Homeschool
Manifesto
Dateline: 10/11/06
By Ann Zeise
As you go out into the world, youthful homeschoolers, take
this Homeschool Manifesto with you as you enter the cultures
of academia and business:
* Access to information - anything which might teach you something
about how the world works - should be unlimited and total.
* All information should be free.
* Mistrust authority - promote decentralization.
* Mentors should be judged by the wonder they inspire when
they impart their wisdom, not by bogus criteria such as degrees,
age, race, or position.
* Create art and beauty with everything you do.
* Self-directed education is the only way you can change your
life for the better.
This ethic is modified from the MIT unspoken manifesto from
Steven Levy's book, Hackers: Heros of the Computer Revolution.
When I read a copy of it in another book, I thought to myself,
"Hey! We homeschoolers hack education!"
You have "hacked" an education for yourself when
you customized how and what you learned at home, and now, as
you enter more structured and uptight cultures, you owe it to
them and yourselves to "homeschool-hack" them, too.
As long as there is room on the floor, sit in on any class
that interests you, whether or not you will get credit or a grade.
If you want those things, just keep sitting in, and eventually
the professor will let you add the course. Drop courses quickly
that seem a big waste of your life.
If you are entering a business at the bottom, use everything
within legal means to get free access to the information that
will help you learn the business inside out. Any business that
makes you pay to learn it isn't for you. They should pay you
to learn their business.
To bottle up information is inefficient. One piece of information
may be of no value to some, and of great value to others, or
when combined with other tidbits, become very important indeed.
Information is like snow flakes: it piles up one weightless snowflake
at a time, and eventually a mighty tree falls.
I can't say enough about mistrusting authority. When you are
a freshman or the new employee, others will consistently, and
with sober faces, tell you the most outrageous untruths, such
as when you must file this or that. Always double check and check
again any time anyone tells you you must do something, or you
may not do something. There is always a different way to accomplish
the same thing. Often some clerk in a back office has the key.
Promote decentralization. Thanks to the internet, those who
think they are in control are really at the mercy of all us little
guys who share information. Even the mighty in corporate board
rooms fall when they try to find out how information leaks. It
leaks because we all have the urge to free information from the
hands of the powerful few. Still, don't steal the hard work of
others. Share your own insights freely as an example to
others.
Search out and find mentors for yourself. If their eyes are
merry, and they instill wonderment in you to dig deeper, then
they are the right teacher for you. Do not be impressed by degrees
and such. Be impressed by a sense of humor and wit, which indicates
a deep understanding of nature and the spirit.
Do not be satisfied to turn in "acceptable" work,
but to make each item you create a work of art and beauty. If
you write, write eloquently. If you paint, use inspiring sweeps
of color. If you engineer a thing, make it a delight to behold
and comfortable to use. If you are a student of motion, move
with grace and elegance. If you are a creature of faith and spirit,
do so with your whole heart.
Use a variety of means to self-educate yourself. Computers
can change your life for the better, but you must only allow
them become your slave and not your master.
Spend time with many different and interesting people, yet
suffer fools lightly. Seek out places where those who wonder
hang out, and absorb their delight, for they shall spark your
imagination.
Read more books than assigned. Meld and twist what all people,
books, and computer resources teach you so you can invent new
concepts and ideas to make the world a better place.
If this homeschool ethic appeals to you, and you follow this
creed, I hope one day we'll manage to create a means for everyone
in the world to become very well educated indeed... one snowflake
of information at a time.
College
Outlook HomeSchool
This article published in the first edition. A comprehensive
guide that provides information to homeschool parent/teachers
and students on the ever-important decision-making process of
choosing a school and a fulfilling lifelong career.
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