Paleo Ed

“We are social creatures, and it is very difficult for us to behave in ways that run counter to what others perceive as normal. In the history of cultures, harmful normative practices or rituals may persist for centuries at least partly because of the stigma, or perceived stigma, associated with violating the norms. These have included such practices as foot binding in the upper classes in China and genital mutilation in many other cultures. Even people who knew that such practices were harmful did them, because failure to do so would mark the family as “different” and therefore aberrant. School is the most predominant cultural ritual of our time. It is a practice ingrained as normal, even necessary, in the minds of the great majority of people. To counter it, one must overcome not just others’ negative judgments, but also the judgments that rise up from one’s own school-indoctrinated mind.”- Peter Gray writes in an article about the common challenges as named by unschooling families. Being outside of normal may well be a lonely path but i believe it is one worth taking. My motto, which I didn’t know until I heard it sung, is “F**k you, I won’t do what you tell me!” (-thank you , you so eloquently spoke my mind. Boy, am I asking for it from my kids! I guess I’m raising them to question everything! Yikes!) As I reflect, I see that it is my eternal inborn drive to question and analyze all accepted “truths” that makes this moto so fitting.