With homework loads increasing and the piano, foreign languages and the International Mathematical Olympiad taking over the rest of their time, children today have very little opportunity to simply play.
According to experts, free play, unconstrained by time and not structured by adults, is crucial to a child’s development. It helps children strengthen social bonds, build emotional maturity, develop cognitive skills, and shore up their physical health. And it prepares children’s brain for life, love and even schoolwork.
Nowadays, a growing number of parents think that children should be allowed to play, or explore, every waking hour. Instead of sending their kids to a formal school with classes, teachers and schedules, they leave them to their own devices to learn about the world. It is a controversial yet increasingly popular method of education called “unschooling.”
Mr. Hewitt, the father of two unschooled boys, is the author of a new book on the method. His boys spend their days in a true Huckleberry Finn fashion, exploring in the woods and helping out on the family farm. They both learned how to read and write essentially with zero instruction around age eight. They can add, subtract, multiply and divide. They can also catch fishes, start a fire and cook them on a hot stone.
Unlike in traditional home-schooling, where children follow a curriculum under a parent’s supervision, unschooled children have the freedom to decide what and when to learn, be it reading, art, math or distinguishing between insect species.
Unschooling is not a new phenomenon. The movement started in the 1970s, popularized by educator John Holt, and became an alternative to the largely religiously motivated home-schooling. However, the United States Department of Education does not distinguish between home-schooled and unschooled children, so there are no official statistics on the movement. But according to Mr. Hewitt, it is generally accepted that the number of unschoolers is around 10 percent of all home-schooled children, which now make up three percent of all students.
Critics still worry, however, about both the children’s socialization and their academic performance. “There is no empirical evidence to suggest that unschooling is beneficial to learners, especially when it comes to reading,” Sandra Martin-Chang, a researcher at Concordia University, says. “We have done lots of research on guided learning, scaffolding, expert vs. non-expert teaching and all of it points to the fact that learning by doing is great, but learning by doing with an expert is better.”
Curious about how these children have lived in the structured world, Peter Gray, a psychology professor at Boston College, conducted a survey of grown unschoolers. Many of them enter into higher education and succeed, being highly motivated and self-directed from the very beginning of their education.
They may have a hard time adjusting to schedules, but because it was their decision to attend college, they are often more diligent than their peers, Mr. Gray says. He adds that because during childhood they interacted with children of all ages, they report a better social life, though they are discouraged by the others’ lax attitude, the partying and the drinking.
Of the grown unschoolers surveyed, 78 percent are financially self-sufficient, Mr. Gray says, choosing careers that are extensions of their childhood interests, and are enjoyable and meaningful, rather than lucrative. Many of them pursue careers in the arts, and a high percentage are entrepreneurs or enter science and technology careers. Few go into middle management.
But while unschooling seems to produce successful adults, it is not exactly a method that facilitates equal opportunity. Though Mr. Gray says unschooling is the right solution for any child, unless they suffer from a severe developmental disorder such as autism, many families simply would not be able to afford it. The parents tend to come from educated backgrounds, but “if you home-school or unschool, you are cutting out some of your income,” the home-schooling advocate Patrick Farenga says.
“Everyone we know who unschools, in fact, has chosen autonomy over affluence,” Mr. Hewitt says. “Some years we are barely above the poverty line. But the truth is, unschooling is not merely an educational choice. It is a lifestyle choice.”
65. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a benefit of free play to children?
A.Making preparations for schoolwork. |
B.Developing cognitive skills. |
C.Building emotional bonds. |
D.Keeping their body healthy. |
66. What does “a Huckleberry Finn fashion” mentioned in paragraph 4 most probably refer to?
A.A popular method of education. |
B.A lifestyle full of adventures. |
C.A way to learn mathematics. |
D.A skill of catching and cooking fishes. |
67. According to paragraphs 5&6, which of the following statements is TRUE about unschooling?
A.Unschooling, starting in the 1970s, was popularized by educator John Holt and later became an alternative to the school education. |
B.There are no official statistics of unschooling because unschoolers are counted together with home-schooled children. |
C.It is generally accepted that the number of unschooled and home-schooled children make up three percent of all students. |
D.Unschooling gives children the freedom to choose what and when to learn like home-schooling. |
68. Sandra Martin-Chang’s attitude towards unschooling is ________.
A.unschooling has a lot of benefits to learners |
B.unschooling is better than learning with experts |
C.unschooling improves children’s academic performance |
D.unschooling is not as good as expert teaching |
69. What can we learn from Peter Gray’s survey of grown unschoolers’ life in the structured world?
① They enter into higher education and succeed.
② They feel easy to adjust to schedules.
③ They are more diligent and sociable than their peers.
④ They choose careers in the field of management.
70. It can be inferred from the sentence “… has chosen autonomy over affluence” in the last paragraph that ________.
A.unschoolers choose a free lifestyle over wealth |
B.most families are not able to afford unschooling |
C.unschooling makes many unschoolers live in poverty |
D.money is not as important as education |