Research and Interviews Focused on Unschooling

Peter Gray has completed all three phases of his research about the benefits, reasons, and challenges of unschooling at Psychology Today. It is good to have this information available, as it will be eye-opening to those who think unschooling is just unparenting, though to long-time unschoolers none of it is really news. For instance, according to this research, the biggest challenge for unschoolers is defending their choice to unschool to friends, family, and the general public. Talk about the more things change the more they stay the same—in the first issue of GWS, August 1977, there’s a story, “What To Tell the Neighbors.”

Dr. Gray puts a very positive spin on his research by following it with an interview with Kate Fridkis, an adult who was unschooled. Kate is 25 and lives and works in Manhattan. The interview is titled, “Meet Kate Fridkis, Who Skipped K-12 and is Neither Weird nor Homeless.” I urge you to read her interview, and then to check out this piece by another grown unschooler that was inspired by reading Kate’s interview.

Emma Rosloff is a 23-year-old writer who worked in the restaurant business until recently. Emma writes about moving in and out of school, unschooling and how it helped her, and why she has, so far, decided not to go to college. I want to share this thought that Emma leaves with:  

The majority of the servers I worked with at my breakfast job had college degrees they weren’t doing anything with (and I was their boss).

. . . Again, not trying to put down going to college, either as a route to a career or just for the sake of the experience. Not at all. Just trying to advocate a kid having enough of a sense of their own interests and abilities to make that choice for themselves, and to be informed when they do.