There are two major problems with "unschooling" and various other non-directed learning processes. And these two problems will eliminate their utility for mass education or any type of societal transformation that their advocates claim.

Problem No. 1. They work best for the smartest, most self-motivated kids. However, those kids are a tiny fraction of the population, and they would be learning in any type of educational situation (except maybe a repressive religious institution). "Unlearning" techniques might enable those kids to more deeply explore something of great interest, and they have the mental capacity to do it. But this is not useful for the mass of kids who lack that type of direction; those kids would waste the time flirting with each other, playing video games, etc. There are simply too many distractions in a classroom of 30-plus kids for most of them to get anything done if there isn't structure.

Problem No. 2. Allowing kids to pursue what they enjoy and to ignore what they don't enjoy will leave them terribly imbalanced. They will only learn what comes easily to them, and won't encounter the important experience of surmounting real academic challenges. For example, let's say your kid loves to read and is especially enamored with Harry Potter and similar fantasy stories. In an unlearning environment, he/she would be allowed to read those books over and over again, and would be encouraged to write Harry Potter-like stories, or to draw pictures of the characters, etc. But your kid won't learn how to multiply or, heaven forbid, do calculus. I've seen this problem with homeschooled kids in my neighborhood; they spend a lot of time doing what their parents like to do, such as go to movies, and no time on what their parents aren't good at doing, like mathematics. How the hell will these kids be able to function in the real world, where things like bank accounts, interest rates, and investments actually matter?

Our current education models might not be perfect, but they have the significant merit of trying to expose kids to a wide range of information and skill-building. This is crucial to enabling kids to get at least a glimpse of the bigger world around them. After getting the glimpse, then kids can make an intelligent choice about which of those things they want to pursue in greater depth. But unlearning runs the significant risk of short-circuiting that process and leaving us with a bunch of fools with specialized knowledge.

Learn more about this author, B. B. James.
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