UnCollege: Home-Schooling For College Students

Dale Stephens thinks there's no reason why home-schooling can't extend to college.

The young entrepreneur, currently a freshman at Hendrix College, is developing a community of self-directed learners he calls UnCollege -- a site offering support and guidance for students who would prefer a non-conventional learning experience to study at a traditional college, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Stephens was home-schooled and believes that his independent experience taught him more than formal courses. He told the Chronicle: "I don't feel that I've learned things that I couldn't have learned on my own." Stephens also questioned the worth of a traditional degree -- on his site, he writes, "With 70.1% of high school graduates going to college, a college degree no longer guarantees success. School no longer requires analytical thinking or independent thought. In a traditional college setting the joy of learning is easily lost."

UnCollege, which is slated to enroll its first class in fall 2011, still contains traces of a more traditional institution. Although it will not grant degrees, UnCollege costs $100 per month to attend and has a few required assignments, including edicts to "write about why you're participating in UnCollege," "find a mentor," and "live abroad for three months." UnStudents are encouraged to complete at least fifteen projects in three different "learning domains" -- introspection, experience and application -- before a non-official graduation.

Boston University professor Hillel Levine, who is among Stephens's personal mentors, said that he is intrigued -- if not entirely convinced -- by Stephens's mission. He told the Chronicle that colleges should take experiential learning more seriously, adding "the problem is real, but I'm not sure [Stephens has] come up with the solution."

Check out UnCollege and Uncollege's Facebook page to learn more, and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Comments

[LearnMe]

04:15 PM on 02/19/2011

Interesting. This past year I started homeschooling my middle school aged son. You can read about it here,
www.learnmeproject.com

[hrainh20]

03:07 PM on 02/16/2011

Obviously if you want to enter a profession that is licensed or regulated, such as medicine, education, law, etc., then college is necessary. If you are interested in the arts, computer technology, or business, college isn't necessarily the way to go. Take a look at this list from the college dropout hall of fame: http://www.collegedropoutshalloffame.com/b.htm. Pretty impressive.

And be careful about assuming that all homeschoolers are from religiously conservative, close-minded backgrounds or that all homeschoolers are like the few that you've met. That's a little like assuming that all African-Americans are good at basketball or all Asians score 1600 on the SATs or all Muslims are terrorists.

[DanSc]

02:30 PM on 02/13/2011

I don't trust UnCollege to teach me differential equations

[scripted]

10:10 PM on 02/12/2011

So, you have to 'attend', complete projects, work on assignments and *don't* get a degree to show for it? Why, sign me up!

[LoungeOwl]

05:31 PM on 02/12/2011

This is an idealized vision. There are still social standards and certain achievements like working for a Fortune 500 usually require a formal degree or graduate degree. If college students are dissatisfied they can still learn in their own time at the campus library. This sounds like more passive aggressive behavior, maybe another way to procrastinate: http://www.loungeowl.com/student-apathy-the-root-of-academic-procrastination/

[McKMN]

01:27 AM on 02/12/2011

Ok so after being unschooled from the 6th to 12th grade, he wants to be uncolleged too. What comes after that......the UNJOB.

[Naithom]

02:35 PM on 02/13/2011

Sure, he can be a member of Congress.

[Turukano]

09:49 PM on 02/11/2011

Oh course .. why have any human interaction with the outside world at all? Heaven forbid people live in their narrow worldview thru 16 years of schooling and then think they are prepared for a multicultural nation.
 
 

[topscientist]

07:46 PM on 02/22/2011

A very intelligent comment about a program that requires you to live abroad, indeed.

[estel42]

06:22 PM on 02/11/2011

Haha. I go to school with this guy, and trust me, no one takes him seriously. He is a campus joke.

[Naithom]

02:36 PM on 02/13/2011

He figured out how to get people to send him money and he doesn't have to do anything. Bet he's the one laughing all the way to the bank.

[Profyz]

06:02 PM on 02/11/2011

This is the next logical step after inundating the country with fly-by-night or day colleges. For 40 years I struggled with my students in trying to persuade them to major in subjects other than dancing, swimming, drama, tennis and painting. Now they can do this sitting home and we shall import doctors, engineers, scientists and nurses. America has all the necessary material to fuel its decline.

[1Woman4Obama]

04:59 PM on 02/11/2011

What problem is real that necessitates "UnCollege"? And what is the value of an un-college, un-degree? All of life should be an extension of "home-schooling" but there is a reason why employers and others out in the work force want to see a formal education.

[topscientist]

07:47 PM on 02/22/2011

Because they are credentialist mediocrities?

[Hnorc]

04:17 PM on 02/11/2011

Those who think this is a great idea just wait until you are operated on by a home-schooled doctor.

[Wonder Woman2]

01:35 PM on 02/11/2011

How about individual professors offering packages of courses to students? They can independently provide a curriculum, assess learning, and award credits. Class discussions could take place via online boards.

This would go to a clearing house and once someone completed the required courses they get a degree. A student develops as a degree completion plan at the start of their studies.

[Naithom]

02:38 PM on 02/13/2011

Actually that makes a lot of sense. Take the best courses from the best teachers at the best schools.

Set up like that, it could work.

[Andrew Heintz]

01:00 PM on 02/11/2011

Wow. I can't believe how narrow-minded and bigoted many of these comments are (especially the ones by a certain "super user"). I suggest you guys do some research, maybe meet some non-fundamentalist homeschoolers (since it seems your real problem is with their fundamentalism), and maybe come to understand that *your* way of life is not the only way of life.

[Turukano]

09:50 PM on 02/11/2011

Whatever. Hey buddy, welcome to the 21st century. God did not create the iPod, science did.

[topscientist]

07:39 PM on 02/22/2011

She said non-fundamentalist homeschoolers. Maybe if you'd been home-schooled, your reading comprehension would be better.

[wwhitfie81]

12:02 PM on 02/11/2011

So, let me get this straight, I'm paying $100 a month to not obtain a degree. Oh, this guy is GOOOOOD! What a scheme. It's like fear-based learning. The big colleges won't work for you homeschoolers, take my approach instead. He's going to get money off of those who feel afraid to join the wonderful culture of colleges and universities throughout America. That's such a loss to these students socially. College isn't all about education, it's also about adaptation, learning yourself outside of your norms and enjoying differences. At least that's what I took out of it.

[IndependentBadger]

09:34 AM on 02/11/2011

I feel sorry for homeschoolers. I had to attend a few classes with four of them while getting my economics degree. Their paranoia and misconceptions about public schools were hilarious, until I started to notice the genuine fear they felt, and the tiny limits of their knowledge about the "outside" world. It was disturbing. They clearly have no clue why it's important to be socialized in a group setting with your countrymen. They didn't know how to interact with minorities, or foreigners, or strong women, or even other guys who disagreed with them, for that matter. In a lot of ways they are severely undereducated people. They slowed the rest of us down with their ridiculous speeches and complaints constantly, too. It was almost like they were autistic, the way they would get up and just insult the rest of us or blame us for their inability to work on group projects, or handle the fact that they weren't "acing" everything anymore.

[Turukano]

09:51 PM on 02/11/2011

Precisely. Talk about a culture shock.

[Pavane]

01:26 AM on 02/12/2011

The homeschoolers I knew are just the opposite. They were well connected socially through playing organized sports (soccer and baseball) and participating in events at museums and the symphony with other motivated and educated homeschoolers. The two I know are both classical musicians as well on the violin and piano.

I have to say they are both extremely bright, intellectually curious and a joy to know. I guess that's what makes the world go 'round. Not everyone is the same.

[IndependentBadger]

01:19 PM on 02/12/2011

I say live and let live, generally. What bugged the crap out of me was the way they would incessantly lecture the rest of us on everything, as if we were cretins, just because daddy didn't hire Aristotle to personally teach us how to handle Darius. They would just routinely trash public education, essentially regurgitating years of whatever they were taught to fear their whole lives. The irony cracked me up. They would complain about our intolerance and small minds, as we had to quietly sit there and let them yap on and on. I would sit there and wonder how long their parents would tolerate me walking into their home lessons and verbally humiliating them. Just sad, really. There really is a giant disconnect in the valuation of socialization with diverse groups of people. I met one black homeschooled kid, my whole life. The rest were pretty well-heeled, extremely sheltered suburban kids with either hardcore religious agendas, or a lifetime of libertarian, Ayn Rand-style indoctrination on the miracle of the Invisible Hand. Creepy.