Perhaps I am a little bitter at having been one of those kids, ingrained with book learning. But I often wonder if I simply responded to it well because part of that love for all things scholarly was innate. The balance between the self and the social is fascinating, especially when it comes to education.

An important aspect of unschooling is that it does not train children to sit around passively and take orders. If children are not ingrained with the idea that their highest goal in life should be to become a well-functioning cog in a large machine, they will not feel helpless and powerless when they can’t find a machine to be a part of. Hopefully, they will use their own talents and gifts to add value to the world, most likely by creating their own business.

The tenet that school crushes entrepreneurial impulses and molds children into passive consumers is central in many of John Tyalor Gatto’s books. If you haven’t checked him out already, I think you’d love his work.