Interview with Eli Gerzon, an unschooled adult who decided to direct his own education at the age of 15
“The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” ~ Bertrand Russell
Eli at the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel as the sun sets.
Eli with a new friends on top of Herodium, a fortress on a mountain built by Herod in 40 BCE, in the West Bank, Palestine near Bethlehem.
As part of a three part series on unschooling, I speak with Eli Gerzon, an unschooled adult who decided to direct his own education at the age of 15. Eli, an advocate for homeshooling, has replaced the traditional classroom with the world as experienced through his travels and has coined the phrase “worldschooling”. Inspired by how much he has learned and grown as a result of his travels, Eli created Worldschool Travel Tours in 2008, where he has led small groups of teens on trips through Latin America and Asia.
“Education, for most people, means trying to lead the child to resemble the typical adult of his society…But for me, education means making creators…You have to make inventors, innovators, not conformists.” ~ Jean Piaget
Eli Gerzon writes and speak about homeschooling, unschooling and worldschooling. From an article on his site, Eli address the reasons he left school and embarked on his unschooling journey:
Excerpted from this artilce: To Swing in a Tree and From Bullets be Free: Why I Left School
On an ancient Roman aqueduct on the Mediterranean Sea in Caesarea, Israel.
“A while back, after I had been unschooling for a year or so, I decided to write out some uncommon answers to very common homeschooling questions.
The best one was, “Why did you decide to leave school?”
My reply: “If you saw a monkey swinging in a tree, would you ask it why it left the zoo?”
The essence of this tongue in cheek response is the start, but not the end, of how I would honestly answer the question now. The alternate way I’ve come to look at it evolved from a heated discussion with some homeschooling parents, friends of mine, after attending a John Taylor Gatto speech.
I was trying to make a point when I asked, “Yes, but what is the main reason you don’t send your children to school?”
I expected them to simply answer “freedom” and thus help prove some point I was trying to make, but I was surprised when Glenn answered in a thoughtful voice almost to himself, “Why do I avoid sending my children into a battlefield where bullets are flying?”
To read the entire article, please go to his site here.
Worldschooling
“I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.”
~Eartha Kitt
The following is excerpted from this article called ‘Worldschooling‘ by Eli Gerzon:
What’re the differences between and the definitions of homeschooling, unschooling, and worldschooling?
At the foot of Herodium, near Bethlehem in the West Bank, Palestine.
Homeschooling— This is the official and most common term for not going to school full-time; being otherwise educated. The word clearly implies creating a school structure in the home, as some do, though many or even most homeschoolers utilize many educational opportunities outside of the home. Even when this is the case many people will still refer to themselves as homeschoolers because it is the most recognizable term or they think of their home as the base of their schooling.
Unschooling — This term was coined by John Holt to emphasize his educational philosophy as something fundamentally different than school and education as most people think of it. It’s essentially freedom or the confidence in free people’s ability to become educated by utililizing the resources and guidance around them and inside of them. It is often described as “child driven learning”, free of coercion and based on following one’s own interests, not necessarily using any of the usual school resources. Still, one can go to classes and use textbooks while still calling oneself an unschooler as many unschoolers do.
(John Holt was a school teacher himself. He started to become a critic of the way schools were run and wrote about How Children Fail to learn because of school and looking at How Children Learn realized it’s really despite of school. Eventually he started to tell parents, “You can Teach Your Own children and let them enjoy Growing Without Schooling because, in truth, children are actually Learning All the Time.” In fact as a philosophy it’s Never Too Late to start unschooling and follow ones bliss to learn whatever one wants. At the same time, many unschoolers and unschooling advocates, including Pat Farenga, a protege of John Holt and current president of Holt Associates, has expressed a desire for a more positive term that isn’t defined by what it isn’t.)
Covered in mud from the Dead Sea in Israel
Worldschooling — This is a new term coined by Eli Gerzon that is essentially a more descriptive and positive version of unschooling that can apply to anyone even those beyond school age. Gerzon defines it by saying, “It’s when the whole world is your school, instead school being your whole world.” Eli Gerzon has “unschooled through college” mainly by learning from his international travels but the term does not require you to travel the world, just as unschooling doesn’t forbid making use of school resources. Instead, it’s when one actively experiences and learns from the world around one: the home, family, friends, strangers of all backgrounds, libraries, parks, sports, forests, schools, towns, and of course the world and the world wide web. It also emphasizes that there is always more to learn from this wonderful, complex world regardless of whether one has a high school degree, is a doctor, or is solely self-educated.
Salento, Colombia
Miro in Corcora Valley
After we left Manizales, we headed to the Colonial town of Salento, just a 3 hour bus ride into the next district. In the colonial era, the main route from Popayán to Bogotá travelled over the Quindío Pass, passing through the current-day site of Salento.
This was an important route, and in 1830, Simón Bolívar ordered that it be upgraded. However, work did not start until 14 years later after the Guerra de los Supremos. Interestingly, political prisoners from that war were sent from Panamá, Antioquia and Cauca to upgrade and maintain the road. After completing their sentences, the prisoners were freed and given a block of land in the region.
The site of the penal colony was known as Barcinales, located where Salento is today. Families of the prisoners arrived and built their houses and developed farms upstream along the Quindío River in the Corcora Valley, where Miro and I hiked to see the giant wax palms. If you haven’t had the chance to see our post on our hike through the Corcora Valley, Miro and I recorded the 6 ½ hour hike with 15 short video segments taking you along with us. Please be sure to check out the page here.
Eli Gerzon
Eli Gerzon was born and raised in the Boston area. He went to school until the age of 15 when he discovered homeschooling and unschooling. He then chose to leave high school and direct his own education.
In 2002, at the age of 18, he started his own landscaping business and used it to finance his international travels from then until now. Inspired by how much he learned and grew from travel, he created Worldschool Travel Tours in 2008.
He lead small groups of teens to Mexico in 2008, Japan in 2009, and Japan again in 2010. This year he is taking a break from leading tours. You can check out his blog for writing about travel, his tours, education, and various other topics.
In an earlier episode on unlearning, I had a delightful conversation with Amy, a mother of two boys from Canada, who together with her husband, are preparing for their world travel through South East Asia while they unschool their two sons. She provide some wonderful tips on how how familiy is preparing for their up and coming travels. The first in this series is an episode which contains a wonderful conversation with Peter Kowalke, a 32-year-old homeschooler, journalist, film director and editor of Unschooler.com.
Lainie Liberti is a recovering branding expert, who’s career once focused on creating campaigns for green – eco business, non-profits and conscious business. Dazzling clients with her high-energy designs for over 18 years, Lainie lent her artistic talents to businesses that matter. But that was then.
In 2008, after the economy took a turn, Lainie decided to be the change (instead of a victim) and began the process of “lifestyle redesign,” a joint decision between both her and her 11-year-old son, Miro. They sold or gave away all of of their possessions in 2009 and began a life of travel, service, and exploration. Lainie and her son Miro began their open-ended adventure backpacking through Central and South America. They are slow traveling around the globe allowing inspiration to be their compass. The pair is most interested in exploring different cultures, contributing by serving, and connecting with humanity as ‘global citizens.’
Today Lainie considers herself a digital nomad who is living a location independent life. She and her son write and podcast their experiences from the road at Raising Miro on the Road of Life.
