Unschooled Q&A with Anya Kamenetz, Jerika Johnstone, Miles Conyers, & More [VIDEO]

In a discussion following the virtual SXSW EDU screening of the documentary film, Unschooled, the filmmakers and subjects of the film had a powerful conversation and answered viewers' questions.

The post-screening Q&A was moderated by NPR Education Correspondent Anya Kamenetz and featuring Natural Creativity Co-Director Krystal Dillard, Unschooled Co-directors Tim Grucza and Rachel Beth Anderson, mother Jerika Johnstone, student Miles Conyers, and Boundless Chief Strategic Engagement Officer Ulcca Joshi Hansen.

Within the context of today’s unprecedented events and lifting from key moments in the film, Unschooled, this Q&A explored our collective opportunity to reexamine how we learn. With 9 out of 10 children learning in their homes right now, many educators, parents, and young people recognize this is their chance to chart a new path forward. What can we learn from the power of self-directed education? How can we put young people in the driver’s seat of their own learning?

"We already know, even in conventional schooling, that interest is important and deep. And that it’s interest, and it’s relationships, and all of these things that we are seeing that help young people connect to the things that they are learning about and go deeper and actually internalize that education within themselves."

– Krystal Dillard, Natural Creativity Co-Director,

Unschooled: Parents desperate for a solution to the failing Philadelphia public school system turn their hopes to a new radical education program that believes formalized education is part of the larger problem– dehumanizing our children. The program practices unschooling, which empowers students to direct their own education. When three young teens enroll, these radical ideas are put to the testing.

Watch the Unschooled Q&A, as well as other SXSW EDU 2020 videos on our YouTube channel.

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