Ep. 550: Blake Boles (Part 1) – Unschool Adventures

Part One of Two This show is an introduction to the life and work of Blake Boles, and the next show will be a discussion of this book The Art of Self-Directed Learning.

Today Blake and I discuss his background as a successful high school and college student, and how his ideas and career path changed with the discovery of John Taylor Gatto.

"It was Gatto who inspired me, at age 21, to leave my own path in the sciences to become a full-time student of (and advocate for) alternative education," Blake says.

We then discuss how Gatto’s work impacted each of us, Blake through A Different Kind of Teacher and me through Against School. Blake’s path of discovery continued; he read the radical school reform literature of the 1960s, the work of Grace Llewellyn and the writing of the Sudbury School Founders. The last was most impactful, as much of it demonstrated the power of intrinsic motivation in learning. Blake then designed his own major at UC Berkeley, focused on self-directed education and alternative schooling.

Unschool Adventures
Years later, building on this experience, Blake founded Unschool Adventures. Since 2008 the company has run long-term international trips and U.S.-based retreats for self-directed learners ages 14-19+. The goal of these programs is to build the skills, experience, and self-confidence that a young person needs to transition into independent adulthood.

From UnschoolAdventures.com: The Unschooling Approach
How does the unschooling approach reflect in our trip leadership? We grant participants large degrees of freedom and responsibility in creating their experiences—always within reasonable safety limits.

I will also ask Blake if he has rethought the value of college in recent years, referencing two of this books – College Without High School, and then Better Than College.

Related Shows:
[PODCAST] #544: Peter Gray (Part Three) – A Future of Self-Directed Education
[PODCAST] #101: Unschooling Liberty – The Halldorsons and the Unschool Bus
FULL PLAYLIST – The Underground History of American Education, by John Taylor Gatto

Please Support School Sucks
We do cool things! Thanks to your support.

School Sucks is one of the longest running liberty-minded podcasts on the web, and the only one completely devoted to the issue of education (versus public school and college). Your support keeps the show going and growing, which keeps us at the top of the options for education podcasts and leads to new people discovering our work. Please help us continue to spread this important message further!
Thanks for visiting this page. Before you do anything, please bookmark and use this link for your Amazon shopping: Shop With Us
One-Time Donation Options:
Paypal/Venmo;
Donate DASH
Donate ETHEREUM
Donate LITECOIN
Donate BITCOIN
Donate BITCOIN CASH
Donate ZCASH
Recurring Options:
Support Us On PATREON
Help incentivize our production! Pledge $1 per content item and access dozens of Patron only audios and videos.
Join the A/V Club
If you’re looking for more School Sucks content, the A/V Club option grants you access to a bonus content section with 400+ hours of exclusive audio and video. If you are a regular consumer of our media, please consider making a monthly commitment by selecting the best option for you…

A/V Club – Basic Access – $8.00/Month
A/V Club – "Advanced" Access – $12.00/Month
Sigma Sigma Pi – "Privileged" Access – $16.00/Month

 
Crypto Addresses:
DASH; XcZfPP6GZGVo9VKViNBVJZja5JVxZDB229
ETHEREUM; 0x3c5504CE3401C028832173506fa30BD4db4b7D35
LITECOIN; LKNp24f5wwvZ2QzeDbvxXgBxyVwi1yXnu2
BITCOIN; 1KhwY836cfSGCK5aaGFv8Q7PHMgghFJn1U
BITCOIN CASH 1AmqLVxjw3Lp9KT(continued)