What Happens When A Kid Leaves Traditional Education

Logan Laplante is a 13 year-old boy who was taken out of the education system to be home schooled instead. As a result, he was given the opportunity to receive an education tailored to his interests and his unique style of learning — something traditional education is not always able to offer. In a pretty remarkable show of wisdom, particularly for someone so young, Logan has said that when he grows up he wants to be happy and healthy. At a TEDx talk in 2013, he discussed how hacking his education is helping him achieve that goal.

Logan’s story parallels that of another boy, Jacob Barnett, who was put into Special Education by his school until his parents intervened, electing to homeschool him instead. Jacob is now seen as an incredibly intelligent young person with a level of genius that marks him as on track to winning a Nobel Prize one day.

I also recently did a TEDx talk in 2014 about my story of leaving college for good. You can check that out here.

More on Education and Homeschooling

Education is often considered to be the foundation of a well rounded and productive society, but this belief usually stems from an underlying assumption: Those coming out of the education system will keep the cogs of society turning in order to maintain profit margins of large companies in a system that requires constant growth. Instead of encouraging creative and out-of-the-box-thinking people, today’s education paradigm tends to promote more submissive, obedient, and trained graduates, thereby ensuring that the current system is always maintained.

What this means is that standard education is focused less on each individual and their growth and more on creating a supply of worker bees that can go out into the world and operate within the confines that the system has established. Sir Ken Robinson gave a famous TED talk in 2007 where he discussed his beliefs about how education kills creativity. This video is one of the most viewed TED talks of all time and has inspired many to rethink the way we are educating our children. Since traditional education is still taking its time with adjusting to the demands of a changing society, many are turning to homeschooling as a solution, as it allows children to explore education much like Logan did.

Currently about 3.8% of children ages 5-17 are homeschooled in the US. In Canada, that number drops to about 1%. This is a number that is expected to continue growing in both countries as more people become aware of the limitations of traditional education. Also, studies done in the U.S. and Canada show that homeschooled children outperform their peers from both private and public schools.

In my view, homeschooling is much more likely to create a creative, adaptive, and forward thinking person who is less conditioned to think only within the small confines of a crumbling system. Does this mean it is for everyone and that one can’t turn out that way through standard education? Of course not. I simply feel the chances are far greater with homeschooling.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/01/07/this-is-what-happens-when-a-kid-leaves-traditional-education/



I wanted to do this, alas, my children's father wasn't behind me.

Click on the link to watch the video.

I disagree with home schooling in the majority of cases.

While it is fine for those with plenty of resources to hire tutors etc the majority of people cannot provide decent education. Plus there is far more to school than just the academic education. Socialization and 'being a cog in the system' are important skills to acquire. When they seek employment understanding how to work in teams, how to 'get on' with people they don't necessarily like, how to accept hierarchy and how to 'work within' an organizational structure are all essential for furthering ones career.


In saying that the continual reduction of funding and additional demands placed on teachers and the school system is degrading it's value. Too many parents treat it like the school is supposed to teach their child ALL the life skills when it is meant to provide academic grounding and socialization. there is still a big part for the parent to play in education, there is no reason to take the child out of traditional schooling but There is a need for parents to augment their child's education, Parents SHOULD be doing a lot more. If they spent a third of the time/effort/money that home schooling effectively requires in addition to sending their child to traditional education the Child will preform even better.

the biggest issue in today schooling is lack of respect that westerners have for teachers, and I'm not talking about the kids It is the lack of respect Parents have for teachers that causes the issues. It is very obvious down here that it is a cultural failing and we see schools with a higher portion of Asian students continually do better both in regards to educational outcomes and discipline. Because parents back the teacher and expect their child to respect their teachers and Don't have the 'my little snowflake can do no wrong' mentality.

https://youtu.be/JBPrvDY6hzo

I think it's important for kids to interact with each other.   School is where you learn much about human nature, even in those early years, how to cope etc, and forging friendships.  It can be a bit of a crucible, but I think it makes you stronger and more experienced to cope with what comes later.

HoratioTarr wrote:I think it's important for kids to interact with each other.   School is where you learn much about human nature, even in those early years, how to cope etc, and forging friendships.  It can be a bit of a crucible, but I think it makes you stronger and more experienced to cope with what comes later.

That was the only thing that stopped me from homeschooling really, Horatio.

Kids can socialise with other kids through other activities.

Tommy Monk wrote:Kids can socialise with other kids through other activities.

In an ideal world, yes.

No... in normal world... parks, sports clubs, swimming etc...

Sadly many kids do their main socialising in school and spend nights and weekends shut inside on computers.
Modern day kids don't seem to mix, play sports, and do the stuff the average teenager did 20 odd years ago.

Syl wrote:Sadly many kids do their main socialising in school and spend nights and weekends shut inside on computers.
Modern day kids don't seem to mix, play sports, and do the stuff the average teenager did 20 odd years ago.

Cause Parents Don't let them, they get too Scared by the news

people forget crime has actually gone down but Reporting has gone up thanks to 24 hour news cycles

Tommy Monk wrote:No... in normal world... parks, sports clubs, swimming etc...

With what friends exactly?   If you take home education how do you make friends?   You may be an only child with no other kids in the neighbourhood. What then?   I think children need to integrate, with both sexes, from an early age.  It teaches them how they can behave in relation to others, social skills etc.

I think is hard to socialise children who are home-schooled because even if we take Tommy's suggestion of going to the local park - your child is still on the outside looking in, as most of the children they meet will all be in the same class etc at school and they won't be included in most social events like parties and so on.

No, ultimately you can turn your child into a hermit if they don't mix and integrate properly.

veya_victaous wrote:

Syl wrote:Sadly many kids do their main socialising in school and spend nights and  weekends shut inside on computers.
Modern day kids don't seem to mix, play sports, and do the stuff the average teenager did 20 odd years ago.

Cause Parents Don't let them, they get too Scared by the news

people forget crime has actually gone down but Reporting has gone up thanks to 24 hour news cycles

That's one of the reasons, I actually know parents like this.
Whilst my generation turfed the kids 'out to play' encouraging friends and arranging activities, many modern parents prefer technology to keep the kids occupied, and they reason that whilst they are stuck in their rooms they cant come to any danger.

I don't know about them staying indoors. There seems to be loads of children/teenagers outside these days making a racket. I think they get turfed out into the garden a lot.

Raggamuffin wrote:I don't know about them staying indoors. There seems to be loads of children/teenagers outside these days making a racket. I think they get turfed out into the garden a lot.

We seldom see kids playing out round here now. We are surrounded by fields and a huge space known as the 'tree den' where my sons generation always met and played, there are seldom kids around now.
Meeting and socialising with youngsters set the pattern for older teens....many a time they make friends when very young and stay friends throughout adulthood.
My grandsons generation seem to have more friends 'online' people they have never met but play interactive games with than actual real life friends.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:No... in normal world... parks, sports clubs, swimming etc...

With what friends exactly?   If you take home education how do you make friends?   You may be an only child with no other kids in the neighbourhood. What then?   I think children need to integrate, with both sexes, from an early age.  It teaches them how they can behave in relation to others, social skills etc.

There are Home educating groups in almost every corner of the UK, they arrange meet ups, outings, activities, study groups, camps, festivals, forest schools and so on.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:No... in normal world... parks, sports clubs, swimming etc...

With what friends exactly?   If you take home education how do you make friends?   You may be an only child with no other kids in the neighbourhood. What then?   I think children need to integrate, with both sexes, from an early age.  It teaches them how they can behave in relation to others, social skills etc.

I said already... parks, sports centre/clubs, swimming etc... playing outside generally... some kids can make friends anywhere... while some others may go to school every day surrounded by other kids but never make any/many friends...

The ignorance re Home education seriously pissed me off.

I have Home Educated my lad since he was 13 for various reasons.
Re the socialising thing
He's 17 now and been up to Windermere  tonight for a kick around(football) and probably a can of beer with all his mates. He works part time and never asks for money. Thinking about his future and far more mature than most lads his age.

Bella wrote:The ignorance re Home education seriously pissed me off.

I have Home Educated my lad since he was 13 for various reasons.
Re the socialising thing
He's 17 now and been up to Windermere  tonight for a kick around(football) and probably a can of beer with all his mates. He works part time and never asks for money. Thinking about his future and far more mature than most lads his age.

Good on him... and you!

And proving my point about kids being more than able to socialise and make friends without having to be forced into the institution of school!