Benjamin Franklin is known for many things. He’s on the $100 bill, for one. He was a writer, inventor, scientist, politician, and diplomat, to name only some of his occupations and pass-times.
He was also, I would argue, an unschooler.
Just look at this guy:
- only went to school from ages 8-10
- learned printing as an apprentice to his older brother and was able to start supporting himself at age 17, when he ran away to Philadelphia
- taught himself to write during his free time while an apprentice (more about that), and caused some stir in Boston because of his political writings
- got stranded in London and just kept working and reading books until he managed to save up enough money to get back to Philadelphia
- started an intellectual group dedicated to reading books, discussing them and ascertaining truth
- started the first subscription library in America
All this by the age of 25.
Yes, you could argue that since unschooling didn’t exist back then, he doesn’t count. And he stopped going to school because his parents couldn’t afford it, not because they had any special ideas on how education should be. But I think this guy was a champion of independent learning. And lifelong learning, at that. If he’d continued going to school, he might have ended up a clergyman. Instead, we got a scientist, inventor, writer, and founding father, and he did all that without formal academic training. I think that’s pretty cool.
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Crossposted from a new(ish) tumblr I’m trying to get started — Vexilloquy! Basically it’s just a less-formal blog to nerd about history and flags and suchlike things. Take a look if you want. There’s not much there yet.
Daisy M. Hall 