Unschoolers' reactions to GMA clip

[Jenny in GA]

I was thinking about this more, and was curious what long-time unschoolers thought about that segment.

 

I went over to one of the largest and most popular unschooling lists and read some reactions. [They thought the kids came off better than I personally thought they did.]

 

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I thought the piece on GMA was much better than I'd thought it would be.

 

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The part I found mostly frustrating, was when the reporter was asking the kids leading questions without really giving them much of a chance to respond. Typical adult dismissal of teenagers. I wonder how often they interview or even talk to teenagers. You could see the bright openness in those kids' eyes. It's that same bright openness that I see in all unschooled kids that I don't see in schooled kids much.

 

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I thought the way she questioned the teens and the things she asked them about were obviously intended to make them look goofy ... which they didn't. They were respectful to a reporter who was being silly.

 

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I think they were great. People forget there is a lot of editing and questions

asked by and agressive biased reporter. She would not have been talking to those

kids that way if they were doing a piece on school.

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It was an ok segment, but trying to distill a life of

learning into a few minutes and through a very school minded lens is pretty

difficult, so needless to say there was so much left out, but they stopped short

of making unschooling families look completely nutty.

 

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But I thought the family looked great! And some of the things the

broadcasters said were lame as could be.

 

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I liked how the daughter in the GMA interview looked right at the camera when

she closed the door to her (I presume) bedroom and said, "You guys can't go in

there." <g> I have friends in their forties and fifties who would be

apologizing and blushing and making excuses over an untidy room (in their own

house!) and this young woman just said no.<g> Too bad they used it to

insinuate these kids might not be learning how to look after themselves.

 

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I thought the parents' answers at the table were really good!

[lighthouseacademy]

Thank you for posting this. It is interesting to see what they thought of the piece. Personally I thought the piece made them look ridiculous and lazy and "illegal" and didn't even touch on the fact that in an unschool setting, learning can and does take place. I wished they had spent more time on the plants because the kid was showing the plants he was obviously proud of. I know that there was some story behind those plants besides playing video games all day and fighting with noodles on the lawn... but the average person on the street would have no clue about that part.

[Balancing]

I was thinking about this more, and was curious what long-time unschoolers thought about that segment.

 

I went over to one of the largest and most popular unschooling lists and read some reactions.

 

Do you care to share a link? :001_smile:

 

Thanks!

[Jenny in GA]

Do you care to share a link? :001_smile:

 

Thanks!

 

 

It's a yahoo group called "Always Learning" and run by Sandra Dodd.