The UnCollege: Learning Outside University

Since 1980, the cost of college has risen more than 350% and the average student has more than $25,000 in debt. It used to be that each year of college correlated to an significant increase in lifetime earnings, but 44.4% of college graduates under the age of twenty-five are unemployed or working jobs that don’t require their degree. College teaches us conformity rather than innovation, rather than learning, and theory rather than application. Imagine if the millions of kids sitting in class started their own companies, their own causes, their own initiatives. Imagine if we approached learning in small groups like the French Salons, gathering to discuss, challenge, and support each other in changing the world. This may sound crazy, but I’m an unschooler. While my peers went to school, I started businesses, helped build a library, worked on political campaigns, lived in France, found mentors, and worked at a start-up. College isn't the only path to success.