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Unschooling

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Child’s Self-Worth vs. Society’s Childishness

As any other new concept, Unschooling is a highly controversial and debatable topic. Unschooling is a form of education that is driven by the child’s own interests, goals and aspirations instead of abiding by the rigid system that is forced in our public schools nowadays that diminishes the child’s capacity for authentic creativity. Two articles supporting unschooling are written as to acknowledge its advantages and challenge the current notion of “Success” and “Self-worth” as ultimately dependent on the rigid educational system of public schools. The two articles are “AGAINST SCHOOL: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why” By John Taylor Gatto and “Unschooling and Self-Worth” by Shana Ronayne Hickman. Both articles support unschooling yet using entirely different approaches and techniques. Hickman supports her notion, that unschooling grant the child enough space to be unique which gives him/her the feeling of self-worth, with weak and ineffective logical arguments and through her use of pathos without giving sufficient supporting evidence, whereas Gatto’s argument, that unschooling is capable of producing adults capable of challenging and changing rather than conform and cede, is more convincing because of its use of strong logical arguments, effective use of ethos that makes him credible and strong back-up of supporting evidence.

Gatto’s use of ethos serves effectively to convince the reader with his position from unschooling. His referral at the beginning of his article to the fact that he taught for thirty years in the public U.S schools serve to give him credibility and trustworthiness as an expert on the subject. Furthermore, In supporting his claim that “Success” does not depend on this rigid system he refers to several respected figures across disciplines’, as: Farragut, Edison,

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