Logan LaPlante, a young man in his early teens, gave this eloquent TED Talk about the manner in which he designed his own education, outside of the school system. He based his educational program on an attempt to be "happy and healthy" and demonstrated how his project has helped to achieve these goals in his life.
The educational project and the talk posit some interesting questions for traditional schools regarding how they could be changed to better encourage creativity and healthy living. However, I felt the talk's focus on schooling outside of a school system perpetuated some dangerous myths about schools and homeschooling that do a real disservice to the students whose parents pull them out of schools to attempt the type of experiment that Logan LaPlante did.
It is clear from the video that Logan is an extraordinary young man (as if the fact that he is giving a TED Talk in his early teens isn't a sufficient indicator of this.) He is obviously highly-motivated, very mature for his age, extremely comfortable conversing with adults, and learns easily. In addition, there is evidence in the video that his family is well-connected, well-educated, and affluent. In other words, Logan is nothing like most students, who are almost always challenged in one or more, and sometimes all, of these areas. Logan's example is very unlikely to be transferrable to the average teenager. Most teachers, including myself, have seen the tragic results that occur when students without Logan's advantages are pulled out of schools to flounder helplessly at teaching themselves. Logan's example should not encourage other families to try this without some serious thought about the appropriateness of this for their particular child.
Additionally, Logan gives short shrift to the educational system that provides an excellent education to large numbers of students in this country. I received a fantastic education in the public schools, and I think most other students do, too, if they have the right attitude and the proper support from their family. Schools today foster creativity and innovation. They are not the soulless factories their critics claim. In fact, most of the educational "hacks" that Logan trumpeted are actually done in school settings every day. In addition, unlike Logan's hacked school, these school systems are designed with overall goals and carefully-planned curriculum that makes sure a wide variety of topics (not just the ones that appeal to a particular child) are covered with sufficient depth to ensure that real understanding and learning occur.
Finally, I would disagree with the main foundation of Logan's speech: that our end goal should be for students to be happy. Happiness is very nice, and I work hard to make sure that my students are engaged in learning, understand its purpose, and feel good about the learning that they do. However, happiness is an elusive and dangerous goal, in and of itself. In my own life, I have to admit that my periods of greatest personal growth have occurred when I was not happy. If our only goal is that our students be happy, we are missing the opportunity to help students grow through trials into mature people who can handle adversity and even learn from it. Logan may be happy spending one day a week skiing and the rest at Starbucks in front of a computer, but this is not my goal for my own children; and I would assert that it is not a healthy goal for the rest of us, either.
The educational project and the talk posit some interesting questions for traditional schools regarding how they could be changed to better encourage creativity and healthy living. However, I felt the talk's focus on schooling outside of a school system perpetuated some dangerous myths about schools and homeschooling that do a real disservice to the students whose parents pull them out of schools to attempt the type of experiment that Logan LaPlante did.
It is clear from the video that Logan is an extraordinary young man (as if the fact that he is giving a TED Talk in his early teens isn't a sufficient indicator of this.) He is obviously highly-motivated, very mature for his age, extremely comfortable conversing with adults, and learns easily. In addition, there is evidence in the video that his family is well-connected, well-educated, and affluent. In other words, Logan is nothing like most students, who are almost always challenged in one or more, and sometimes all, of these areas. Logan's example is very unlikely to be transferrable to the average teenager. Most teachers, including myself, have seen the tragic results that occur when students without Logan's advantages are pulled out of schools to flounder helplessly at teaching themselves. Logan's example should not encourage other families to try this without some serious thought about the appropriateness of this for their particular child.
Additionally, Logan gives short shrift to the educational system that provides an excellent education to large numbers of students in this country. I received a fantastic education in the public schools, and I think most other students do, too, if they have the right attitude and the proper support from their family. Schools today foster creativity and innovation. They are not the soulless factories their critics claim. In fact, most of the educational "hacks" that Logan trumpeted are actually done in school settings every day. In addition, unlike Logan's hacked school, these school systems are designed with overall goals and carefully-planned curriculum that makes sure a wide variety of topics (not just the ones that appeal to a particular child) are covered with sufficient depth to ensure that real understanding and learning occur.
Finally, I would disagree with the main foundation of Logan's speech: that our end goal should be for students to be happy. Happiness is very nice, and I work hard to make sure that my students are engaged in learning, understand its purpose, and feel good about the learning that they do. However, happiness is an elusive and dangerous goal, in and of itself. In my own life, I have to admit that my periods of greatest personal growth have occurred when I was not happy. If our only goal is that our students be happy, we are missing the opportunity to help students grow through trials into mature people who can handle adversity and even learn from it. Logan may be happy spending one day a week skiing and the rest at Starbucks in front of a computer, but this is not my goal for my own children; and I would assert that it is not a healthy goal for the rest of us, either.
LaPlante, Logan, Hackschooling makes me happy, TEDxUniversityofNevada, retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11u3vtcpaY&list=PLbRLdW37G3oMquOaC-HeUIt6CWk-FzaGp&index=3