as a crisis. They have the confidence that they will figure it all out… eventually.
“[A]s qualifications for the workplace will rapidly change and older people who don’t keep up will be outdated, it will be Generation Z that is best at keeping up. Not because they are young, but because they understand that unschooling is not a movement for kids, but a way to live a life, and it doesn’t stop when you start getting a paycheck.”
The unschooling that was a large part of our homeschooling years returned to me a passion for learning and gave our son an invaluable perspective on education, so that, even in college, he can give himself permission to learn what and when and how he wants to learn, regardless of whether he receives credit or grades, whether school is in session or out.
Homeschooling is not the only way to give children this sense of freedom and initiative (and generalities about generations can easily become too sweeping), but I do think that the readily available and increasingly acceptable option of homeschooling—even for families who choose never to leave the traditional classroom—offers a new and empowering perspective on learning, one that James T. Webb presented in his keynote address to the 2011 SENG Conference when he posed this question: Are we preparing gifted children for college… or preparing them for life?
What trends or changes do you see in attitudes toward education and learning in yourselves, your children, or your students?
I am not a parent but I have been checking out on homeschooling for a while. There are benefits in homeschooling where kids learn things that are not taught in schools. Secondly, I believe homeschooled kids can and do have normal lives like other kids as well as having a balanced life.
Thanks for this comment! It’s always nice to find non-homeschoolers who understand why some people would choose home education.
I love the optimism! The question of “are we raising our children for college or for life?” is revolutionary really. As a former high school teacher, my students told me how they were told in elementary that they had to be ready for middle school, and in middle school how they needed skills to be ready for high school. I know I was a piece of that chain when I told my students what they needed for college. But then what? And what about learning for the sake of loving learning? It’s like the 60′s saying, “Be here now.” and understand the value of what you are learning now. If we continue to teach our children wih a threat of needing to know something in the distant future, really we are asking them to become passionate about some detached ideas through duress. I am going to share this article with my Gen Z kiddos.
Your Gen Z kiddos are very luck to have you for a mom, Jessica.