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John Holt's un-schooling movement was founded on the basis that structured home schooling for children, which follows the same curriculum format as the main stream educational system, should be discarded in favour of a system of schooling that is more directly related to a teaching system that is based upon the individual child's needs and interests. In other words what Holt suggested was that children's learning should be directed at things they as individuals were interested in rather than to have present lessons like maths, English, history and other of the more recognised subjects that for the basic structured for most formalised educational programmes and policies.

In other words the Holt philosophy was that education for children should become an extension of the experiences that give them pleasure in their everyday life and natural development process. For example, education could be intertwined with play. Where a child shows a natural affinity for adventure they might be susceptible to learning about travel and the world outside of their own country. Similar, where a child expresses a natural interest in puzzles or reading the homeschooling can use this interest to develop their learning about mathematics and English.

This then is the legacy of the John Holt un-schooling movement. However, as with any legacy the question always to be answered is whether it is beneficial or detrimental to those who follow its remit. In this respect, at least in the view of the author, the difficulty with this legacy is that, to some extent at least, it can detract from the much needed skill of discipline that we all had to learn as part of the growing up process.

Discipline in this context does not refer to behavioural issues. Instead it relates to the need that we all have occasionally to be able to undertake tasks that we might not like simply to allow us to achieve the more rewarding. Take for example the development of any career path. To become a doctor, a senior police officer, a nurse of even a financier one has to start from the bottom, often undertaking tasks that are not interesting or exciting. Often this means performing tasks that, given freedom of choice, we would not undertake. However, we have to discipline ourselves to complete these tasks if we want to achieve our goals.

It is the same with schooling, whether this is in an educational establishment or at home. Structured education prepares us for a future which, at that age, we may not have fully identified. How often have we heard a person say, "if I had studied X subject better I could have had the career I wanted." The problem with the un-schooling legacy is that it can by its very nature deny the child the future that they really want when they grow into an adult.

Learn more about this author, Paul Lines.
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