“What Are They Doing Now?” Survey: Adults After Alt Ed
This is an unusual post, but I’m excited to share it – and hoping to hear from lots of you!
My family had some great discussions around a couple of posts from September of last year – posts that addressed fields of study and work chosen by students who go through alternative education. The first post was examining a pilot program of a student-driven school within a school in which almost all participants focused on creative pursuits for their primary focus. It was interesting to see this gravitation toward the arts, especially for my family, since my sisters and I have all found ourselves pursuing careers in the arts.
The post that followed that was a list my mom and I compiled of the fields that 34 adult homeschoolers I grew up with are pursuing now. It went semi-viral and had the most reads of any post on this blog – by a staggering amount. It showed just how hungry people are for this kind of data.
I was excited this week to hear that my sister had taken an interest in this subject and has decided to focus on the topic for a research project.
Below is a brief survey that my sister put together for her research. Please respond and spread it around! Plus, I’m hoping to collaborate with her to share some of her findings:
Hi — I am doing a college project, looking at people who have gone through alternative education such as homeschooling, unschooling, or democratic (Sudbury Valley style) schools, and what line of work they went into as adults. If you are or know a grown homeschooler, unschooler, or SVS graduate, please email me at wmuscato@student.cccd.edu with this info:
Whether you are answering for yourself or about people you know, I would love to know as many of the categories below as possible:
1) Name (will not be included in the research paper—I am including this so I do not end up counting, say, Susie Q three times because several people who know her responded)
2) What sort of alternative education (homeschooling, unschooling, SV style school) practiced, and for how long,
3) Whether one or both of parents is working (or has worked) in a STEM field (Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics),
4) If attended college (or are now attending college), the major area of study,
5) Current job title, if employed,
6) Career working in or toward, if any,
7) Whether the major, job, and/or career should be considered to be in the arts, in business, in Science/Technology/Engineering/Math (STEM), or none of the above.
I greatly appreciate any and all responses!
Also, please share with anyone you know who knows grown homeschoolers, unschoolers, and/or SVS graduates. I would like to get as much data as possible.Thank you for your assistance!
— Whitney
So excited to find another blogger interested in the same kind of things that I am related to schooling! I’m VERY interested to see the results of this survey, so do please share!
I was homeschool from pre-school until high school, when I started doing dual credit with community college. I’m not getting a bachelor of arts in chemistry at University of Texas San Antonio and intend to pursue graduate school.
I’m guessing you mean “now” instead of “not”!
Elizabeth–homeschooled all 12 years. Have a masters in connunication disorders, technically an arts degree, but I am a speech-language pathologist in a hospital setting. My parents both have bachelor’s degrees but they are in poli sci and psych. Neither one works in STEM. Here are the stats on my siblings:
Jennifer: homeschooled in high school and part of Jr high. Also attended private Christian and public school. Bachelors of Science in Nursing, employed part time at a hospital. Parents info is the same.
Andrew: homeschooled most of the way, some classes at private Christian high school. Bachelors in Business Administration with emphasis on CIS, employed as a network manager for a commercial construction company. Parents info is the same.
Rebekah: Bachelors in Visual Communication. Currently employed as a graphic designer and prepress specialist for a design/printing business. Homeschooled the whole way.
Stephen: homeschooled the whole way. Bachelors in Electrical Engineering, currently employed as an EE. Parents info is the same.
Thanks for the reply, Elizabeth – may I ask you to describe the approach your family took to homeschooling? Would you describe it as somewhat like school-at-home or more free-form?
Emmet.
I was Homeschooled until 16, then did a one year, FETAC course in music. I was accepted into DIT at 16, to study music and I’m now in my second year. I work as an organist and accompanist in Dublin.
I’m not entirely sure what I want to do in the future, other than it being music-related, but I would like to try many different mediums .
Joe Martin. Age 20. Homeschooled k-12 (with co-ops in high school). I am currently working as an apprentice lineman. In a 3.5 year union apprenticeship.
1. Seth C.
2. 1990 graduate of the Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, MA. Did last 3 years of high school there.
3. Father is in medical device field.
4. Undergrad was Liberal Arts at Harvard University Extension School in 1999. Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from University of California, Irvine in 2007. Post-graduate certificate in Geographic Information Science (GIS) in 2010.
5. Work as a GIS consultant and Project Manager for nonprofit that does environmental education and habitat restoration.
6 & 7. My field(s) would best be described as Urban Planning and GIS, and definitely have strong elements of STEM (science, technology), although not sure if I would classify it as such.
Would be willing to forward to SVS if not already done.
Seth – That would be great if you would forward this to SVS. I believe that Whitney has received answers almost entirely from home/unschoolers, not from SVS graduates, and the information from SVS “Where are they now?” studies has been hard to track down.
Hi, I grew up in Yorkshire in the UK and was homeschooled until I was 13. I went to school for 3 years as my sister wanted to go and I didn’t want to be home without her! I then went on to do one a-level in environmental science and then a Bsc degree in ecology and conservation in which I got a first. I now work for the government as a ‘catchment sensitive farming officer’ and have worked for 5 years before that in my local Wildlife Trust, which is a charity.
Martha