Does College Fit With Homeschooling?

College also is something Rebecca pursued on her own terms. As an unschooler, Rebecca would not relinquish control of her education. Dull, uninteresting courses were not acceptable. Mountains of debt after college were not tolerated. Large course loads and a schedule of perpetual motion were not going to happen. Rebecca knew herself and her needs. The college system wasnât in line with her needs as an unschooler, so Rebecca took only what she needed from college.

Rebecca spent four years in college without pursuing a degree. She did not graduate; she did not take prerequisites. The grown homeschooler enrolled in classes that interested her and took only as many courses as were comfortable. During her four years, Rebecca never accepted a student loan--partially because she worked part-time. However, she was a full-time student throughout her college years. She just played by her own rules. When Rebecca left the Dominican University of California in San Rafael after the Spring, 2001 semester, she did not have a diploma. By her standards, however, she left with a college education.

Colleges are not set-up for homeschoolers. So says grown homeschooler Brian Walton, at least. "It is a question of the framework," he says. The 23-year-old from the suburbs of Chicago adds that he came to college "after 12 years of effectively not having teachers. I was used to doing my own work and my own thinkingâand coming up with my own approach to things. I was used to all this fun, self-directed research."

Now a childrenâs librarian, Brian graduated in April with a Masters of Library Science. He had to attend college, he admits. Along with medicine, law and a handful of other professions, library science all but requires an advanced degree.

When asked if he would choose college again if it wasnât required for his occupation, Brian waivers. "Parts I might do. I might only take certain classes."

The importance of a degree in the job market is a major reason for attending college according to the grown homeschoolers interviewed for this article. Rebecca Auerbach is a gutsy exception. Even those who opt out of college respect the challenge of finding work without a degree.

"In todayâs world," acknowledges grown homeschooler Jessica Leffel, "a college education helps a heck of a lot. They want college for telemarketers!"

Jessica, 25, is a purchasing agent for Mac Mechanical Corp. near Cleveland, Ohio. She orders valves, pipes and other items necessary for the installation of sprinkler systems. Her uncle owns the business and two of her brothers also work for the company. Jessica joined Mac Mechanical when she was 17, and she says job security is not an issue. Neither is pay, although she recognizes her ability to change jobs is limited by her lack of a college degree.

"Every day I think about what happens when this job gets old or boring," confides Jessica. "On bad days, I realize I canât walk away."

Her original decision to skip college was pragmatic. As a homeschooler, Jessica craved independence and responsibility. The job with Mac Mechanical allowed her to move out of the house and support herself. In her late teen years she considered culinary school, but ultimately college offered littleâeven cooking school. For Jessica, college was a means to an end--but not an end she needed. Now she says college might be a possibility, but only if her current job goes stale.

For many years, Hafidha Acuay also saw credentials as the primary purpose of college. The Portland, Ore. grown homeschooler attended community college as a teen and appreciated its facilities, but life outside college was too exciting. Instead of college, Hafidha spent a year working at the Smithsonian in D.C., then she cycled through jobs with a forest trail repair group, AmeriCorp and the state park system. She settled down in 1997 with the Oregon electric company where sheâs currently a customer service representative.

Hafidha, 25, cultivated an enduring passion for learning as a homeschooler and says part of her reason for not attending college was the idea that she could intellectually grow without assistance from college.

"I thought I could do it on my own," she says. "But I was not disciplined. I had plenty of ideas, but I slacked-off." Hafidha would read books occasionally, but without a push she found that her personal studies languished.

So, Hafidha began classes this year at Marylhurst College in Portland.

"I reached a point where I felt I wasnât learning," she says. "My age increased, but not my education."

Marylhurst has been great for her, Hafidha says. The small college, geared toward part-time students like her, provides the resources and intellectual feedback she couldnât find when studying on her own.

"Iâm really influenced by my environment, and there was no one to bounce ideas off of," she admits. "I needed intellectual feedback. You canât strike up a conversation with co-workers about Plato."

In an academic sense, structure and resources make college worthwhile for many homeschoolers, whether the resources are science labs or students and professors. Common problems with collegeâpassive learning, rigid schedules, testing emphasis, artificial environments and many of the other complaints homeschoolers level against K-12 educationâmay be more obvious to grown homeschoolers than students who have not tasted homeschooling. Many grown homeschoolers are willing to take the good with the bad, however, even if they do recognize the problems with college.

"Sometimes it sucked," Scarlet Shell recalls of her days as an undergraduate at Smith College, but "there is a lot to be said for an environment of learning. It is necessary. I donât know how to reproduce it."

Scarlet, a 22-year-old microbiology graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, says she is a strong believer in college. College introduced her to sciences and math, areas she discounted at first because of her weakness in those subjects as an unschooler. Academic structure and feedback were crucial. Getting a degree was important. Socially, Scarlet says she didnât know how to interact with her peers before college. Also, she says that college helped her not be an outsider in society; sharing at least one mainstream experience with her peers was vital.

"Itâs all put together in college," Scarlet explains.

Yeah, says Rebecca, resources were good. She would not have gone to college if scholarships had not paid for school, however.

"The schedule was frustrating," says Rebecca. "There were always things I had to do! There is a law of diminishing returns. They wanted to teach you more, but you would get less out of it."

Rebecca says she grew adept at padding research papers and playing the school game. "It was easy to learn, but hard to make myself do it," she says. Playing the school game got old, even when she played by her own rules.

In four years, Rebecca made a serious attempt to find a college right for her and her homeschooling background. She attended three different colleges, but none hit the sweet spot. So she quit.

"The problem with colleges in general is that theyâre like high schools," she says "My guess is there are exceptions. If I had to do it over again, I might have gone to Shimer [College in Waukegan, Illinois]. That, or a more alternative college."

The question is no longer whether homeschoolers can excel in college. Perhaps the new question is whether college is a temporary solution for homeschoolers until they, as a movement, find a better alternative.

After all, isnât college just a continuation of the school system they refused during their homeschooling years?

About the Author:

Lifelong unschooler Peter Kowalke, 25, is producer of Grown Without Schooling, a documentary about grown homeschoolers and the lasting influence of home education. For more stories about grown homeschoolers, visit Peterâs web site at http://www.grownwithoutschooling.com or e-mail him at info@grownwithoutschooling.com. This article originally appeared in the July-August, 2002 issue of Home Education Magazine.

Editorâs Note: Meet Peter at the New England Homeschool & Family Learning Conference in Boxborough, MA on July 16 & 17.