I'm Unschooled!

"Be yourself! An original is always worth more than a copy." - A poster at my school (irony?)

"The least of learning is done in the classrooms." - Thomas Merton

"When I was five years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." - John Lennon

Finally - and not meaning "Finally I am unschooled," but "Finally I realize that I am unschooled." Such a joy! Now, granted, I do attend a public schooling facility - and a rather decent one, considering the county's system - but according to one of my closest friends (who happens to be unschooled), I can still be unschooled. And I am. Many people my age and younger coast along at school and, upon release, do little to nothing in order to educate themselves. I do not wish to be redundant, but I must say that I am who I am by nature more than nurture. My parents, as much I love them, are largely conformists and insist that there is something wrong with me and have made a hobby of telling everyone about all of my flaws - whether said flaws exist or not.

As many times as I've explained the truth to my mother, she wants to think she's right and therefore tunes me out. One mustn't believe I am simply a slacker who doesn't want to work: my motives simply lie in the ability to question the way things are. As stated in previous posts, I don't see why adults have to be addressed as "Mister" or "Missus" simply by dint of having lived a few more years, and why we have to learn certain things at school. Sure, if I am to be a geologist or an architect (probably neither, actually), it would do me well to know certain things, but I think computer science and basic first-aid would be better as "essentials" - and I don't assume that knowing the difference between lipids and amino acids won't be useful someday (I have my doubts, but I don't pretend to be certain) - but when the teachers tell us that we shall have a use for these things someday, I'd appreciate knowing why. My question is, how do the properties of silver alloys make us better citizens? Unless one is either going into a specific field or onto a stupid game show, they should be electives.

Anyhow, that aside, I was beyond exuberant to find out that I am an unschooler in some senses. I feel confident that I can make a life for myself without knowing who discovered China (was it Polo...?). Do not worry! I have no intentions of dropping out of high school. I'll most likely be an English major, but I don't intend to live large, as so many people dream of doing. I want to be able to both relax and have a blast. According to yet another post of the past, I think some stress is necessary for one's psycho-emotional health (such as a drop of the sickness itself in a vaccine, for the immune system). I intend to have a happy medium of stress as I venture to Europe and beyond, but I am like no one you'll ever find. Maybe I'll be a part-time farmhand or work at a bookstore, but I intend to be happy, and that's the best form of success there is.