Ep. 650: Kerry McDonald – The Silver Linings of Mass (forced) "Home Schooling"

But even the term "distance learning" is perhaps too kind; we’re talking about "distance schooling," where many of the impositions of school have been driven even further into the home and the family.

Is a media campaign underway to connect the current inconveniences, fears and frustrations to the idea and practice of home education? If the answer is yes, it has been a resounding success so far; according to Google Trends the term "home schooling" reached peak popularity in March 2020. Its previous peak was in 2009, with the rollout of Common Core.

Is this a tragedy? Kerry McDonald says no, and today we’ll discuss how the current crisis is rich with opportunity for children, families, and the entire future of self-directed education.

Back in early March, Kerry explained that "We have collectively become so programmed to believe that education and schooling are synonymous that we can’t imagine learning without schooling and become frazzled and fearful when schools are shuttered. If nothing else, perhaps this worldwide health scare will remind us that schooling isn’t inevitable and education does not need to be confined to a conventional classroom." (Read that entire FEE article HERE )

Kerry McDonald is a Senior Education Fellow at FEE and author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom. She is also an adjunct scholar at The Cato Institute and a regular Forbes contributor. Kerry has a B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College and an M.Ed. in education policy from Harvard University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and four children. You can sign up for her weekly newsletter on parenting and education here.

Kerry’s Previous Appearance On the Podcast:
[PODCAST] #504: Unenclosed Children and Self-Directed Learning – With Kerry McDonald

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