When I was seventeen, I quit classical guitar lessons, which I loved so that I could "concentrate" on studying for my ‘A' levels (which I never used anyway). Years later, while reading The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn, my life long reservations over my decision (was it really my decision?) was justified - I could have and should have studied guitar and quit school. It has taken me years to begin to resume my path, to pick up where I should never have left-off. I would have got "a real life and education", the last part of Llewellyn's long title. Sigh! However, bitterness aside, because of books like this one, I decided that my children would be home-schooled. I want them to grow up to do and learn what they are interested in, like the teenagers I met in the book.
Llewellyn wrote The Teenage Liberation Handbook for teenagers and young adults who want more,( but I'll add, it's for anyone who has teenagers in their lives or who still have all the passion and energy of those magical years). More control of their education, more power in decision making, more freedom, more of the real thing. It was written for teens who will not wait until they are out of highschool, or college or until the kids have grown up to get on with doing what they want to do within the business of living and learning, by which time, likely as not, any spark of curiosity would have been extinguished for good. Llewellyn is telling you not to succumb to those adults "who would rather pretend desperately to visionary teenagers that the world is nothing more than green lawns, white socks and recently sanitized carpets." Don't let them. Institutionalized education is wasting your precious time. You can take care of your own learning. Don't be a "drop- out; " you are now a homeschooler, or an unschooler or whatever positive name you want to call yourself. The people you will be seeking guidance or mentoring from in your new life will view your choice in a refreshing favorable light.
Llewellyn was an English teacher when she clued in to the fact that it was anti-life to try to force kids to do what she wanted them to do. If they didn't want to be there, then they shouldn't have to be. Besides, you hardly ever retain what you are not interested in.
In the Teenage Liberation Handbook, she covers it all. Divided into sections, you'll find out why you should consider leaving school, educating both yourself and your parents about home-based learning, dealing with legal issues, how to do it when you've taken the plunge. Llewellyn goes extensively into unschooling "school" subjects like chemistry, geology, history etc. The book is crammed full of resources; books, books, books, pertaining to your interests, organizations and support groups to help you on your way, inspiration to get you going. How to start your own business, fixing the world, apprentices and internships, how to get into college or university with out highschool, it's all there. You'll be entertained by her quirky way of telling it like it is, and by the inspiring and insightful quotes by famous people and not so famous people who homeschooled. In a section on its own, you'll meet real-life teenagers who are doing it. They're out there you know. And they are having a blast.
In this age, where the monopoly by the school system on education is rapidly becoming outdated, where creativity, inventiveness, resourcefulness and a sense of wonder is what better jobs of the future will be demanding, continuing to uphold this rotting institution is a hindrance to those who are trying to create a better world for all to live in. Grace Llewellyn says,"unawakened people are less likely to question the things in our society which are horrifically dull and ridiculous."
This book can't give you faith in yourself; you yourself will have to find that. But it will give you that nudge, that sense of urgency to live your life now, to the fullest, and recapture the sense of wonder and power that all true learning entails.
N.B.
The author wants you to know that this book is not only for the "gifted" kids. Although they may appear so, many of the teenagers you meet in the book who are doing all of the awesome things you are not, did poorly in school which just goes to show that we are "geniuses" at what really turns our crank.