TEDxPioneerValley - Barry O'Connell - Unschooled Learning February 23, 2012

Favorite:

Barry O'Connell, James E. Ostendarp Professor of English, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, examines "Unschooled Learning". "We learn in school, or, at least we are expected to. But I wonder about the places and the people outside formal schools. Learning in unschooled settings and from those who are not formal teachers may be critical in how we grow. Harder to mark and thus to examine, this learning may also elude our awareness and remain unpossessed. Without purchase, it stays stored away. It may, once perceived, prove to be central to who we are and enable us to be fully active learners. Growing up as part of a supportive community might thus be critical to becoming fully self-aware as an adult, genuinely educated. The absence of meaningful community might explain the current mis-education of two groups: the children of privilege and the children we deny."

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