No-Schooling Through The Education Revolution

An interview with no-schooler Jireh Hodges and her perspective on alternative educational paths

There is a lot going on in culture and politics right now, but some of the most fascinating stuff is happening in the world of education. When I was growing up (the 90s) there was a clear path for most white-collar professions: grade schooling to high school to 4-year bachelor’s degree. There were variations on this (associate’s degrees, trade schools) but the default for smart kids was “go to college, pick a major (any major!), and get a bachelor’s degree.”

As the decades have passed, college has gotten more expensive and paradoxically less valuable. People in my generation are still paying loans on degrees they regret and are more cautious about the path they want their children to take. Many young people are doing dual enrollment in community colleges while still in high school as a strategy to defray the costs of a university education.

There has been some smoldering discontent among parents with the quality and direction of public primary education for years. This discontent burst into flame with the pandemic as schools closed their doors and showed parents exactly how important the school system was in producing a properly educated child.

Jireh Hodges has been ahead of this curve for some time. I’ve been friends with Jireh’s parents since I was in college and have watched at a distance as they’ve raised their kids with an “unschooling” philosophy, which prioritizes the curiosity and investigative qualities of children over structured education.

I confess to a certain skepticism of this approach, but it seems to have worked well for her as she is the youngest person in Georgia State University’s 2023 graduating class.

In this interview, I talk with Jireh about the process of her own education and the path she took to a university degree at such a young age. I was struck by the ad hoc nature of her path. At many points in her journey, Jireh took an assessment of where she was and what she wanted to achieve and charted her path there. In her case, this path led through a university, but she did so because the university provided interactions with experts that she needed to advance her own skills and expertise. She isn’t chasing a credential. She is chasing improvements in her ability to think and write.

I found this attitude refreshing and exciting. We’re at a very sensitive moment in the future of education where people are questioning the institutionally approved paths. I hope more students are able to explore their options and develop a path that brings out the full potential of each student.

To keep things light, I end every newsletter with a review of an old cartoon short. It’s a good reminder to myself that there is much more to life than politics, pandemics, and punditry.

Looney Tunes: Hare Force (1944)

This short features beloved pet Sylvester the dog, who is the object of his elderly owners affections until she rescues Bugs out of the freezing cold. In a jealous fit, Sylvester throws Bugs out of the house, kicking off the antagonistic back-and-forth through the short.

The gags are mostly slapstick and they’re about standard fare for a Bugs Bunny piece, but the short it suffers due to the lack of a clear protagonist. The best Bugs shorts are when he is initially attacked without provocation and then engages in his relentless campaign of retribution. In this short, Bugs is the instigating interloper and Sylvester is largely reaction to Bugs’ provocations.

Thus when we get to the of the short and Bugs quips “Ain’t I a stinker?” my thought is “Yes you are and you shouldn’t have done that.”