Unschooling and Sound Craftsmen

Every morning, I click around the WordPress universe looking for a few blog posts worth reading. This weekend brought me two posts that were not only intellectually stimulating but actually put tears in my eyes. I believe that reading them made me a better person, and I want to share them with you.

Here are the links, along with the lines from each post that most struck me.

“Where do you want to get to in life?” from the blog Unschooling to College:

While we were making cookies tonight, my daughter shared with me that a friend told her she will get nowhere in life if she continues to watch Anime (Japanese animation) all the time. I told my daughter to ask her friend where does she (the friend) wants to get to in life. My daughter thought it was a funny question, but then proceeded to tell me that she – herself – wanted to design apps or write Manga when she grows up (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga). “In that case,” I said “watching Anime will probably help to get you there”.

…

In my mind – though nothing is assured – the best way to get clear on what you want to do when you grow-up is to do what you want to do right now.

Whether you are an adult or a child, if you get into the habit of doing what you want to do at any given moment, chances are you will continue to do so when you can, rather than follow someone else’s “getting there” plan for the rest of your life.

“Why I Write” from the blog with one aim:

At the root of this tendency [to highlight one’s strengths and minimize one’s weaknesses] is a desire to be accepted into what C.S. Lewis calls “The Inner Ring.” He described this longing as “The lust for the esoteric, the longing to be inside.” Most of us will do anything to be accepted into this pseudo-guild. Lewis certainly was familiar with it. Reflecting on this self-inflicted pang for affirmation, he says, “To a young person, just entering on adult life, the world seems full of ‘Insides,’ full of delightful intimacies and confidentialities, and he desires to enter them. But if he follows that desire he will reach no ‘inside’ that is worth reaching. The true road lies in quite another direction.”

This post also includes another striking quote from Lewis’s essay:

The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surprising result will follow. If in your working hours you make the work your end, you will presently find yourself all unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters. You will be one of the sound craftsmen, and other sound craftsmen will know it. This group of craftsmen will by no means coincide with the Inner Ring or the Important People or the People in the Know.