Editor’s Pick. Written by Charles Morris.
The most important moment of our lives is not in the future. And that is the most important thing on my list of reasons why I’m glad my family is unschooling.
In the public schools I went to, the sole focus was that I had a job to do. My job was to do well in school so that in a decade or so down the road, I would have a good job, a nice big house and a sports car. The whole of my efforts, on a daily basis, had everything to do with the future. In the future, I believed I would be a success. In the future, I would finally have what I wanted. I would hear that someday, if you work and study and do what we tell you, it’ll all come together for you. It was all about the future. Your happiness is in the future. Your success is in the future. It will all come later. It’s almost like a Pinocchio syndrome: You won’t be a real person until you get out of college, then the real life will start. The wooden child will become a magnificently fleshed-out happy person, with great health benefits and a six figure income.
So, what we do in our home life is focus on what is happening right now, because we can be sure that this is the moment that has been given to us, not the one in some far future. Now is the time to celebrate being together, not stressed out preparing for a huge test that has a child in tears.