With spring in the air, Bay Area gardeners are getting to work on their first plantings.
This past Saturday morning, Vicki Tuite hosted an unclass on starting plants from seed. Vicki is a Master Gardener trained in Oregon; she began gardening ‘recreational crops’ 30 years ago. ;)
We met Vicki at a park in Redwood City. She arrived with an arsenal of gardening materials: potting soil, a seed box with upwards of 300 seed varieties, and milk cartons and newspaper, both of which would soon be home to our seeds.
Vicki illustrated a truth that is at the heart of unclasses – the sharing of deep knowledge from a passionate person is the best way to learn. Wisdom poured out of her habits - from reusing milk cartons and newspaper to create planters to the way she opened a seed packet (just at one corner!). And even our most inane questions became fodder for a deeper lesson about gardening.
We left the unclass with cartons containing the starts of heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, padron peppers, bell peppers, mustard greens, broccoli, and enough sugar snap peas to throw a party - more than enough plantings to jumpstart our own gardens and the inspiration and knowledge to forge ahead.
Conflict: In a society which emphasises teaching, children and students- and adults- become passive and unable to think or act for themselves. Creative, active individuals can only grow up in a society which emphasizes learning instead of teaching.
Resolution: Instead of the lock-step of compulsory schooling in a fixed place, work in piecemeal ways to decentralise the process of learning and enrich it through contact with many places and people all over the city: workshops, teachers at home, professionals will to take on the young as helpers, older children, museums, youth groups, scholarly seminars, industrial workshops, old people, and so on. Conceive of all these situation as forming the backbone of the learning process; survey all these situations that comprise their “school” paying as they go with standard vouchers, raised by community tax. Build new educational facilities in a way which extends and enriches this network.
Informal learning can at its best transform people’s lives. Whether it’s personal fulfilment, keeping active and independent into old age, gaining increased confidence or opening a door to further opportunities, informal learning contributes hugely to the health and well-being of individuals and wider society.
Instead, continued brain development and a richer form of learning may require that you “bump up against people and ideas” that are different. In a history class, that might mean reading multiple viewpoints, and then prying open brain networks by reflecting on how what was learned has changed your view of the world.
People are good and trustworthy and generally just concerned with getting through the day,” Newmark says. If most people are good and their needs are simple, all you have to do to serve them well is build a minimal infrastructure allowing them to get together and work things out for themselves. Any additional features are almost certainly superfluous and could even be damaging.
Unschooling, by contrast, starts with the realization that you ‘own’ your time, and have the opportunity and responsibility to use it in ways that are meaningful and stimulating for you. When you have this opportunity, you just naturally learn a great deal, about things you care about, things that will inevitably be useful to you in making a life and a living. Your learning environment is the whole world, and you learn what and when you want, undirected by curricula, textbooks, alarm clocks and school bells. You develop deep peer relationships around areas of common interest, once you’re allowed to explore and discover what those areas of interest are.
Hats off to Steve Raymond for teaching the first unclass in Los Angeles this weekend - ‘Cook More Often, Eat Better.’ The reviews have been offthehook and it looks like everyone had a fun afternoon learning about ways to bring great cooking into their lives while meeting a group of like-minded folks. On his blog, Steve shares his syllabi (reposted below) and experience as the teacher and organizer of the class. Also, check out Stephen Henault’s fantastic photos of the event.
Steve went out of his way to make this class happen and has the everlasting respect from all of us at unclasses. Awesome to have such committed, passionate, giving people involved in the community.
(un)classes is all about giving people like Alex a way to share with others. Very excited to have him as an early member of our community and looking forward to the class!
Alex’s pitch:
I’ve got a lifetime of [sailing] experience. My first boat was a 7 ft. dinghy called Bru Ha Ha and I crewed on a 67 ft. luxury sailboat for a summer. If you want to travel the world by crewing, I’ll tell you who to talk to, where to sign up, and what seasickness drugs to get (all the good stuff is banned in the U.S.)
About the Class: How to go about creating and hosting social events for friends or business contacts in an affordable manner. Learn how to negotiate locations, talk to sponsors, and bring interesting people together for an unforgettable event.
About the Teacher: My name is Tyler Willis, I’m 22; tylerwillis.net is an accurate representation of my life. I always write 3 sentence bios and like to include a random fact in everyone. I desperately wish Lykke Li and Radiohead would record an album together.
Fred Wilson and Albert Wegner of Union Square Ventures brought a group of leading thinkers, educators, and entrepreneurs together this past Friday to discuss the future of eductation. On his blog, Fred shared eleven key takeaways from the event and many of them speak to the core of what we’re working on at (un)classes.
2) Alternative forms of education (home schooling, charter schools, online learning, adult education/lifelong learning) are on the rise and we are just at the start of that trend.
3) Students will increasingly find themselves teaching as well. Peer production will move from just producing content to producing learning as well.
10) Spaces for learning (schools and libraries) will be re-evaluated. It was suggested that Starbucks is the new library. I don’t think that will be the case but the value of dedicated physical spaces for learning will decline. It has already happened in the world of professional education.
11) Learning is bottom up and education is top down. We’ll have more learning and less education in the future
Teachers don’t need to be experts; they simply need a love for the subject and an excitement about sharing it with others. We think all of us are hard wired to enjoy learning and have a desire to share our learning and passions with others. ‘Regular People,’ teaching each other in coffee shops and extra conference rooms, are going to play a big role in the upcoming revolution in learning. And unclasses.com hopes to connect them.
Learning isn’t a destination, it’s an ongoing part of a fulfilled life.
