Abstract
This chapter provides an in-depth description of the history of the unschooling movement, including elements of Rousseau, Dewey, and Neill’s work. A large part of the chapter is dedicated to exploring the work of Ivan Illich and John Holt. Holt defined unschooling and the unschooling movement through his books How Children Learn and How Children Fail. He also supported the growth of the movement through his magazine, Growing Without Schooling, which was the first periodical focused on homeschooling, unschooling, and learning outside the school environment. The work and influence of John Taylor Gatto and Peter Gray on the unschooling movement is also reviewed. It is important for current unschoolers to understand the history of the movement, so that they can forge forward in a way that promotes unification and acceptance within their own community and beyond.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Blanding, M. (2018, October 2). Twenty percent of home-schooled kids are getting ‘unschooled’. What’s that? The Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2018/10/02/home-schoolers-turn-boston-area-new-unschooling-centers/j4TB7K54hm7V7ri0yDPTlM/story.html.
Boles, B. (2020). Blakeboles.com. https://www.blakeboles.com/.
Boston College: Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences. (2019). Peter Gray, Research Professor. https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/mcas/departments/psychology/people/affiliated-and-emeritus/peter-gray.html.
Churchill, C. (2019, August 10). Churchill: Remembering john taylor gatto. Times Union. https://www.timesunion.com/7dayarchive/article/Churchill-Remembering-John-Taylor-Gatto-14291234.php.
Currie-Knight, K., & Riley, G. (2019–Present). Journalist and parent of four unschoolers: Kerry McDonald. (No. 3) [Audio podcast episode]. Learning by Living. https://www.spreaker.com/show/learning-by-living-podcast.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan.
Dewey, J. (1929). My pedagogic creed. Washington, DC: The Progressive Education Association.
Dodd, S. (2019). Sandradodd.com. https://sandradodd.com.
Farenga, P. (2016). The foundations of unschooling. https://www.johnholtgws.com/the-foundations-of-unschooling.
Fennel, J. (1979). Dewey on Rousseau: Natural development as the aim of education. The Journal of Educational Thought, 13(2), 109–120.
Gaither, M. (2018). John Holt: American teacher and writer. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Holt.
Gatto, J. T. (1991, July 25). I may be a teacher but I am not an educator. The Wall Street Journal.
Gatto, J. T. (1992). Dumbing us down: The hidden curriculum of compulsory schooling. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers.
Gatto, J. T. (2001). The underground history of American education: A schoolteacher’s intimate investigation into the problem of modern schooling. New York: Oxford Village Press.
Gray, P. (2008–present). Freedom to Learn. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn.
Gray, P. (2009, February 12). Rousseau’s errors: They persist today in educational theory. Freedom to Learn. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/200902/rousseau-s-errors-they-persist-today-in-educational-theory.
Gray, P. (2013). Free to learn: Why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life. New York: Basic Books.
Gray, P. (2017). Self-directed education—Unschooling and democratic schooling. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education.
Gray, P., & Bjorklund, D. F. (2018). Psychology (8th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.
Gray, P., & Riley, G. (2013). The challenges and benefits of unschooling according to 232 families who have chosen that route. Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning, 7(14), 1–27.
Gray, P., & Riley, G. (2015). Grown unschoolers’ evaluation of their unschooling experiences: Report I on a survey of 75 unschooled adults. Other Education, 4(2), 8–32.
Greer, W. R. (1985, September 15). John Holt, author and educator, dies at 62. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/15/us/john-holt-author-and-educator-dies-at-62.html.
Growing Without Schooling. (1977–2001). https://www.johnholtgws.com/growing-without-schooling-issue-archive.
Growing Without Schooling. (2015). John Holt on the Phil Donahue Show discussing unschooling [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLWPpln0rQ.
Holt, J. (1964). How children fail. New York: Pitman Publishing Company.
Holt, J. (1967). How children learn. New York: Pitman Publishing Company.
Holt, J. (1972). Freedom and beyond. New York: Dutton.
Holt, J. (1976). Instead of education: Ways to help people do things better. New York: Dutton.
Holt, J., & Farenga, P. (1977–2001). Growing Without Schooling. https://www.johnholtgws.com/growing-without-schooling-issue-archive.
Illich, I. (1971). Deschooling society. New York: Harper & Row.
Kowalke, P. (2019). https://www.peterkowalke.com/about/.
Llewellyn, G. (1991). The teenage liberation handbook: How to quit school and get a real-life education. Eugene, OR: Lowry House.
McDonald, K. (2019a). Unschooled: Raising curious, well educated children outside of the conventional classroom. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press.
McDonald. K. (2019b, July 9). Unschooling: Shifting from force to freedom in education. https://www.cato-unbound.org/2019/07/08/kerry-mcdonald/unschooling-shifting-force-freedom-education.
McQuiggan, M., Megra, M., & Grady, S. (2017). Parent and family involvement in education: Results from the National Household Education Surveys program of 2016. Washington, DC: The National Center for Education Statistics.
Neill, A. S. (1960). Summerhill: A radical approach to child rearing. New York: Hart Publishing Company.
Neill, A. S. (2018). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/A-S-Neill.
Pai, A. (2016). Free to learn: why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life [Review of the book Free to learn: Why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life, by Peter Gray]. Evolutionary Educational Outreach, 9(1).
Patterson, S. (2019). Unschoolingmom2mom. https://unschoolingmom2mom.com/.
Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York, NY: International Universities Press.
Priesnitz, W. (2019). Wendy Priesnitz Bio. https://www.life.ca/wendy/.
Prudhomme, M. A., & Reis, G. (2011). Comparing A.S. Neill to Rousseau, appropriate? Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning, 5(10), 1–19.
Ray, B. (2018, April 20). Homeschooling growing: Multiple data points show increase 2012–2016 and later. National Home Education Research Institute. https://www.nheri.org/homeschool-population-size-growing/.
Riley, G., & Gray, P. (2015). Grown unschoolers’ experiences with higher education and employment: Report II on a survey of 75 unschooled adults. Other Education, 4(2), 33–53.
Reber, A. S. (Ed.). (1995). The Penguin dictionary of psychology (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Penguin Press.
Rousseau, J. J. (1762/1979). Emile: Or, On education. New York: Basic Books.
Rousseau, J. J. (1782/2017). The confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3913/3913-h/3913-h.htm.
Wheatley, K. (2009). Unschooling: An oasis for development and democracy. Encounter, 22(2), 27–32.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Riley, G. (2020). Historical Overview of Unschooling. In: Unschooling. Palgrave Studies in Alternative Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49292-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49292-2_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49291-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49292-2
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)