Everywhere All the Time: A New Deschooling Reader

by Matt Hern

Over the course of the past decade, there has been a marked increase in skepticism toward current models for public and private schools, and a renewed interest in alternative models for education.  Why?  The simple answer is that many of our educational institutions fail to offer kids the skills they need to be healthy, self-directed life-learners.  They stifle creativity, and encourage conformity of thought.  They utilize draconian disciplinary measures and a one-size-fits-all approach to learning.  And government control of, and corporate intrusion into education has been a further disaster for communities concerned with the welfare of their youngsters.

EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME: A NEW DESCHOOLING READER

Edited by Matt Hern (Purple Thistle Centre, Vancouver)

Including essays by Ivan Illich, Grace Llewellyn, John Taylor
Gatto, Vinoba Bhave, Emma Goldman, Gustava Esteva, Madhu Prakash, Pat
Farenga, the Pedro Abizu Puerto Rican High School, and the
Albany Free School, as well as interviews with unschooled children and an array of
international alternative-to-school experimenters in Israel, Thailand,
India, and Mali.

Over the course of the past decade, there has been a marked increase in skepticism toward current models for public and private schools, and a renewed interest in alternative models for education.  Why?  The simple answer is that many of our educational institutions fail to offer kids the skills they need to be healthy, self-directed life-learners.  They stifle creativity, and encourage conformity of thought.  They utilize draconian disciplinary measures and a one-size-fits-all approach to learning.  And government control of, and corporate intrusion into education has been a further disaster for communities concerned with the welfare of their youngsters.

It's no wonder that popular engagement in homeschooling, unschooling, deschooling, and alternative schools is gaining momentum.  The project of "deschooling" our youth (and ourselves) requires thinking about new self-directed learning strategies for children, helping kids to build critical thinking for active engagement and democratic self-governance while alleviating the negative psychological effects of traditional schooling methods.

EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME, a new Fall release from AK PRESS, is a collection of essays and excerpts designed to educate, inform, and explore a variety of different models for alternative education.  Edited by Matt Hern (director of the Purple Thistle Centre for youth arts and activism in Vancouver, CA), and including contributors ranging from Ivan Illich (author of the classic work, Deschooling Society) to Pat Farenga (author of The Beginner's Guide to Homeschooling, and a tireless advocate for the modern homeschooling movement) and Grace Llewellyn (author of The Teenage Liberation Handbook), EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME is a great resource for experienced alternative educators as well as folks just starting out.

MATT HERN lives and works in East Vancouver with his partner and daughters. He directs the Purple Thistle Centre and founded Car-Free Vancouver Day. His writing has been published on all six continents and translated into many languages. He continues to lecture widely, including at both UBC and SFU in Vancouver. His books include Field Day: Getting Society Out of School and Watch Yourself: Why Safer Isn't Always Better.