The teenage liberation handbook How to quit school and get a real life and education

Gr. 9-12. Lots of parents and teachers won't like this book. They'll argue that leaving school dooms a young person to a low-paying job and that Llewellyn's "experimental" approach to education is too unbalanced and too narrow. A former teacher, Llewellyn is familiar with the arguments. She counters them with some thought-provoking discussion that points to "unschooling," i.e., home schooling, as a healthier, more reasonable choice than public or private school for most young people. Her contention is that "healthy kids can teach themselves what they need to know through books, various people, thinking, and other means." Reinforcing her text with enthusiastic commentary from self-taught teens, she explains how teenagers can overcome parental, legal, and practical roadblocks to home study and suggests creative activities and readings (a limited but excellent selection) to help them handle subjects like math, English, and social studies. Less dubious about the value of higher education than about compulsory schooling, she encourages teenagers to prepare for college, tackling--in a separate chapter that draws on responses from college admissions officers--the problem of college entrance for those without high school credentials. Llewellyn's strident, recurring antischool sentiments eventually become tiresome. But her enthusiasm for learning, her great faith in kids, and the wonderful educational possibilities she presents will make her book tantalizing reading for teens who can't make it in school but have the discipline and the passion to learn on their own. ~--Stephanie Zvirin