http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15029646/

Unschooling, an alternate forms to conventional education and an interesting concept, however, I’m very hesitant to support this method of teaching in place of a classroom setting. Of course, there are pros and cons to all things and I was wondering what you guys think could be the goods and bads that could possibly result from unschooling. I do like the idea that the child really gets to develop what they enjoy doing, but it just seems they would miss some necessary basics. I believe most kids would want to do artistic activities or learn about the outdoors rather than jump into a juicy, exciting math book. Also, I feel their education would be very limited because they would not be introduced to the different subject that are present in schools. It seems most kids would do crafty artwork and outdoors education because that is what they do most. As youngsters, kids mostly do simple education with many crafts involved. It seems most would just run with that because that is all they know. They wouldn’t want to learn about the Renaissance or Albert Einstein because they wouldn’t even know what or who they are. It seems like this type of schooling would produce children with one or few highly developed literacies, and not a broad range or base of knowledge that their peers would share. I guess then, we’d have to get into the whole discussion on what is necessary for someone of a certain environment to know and understand. I’m curious to see what you fellers and ladies think.
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I think the definitions of "unschooling" given in the article were a little confusing, but I think for the most part I was unschooled through both middle and high school (we didn't call it that though). I chose my own textbooks, decided when and where I wanted to do my schoolwork, and when I was finished I could do what ever I want. Around the 6th grade my mom stopped really supervising me, and I taught myself most subjects (I went to science classes once a week). I'm pretty self-motivated, and that system worked out really well for me. I've had professors who think this is horrible, especially when I add that I taught my younger sister first and second grade my junior and senior years. Really, though, I enjoyed reading a whole lot, and that is what I did a lot of in high school. I don't think I wrote a single paper in high school, but that hasn't affected my grades in college. I won't announce my GPA to the world, but college is a WHOLE lot easier than what I put myself through in high school. I don't feel like I've been gypped one bit. This is not to say that this is for everyone or that every "unschooling" situation is good, but I know I really enjoyed it.

yea i guess for you this seemed to work very well. I think one factor would definitely be your motivation and passion for learning, a trait which i dont think a majority of children possess in our society today. The artcile seemed to be biased, only presenting the instances in which the unschooled student was successful in higher education; however, do you feel that this would be a good education system for the masses. do you think it could work?

No, it is definitely not right for everyone. When I was in high school, if people heard I was homeschooled they were automatically like, "Oh you must be smart." The majority of homeschoolers I knew, however, were quite average or even below average students. I knew quite a few students who spent very little time doing schoolwork.