Univerza V Mariboru

UNIVERZA V MARIBORU

Filozofska fakulteta

ODDELEK ZA ANGLISTIKO IN AMERIKANISTIKO

DIPLOMSKO DELO

EXPRESSING APPRAISAL IN ENGLISH TEXTS ON UNSCHOOLING

IZRAŢANJE VREDNOTENJA V ANGLEŠKIH BESEDILIH O RAZŠOLANJU

Mentorica: Kandidat: doc. dr. Katja Plemenitaš Boris Pirš

Maribor, september 2016

Zahvala

Iskreno se zahvaljujem se svoji mentorici prof. dr. Katji Plemenitaš za pomoč pri pripravi diplomskega dela ter vsem za dano spodbudo in podporo.

ABSTRACT

Unschooling refers to a number of educational approaches that are outside standard formal education. Unschooling supporters advocate that learning outside formal education is more effective than formal and that learners should be educated according to their own wishes through natural experiences such as playing, social interaction, household activities, family, friends, television and computer, usually without any curricula or grading.

In my graduation thesis we will explore the language used in various text types on unschooling, such as in the monograph Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto (2009), reviews on Amazon.com, comments in a Youtube clip and comments in a Yahoo! News article. We were interested in finding out what language the authors use in order to support or oppose unschooling and what differences and similarities there are between them.

Key words: unschooling; discourse analysis; appraisal theory.

POVZETEK

Pojem »razšolanje« se nanaša na vrsto izobraţevalnih pristopov, ki so izven standardnega formalnega izobraţevanja. Podporniki razšolanja so mnenja, da je učenje izven formalnega šolstva učinkovitejše od formalnega in da bi se učenci morali izobraţevati v skladu z lastnimi ţeljami, kot so igra, socialna interakcija, gospodinjska opravila, druţina, prijatelji, televizija in računalnik, brez točno določenega učnega načrta ali ocenjevanja.

V diplomski nalogi bomo raziskovali in analizirali jezik vrednotenja, ki ga uporabljajo avtorji v različnih besedilnih vrstah na temo razšolanje, in sicer v monografiji Weapons of Mass Instruction avtorja John Taylor Gattoja (2009), v komentarjih na spletni strani Amazon.com, na spletnem portalu Youtube in v članku na spletni storitvi Yahoo! News. Ţeleli smo ugotoviti, kakšen jezik uporabljajo avtorji za izraţanje svojih mnenj in stališč o razšolanju ter ugotavljali podobnosti in razlike med njimi.

Ključne besede: razšolanje, diskurzna analiza, teorija vrednotenja.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1 2. UNSCHOOLING ...... 2 3. AIMS AND HYPOTHESES ...... 3 4. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ...... 4 4.1. THE LANGUAGE OF EVALUATION – APPRAISAL IN ENGLISH ...... 4 4.1.1. Attitude ...... 5 4.1.2. Engagement ...... 6 4.1.3. Graduation ...... 7 5. POPULAR TEXT TYPES IN WHICH UNSHOOLING IS DISCUSSED ...... 8 5.1. Monographs ...... 8 5.2. Articles ...... 9 5.3. Comments ...... 9 5.4. Reviews ...... 9 6. METHODOLOGY ...... 10 7. EMPIRICAL PART ...... 10 7.1. Materials ...... 10 7.2. APPRAISALS IN THE PROLOGUE AND CHAPTER 1 OF THE BOOK “WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION” BY JOHN TAYLOR GATTO ...... 11 7.2.1. Context ...... 11 7.2.2. Analysis ...... 12 7.2.3. Findings and observations ...... 16 7.3. APPRAISALS IN REVIEWS OF THE BOOK WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION BY JOHN TAYLOR GATTO ON AMAZON.COM ...... 17 7.3.1. Context ...... 17 7.3.2. Analysis ...... 18 7.3.3. Findings and observations ...... 27 7.4. APPRAISALS IN THE YOUTUBE CLIP “UNSCHOOLING VS. HOMESCHOOLING VS. FORMAL EDUCATION” AND COMMENTS ...... 28 7.4.1. Context ...... 28 7.4.2. Analysis ...... 28 7.4.3. Findings and observations ...... 34

7.5. APPRAISALS IN THE ARTICLE “WHY UNSCHOOLING IS THE NEXT WAVE OF HOME-BASED EDUCATION FOR KIDS” ON THE WEBSITE YAHOO! NEWS ...... 35 7.5.1. Context ...... 35 7.5.2. Article analysis ...... 35 7.5.3. Findings and observations ...... 37 7.6. APPRAISALS IN COMMENTS ON THE ARTICLE “WHY UNSCHOOLING IS THE NEXT WAVE OF HOME-BASED EDUCATION FOR KIDS” ON THE WEBSITE YAHOO! NEWS ...... 38 7.6.1. Context ...... 38 7.6.2. Analysis ...... 38 7.6.3. Findings and observations ...... 43 8. CONCLUSION ...... 44 9. LITERATURE ...... 46

INDEX OF TABLES

Table 1: Analysis of the book Weapons of mass instruction by John Taylor Gatto ...... 12 Table 2: Positive reviews of the book Weapons of mass instruction by John Taylor Gatto on Amazon.com ...... 18 Table 3: Negative reviews of the book Weapons of mass instruction by John Taylor Gatto on Amazon.com ...... 23 Table 4: User comments on the Youtube clip Unschooling vs. Homeschooling vs. Formal Education\ ...... 28 Table 5: Appraisals in the article Why Unschooling is the Next Wave of Home- Based Education for Kids on Yahoo! News ...... 35

1. INTRODUCTION Rhetoric is “speech designed to persuade”

Cicero

“The pen is mightier than the sword” is a well-known philosophical saying meaning that communication can cause people to change their beliefs more effectively and on a larger scale than direct violence, albeit it can also be interpreted as the use of administrative power, such as laws. This is especially true for rhetoric, where in order to achieve a persuasive effect not only what is written or spoken about is important but also how it is being communicated. Typically this is achieved by using a variety of figures of speech and other effective language forms. Mostly it is used by politicians in their speeches and voting campaigns in order to win approval from the general population. Slogans like “Yes we can”, “Power to the people", "Make America Great Again" and others give a sense of unity, address the nation as a whole and conveying a message of hope.

For my thesis, I chose to research the language used by authors on unschooling. Unschooling caught my attention, as I believe that there should be more ways of schooling rather than a single “one size fits all” type. In order to do that, I had to conduct an extensive search on the internet to find discussions about schooling and unschooling in general.

In the theoretical part of this thesis I will firstly briefly introduce the term unschooling, followed by aims and hypotheses, description of the appraisal framework by Martin and White (2005) and description of text types I analysed.

In the empirical part I will analyse the language used by authors on unschooling and the language used in public discourse on unschooling, applying the appraisal framework developed by Martin and White (2005). I will primarily focus on how the authors support or oppose the idea of unschooling with the help of framing.

2. UNSCHOOLING

Unschooling refers to a number of philosophical stances and educational approaches that advocate learning and education, which deviates from conventional formal education, usually without any set curricula. Advocates support their position by claiming that education is the most efficient when learning is done naturally, through play, household work, curiosity, reading, travelling, family, friends and social interaction. Unschooling further encourages that learners should choose activities by themselves, since this way the learning becomes more personal and therefore more useful to the learner. The number of children being homeschooled in North America is growing rapidly. According to estimates, there are 1.5 million children homeschooled in the United States. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232544669_The_Impact_of_Sc hooling_on_Academic_Achievement_Evidence_From_Homeschooled_an d_Traditionally_Schooled_Students).

There may be various levels on unschooling, from complete absence of any formal education to some forms that may be similar to formal education in scope and fashion, which is commonly also known as homeschooling, a subset to unschooling. The term “unschooling” was first used by the educator John Holt in the 1970s. In political terms, unschooling is often framed as leftist and liberal and as countercultural, anti-authoritarian and against mainstream in social terms.

Critics of unschooling view it as regressive, failing to develop social skills and proper skills that are required for later professional career. Proponents (e.g. authors such as John Taylor Gatto, John Holt, Ivan Illich and famous unschooling advocates) claim the opposite since there were many famous people in the past who were highly successful, had very little formal education and were home-schooled or dropouts.

As such, unschooling is a highly controversial topic and subject to speculation. Therefore I decided to research some of the publications regarding unschooling, such as books, Youtube clips, blogs and forums. I wanted to research what language the authors and commenters use to support or oppose the idea of unschooling and the public discourse on unschooling.

3. AIMS AND HYPOTHESES

The aims of this thesis are:  to establish which attitude appraisals are used by the authors on unschooling in their writings, comments and reviews  to research public discourse on unschooling by analysing reviews and comments  to find out how the authors frame the idea behind modern schooling and unschooling.

The hypotheses of this thesis are: - critics and proponents use various types of appraisal and language in order to support their views - critics and proponents support their views with a lot of factual information and evidence - critics and proponents mostly do not use affective language in their reaction to unschooling or public schooling

4. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

To explain what a discourse analysis is, we must first define the term discourse. According to Cook (1994:25) “Discourse, as opposed to text, is a stretch of language in use, taking on meaning in context for its users, and perceived by them as purposeful, meaningful and connected. This quality of perceived purpose, meaning and connection is known as coherence. Discourse analysis is the study and explanation of this quality of coherence. A discourse is a coherent stretch of language.” According to Fairclough (1995:7), “Discourse is use of language seen as a form of social practice, and discourse analysis is analysis of how texts work with sociocultural practice. Such analysis requires attention to textual form, structure and organization at all levels; phonological grammatical, lexical (vocabulary) and higher levels of textual organization in terms of exchange systems (the distribution of speaking turns),structures of argumentation, and generic (activity of type) structures.”

4.1. THE LANGUAGE OF EVALUATION – APPRAISAL IN ENGLISH

The analysis model used in this thesis is the appraisal framework developed by Martin and White (2005). It is an approach to explore how writers and speakers use the language to adopt stances, express personal opinions and asses the opinions of others, express affect, judgements and appreciation towards people and their actions, state of affairs, situations and happenings, construe certain identities and personae and try to form an alliance with readers or listeners that share the same views or distance themselves from those whose views differ.

The appraisal framework was developed by Martin and White within the Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) framework by M.A.K. Halliday and others. “SFL identifies three modes of meaning which operate

4 simultaneously in all utterances – the textual, the ideational and interpersonal” (Martin and White, 2005:1).

Since appraisal is concerned with the expression of (and reaction to) personal views, it is a part of the interpersonal metafunction of the language (http://www.alvinleong.info/sfg/sfgappraisal.html).

Martin and White’s appraisal theory focuses on the interpersonal meaning, which will be used for our analysis as well.

The resources in language and the three sub-systems of appraisal that enable us to express such opinions are attitude, engagement and graduation.

4.1.1. Attitude

ATTITUDE includes those meanings by which texts/speakers attach an intersubjective value or assessment to participants and processes by reference either to emotional responses or to systems of culturally- determined value systems. ATTITUDE itself divides into three sub- systems  AFFECT : the characterisation of phenomena by reference to emotion

 JUDGEMENT: the evaluation of human behaviour with respect to social norms

 APPRECIATION : the evaluation of objects and products (rather than human behaviour) by reference to aesthetic principles and other systems of social value. (http://www.grammatics.com/appraisal/appraisaloutline/unframed/a ppraisaloutline.htm, based on Martin and White, 2005)

4.1.2. Engagement

Through engagement, the writer either affirms or distances himself/herself from what is written/spoken. It is dialogic in essence, where the speaker/writer "responds to something, affirms something, anticipates possible responses and objections, seeks support, and so on" (Voloshinov 1995: 139). This can be achieved through the following ways: o Disclaim - the speaker/writer is at odds with, or does not agree fully with what someone else said or wrote. The act of disclaiming includes outright denials, counter-arguments, and concessions:  It is alleged that men are apes.

 I deny that men are apes.  I concede that men are apes.

 This can't be true.  What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free? o Proclamation -- where the speaker/writer subscribes to a particular position and, in some cases, rules out competing, alternative ones. The act of proclamation includes pronouncements of personal statements and endorsements of what someone else said.

 I am compelled to conclude ...  I argue / believe ...

 X has shown / has demonstrated that ...  No one, of course, can kiss his/her own elbow.

 Personally / to my mind / in my opinion, ...  Somewhere on this globe, every ten seconds, there is a woman giving birth to a child. She must be found and stopped. [Sam Levenson, 1911-1980] o Entertainment -- where a range of possibilities are acknowledged or entertained (hence, the label). This category includes modals and modal adjuncts of probability and usuality (e.g., "may", "probably", "likely"). The modal adjuncts can be further divided into modalisation ("how likely?") and modulation ("how obligatory or permissible?").

 The report suggests that ...  It seems that ...

 It's possible that Alvin might just sing tonight. o Attribution -- which reports what someone else said or wrote. By doing so, the speaker/writer acknowledges that there are alternative positions (to his or her own position).

 She alleged that ...  They convincingly showed that research causes cancer in mice.

 According to Rowan, comedians should have moles. (http://www.alvinleong.info/sfg/sfgappraisal.html)

4.1.3. Graduation

Graduation is a general property of values of affect, judgement and appreciation that they construe greater or lesser degrees of positivity and negativity and is also a general property of engagement as well (Martin and White, 2005:135).

Graduation is further divided into two sub-factors, i.e. force and focus.

On the one hand, when we make the message more or less intense, we are modifying the force of the message. On the other hand, when we sharpen or blur the message, we are modifying the focus of the message. Graduation, then, involves force and focus, and it may be helpful to think of it in terms of a slider where the force/focus of a word is scaled up or down (= increased or decreased) to create a certain effect. (http://www.alvinleong.info/sfg/sfgappraisal.html)

5. POPULAR TEXT TYPES IN WHICH UNSHOOLING IS DISCUSSED

In my research on unschooling I found various publications, articles, videos and similar material which deal with unschooling. In the following I will enumerate the most common and popular ones.

5.1. Monographs

Monographs are books that deal with a specific or single subject or an aspect of it and are usually written by a single author, although sometimes they may be written in collaboration, however in this case the authors might not share the same ideas, which can lead to certain conflicts. The contents of monographs generally follow the same idea and are foreseeable in the pattern. The authors usually include positive reviews of their book or work, either in the book itself or on the covers, in order to give the impression that their idea is widely supported and popular, as on the back cover of Gatto's book (“Gatto’s voice is strong and unique”, by Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul). Monographs are typically very long and provide in-depth information, so it can provide an idea better and to a greater extent than single articles and chapters. They may be intended for experts in the field, but also for wider audiences, depending on the content. The issue of monographs is that they do not contain any views or positions other than the author’s, so in order to obtain a general perspective of the society on unschooling it is necessary to look into other text types as well. The most well-known monograph publishers about unschooling are John Taylor Gatto, John Holt and Ivan Illich. The best known monographs are Dumbing us Down (2005) and Weapons of Mass Instruction (2009) by John Taylor Gatto, Deschooling Society (1971) and Instead of Education (1976) and Learning all the Time (1989) by John Holt.

5.2. Articles

Articles are pieces of writing that deal with a certain general or specific subject. The most popular are news articles, which are based on factual events and can include photos, interviews, discussions and similar and can contain headlines with which they draw the reader’s attention. Other types of articles are academic papers, researches, reviews, studies and commentaries. They are usually much shorter than monographs, although a monograph can be made by unifying a whole set of articles. Articles may be either published in a printed form or electronically. On the internet, they may be accessed quickly and allow commenting. Authors mostly write articles in an objective manner in the third person; however some authors write articles in a way in order to try to change the opinion of the reader.

5.3. Comments

Comment is a personal verbal or written short remark by the reader, listener or viewer with the opinion on the subject. In order to leave a comment on a webpage, commenting must be enabled. As stated above, monographs alone do not contain comments or reviews; therefore we used the website Amazon.com in order to obtain comments and reviews on Gatto's book. Youtube clips usually allow commenting, unless disabled by users who upload the clips.

5.4. Reviews

Reviews are similar to comments, although they usually contain a more in- depth and detailed comment on the subject. Users who write comments are usually from the general public, while reviewers are often experts in the field they write reviews about.

6. METHODOLOGY

For the theoretical part I used the descriptive and for the empirical the classification method. The texts were analysed with the Appraisal framework by Martin and White (2005), using the attitude system of feelings, which is further divided into the semantic regions affect, judgement and appreciation. I further divided those systems according to “inscribed” (explicit) and “invoked” (implicit) statements/clauses, the source/emoter and the target.

In order to obtain the attitudinal stance of the speaker/writer towards the material they represent, one must not just only look at single words or phrases but observe the broader context. For example, the phrase “Brilliant plan” implies a positive appreciation, however by adding the context “Children in this country are YEARS behind the rest of the world already. Years. Behind. Sure, by ALL means lets stop educating them. Brilliant plan," we see that the writers appreciation is actually a negative one, as it is not meant literally.

7. EMPIRICAL PART

7.1. Materials

The empirical part consists of several text analyses on unschooling using the Appraisal Framework by Martin and White (2005), i.e. the attitude framework.

Firstly, we will analyse the introduction and chapter 1 from John Taylor Gatto’s book “Weapons of mass instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey through the Dark World on Compulsory schooling”. Secondly, we will analyse the reviews of the book on the site amazon.com, where the book is available for sale. The analysis will include both positive and negative reviews.

Comments on the Youtube clip called “Unschooling Vs. Homeschooling vs. Formal Education” will be analysed next.

Lastly, we will analyse the article on the website Yahoo! News called “Why Unschooling is the Next Wave of Home-Based Education for kids”, using the same method as above.

It should be noted that only comments, sentences and clauses will be analysed that specifically refer to schooling/unschooling/homeschooling and that they are chosen on a selective basis, as many do not contain any appraisals or are meaningless in terms of providing an opinion, such as for example spam.

After each analysis a brief summary of the findings and observations will be given.

For an easier overview, I marked the semantic region of judgement in bold, affect in underlined and appreciation in italic.

7.2. APPRAISALS IN THE PROLOGUE AND CHAPTER 1 OF THE BOOK “WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION” BY JOHN TAYLOR GATTO

7.2.1. Context

John Taylor Gatto is an American author and former school teacher from New York. He was a teacher for most of his life before he resigned from teaching because he started to believe that public formal education is detrimental to the well-being of learners and has been a promoter of homeschooling and unschooling since then.

He wrote several books on unschooling, among them “Weapons of Mass Instruction”, which is considered as his masterpiece on unschooling. Already the title suggest an incredible negative attitude towards formal schooling, as “weapons of mass instruction” is implicitly derived from “weapons of mass destruction”, therefore regarding schooling as a psychological weapon. That is why I chose this book as I believe it is very representative for the entire unschooling philosophy. I took several clauses containing appraising items from both initial chapters that specifically describe the author’s attitude towards formal schooling and unschooling.

7.2.2. Analysis

Table 1: Analysis of appraisals in the prologue and chapter 1 in the book “Weapons of mass instruction” by John Taylor Gatto

Sentence/clause/instance AFFECT/ POSITIVE/ SOURCE/ TARGET JUDGEMENT/ NEGATIVE EMOTER APPRECIATION Boredom was appreciation negative Gatto my world everywhere in my world, (inscribed) and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they affect (inscribed) negative kids felt so bored, they always gave me the same answers: They said that the work appreciation negative kids work was stupid, that it made (inscribed) no sense, that they already knew it. Who wouldn’t get bored affect (inscribed) negative everyone students teaching students who generally are rude and interested judgement – negative (construing students

12 only in grades? social esteem “commonse (inscribed) nse” consensus by telling “who wouldn’t) For the most part, appreciation negative Gatto however, I found it futile (inscribed) to challenge the official notion that boredom and appreciation negative childishness were the (inscribed) natural state of affairs in the classroom. The empire struck back, judgement – negative Gatto The of course social sanction empire (invoked) What if there is no judgement – negative Gatto schools “problem” with our social sanction schools? What if they are (inscribed) – the the way they are, so remark given by expensively flying in the Gatto that “they face of common sense are doing and long experience in something right” is how children learn things, not meant to be not because they are taken literally, he doing something wrong, means that they but because they are are doing doing something right? something right because of their plans Could it be that our judgement – social negative Gatto our schools are designed to sanction (invoked) schools

13 make sure not one of them really grows up? system of compulsory appreciation/judge negative Gatto secondar secondary schools that ment - social y schools all too often resemble sanction (invoked) prisons. Mass schooling of a judgement - negative Gatto Mass compulsory nature really (invoked) schooling got its teeth into the United States between 1905 and 1915 But what shocks is that affect (inscribed) negative Gatto we should so eagerly have adopted one of the very worst aspects of appreciation negative Prussian Prussian culture: an (inscribed) culture educational system deliberately designed to produce mediocre judgement - negative Gatto educatio intellects, to hamstring social esteem nal the inner life, to deny (inscribed) system students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens Once you understand the judgement – negative Gatto modern logic behind modern social esteem schooling schooling, its tricks and (invoked) traps are fairly easy to avoid. First though, wake up to judgement/appre negative Gatto schools what our schools really ciation (inscribed)

14 are: laboratories of experimentation on young minds, drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corporate society demands. Everything you know appreciation negative about schools is wrong (invoked) Hylan announced that the judgement – negative invisible schools schools of the city had social sanction government of the been seized by (invoked) city “tentacles” of “an invisible government, just as an octopus would seize prey”. Bloom’s massive effort is appreciation negative Gatto Bloom the work of a genuine (inscribed) academic madman, constituting, in his own words “a tool to classify the ways individuals are to act, think, and feel as the result of some unit of instruction”. Simple fascism would appreciation negative Gatto have stopped at action, (inscribed) but as Orwell warned in 1984, something deeper than fascism was happening. State education agencies judgement – negative Gatto

15 were henceforth ordered social sanction to act as on-site federal (invoked) enforcers, ensuring compliance of local schools to central directives. The document identifies judgement – negative Gatto small the future as one in which social sanction elite a small elite will control (invoked) all important matters, a world in which participatory democracy will disappear In school teachings, as in appreciation negative Gatto school hamburger-flipping, the (invoked) Gatto is teaching paycheck is the decisive implicitly stating s ingredient. that teachers do not care about anything else than their wage.

7.2.3. Findings and observations

Of all unschooling advocates, John Taylor Gatto is perhaps the most radical one. Already the first and second chapter reflect his extreme hostility, fierce opposition and hatred towards public education. The overall feeling is that it is written very subjectively and autobiographically, from a personal and one-side point of view, however at some places Gatto tries to explain drawbacks of public education in a more scholarly form. By looking at the book as a whole, it is evident that Gatto frames public education almost entirely as a political agenda, which today is also popularly known as a “conspiracy theory”. He makes several references to

16 the public education as a form of right wing ideology and in some cases far right (fascism) politics. The book contains several essays and letters and the tone switches between rational thinking to outbursts of rage and in some case even paranoia. However what is missing is the lack of sources of the information stated and other evidence that could help the potential reader to verify them. That gives the overall impression that everything what he says must be accepted blindly, without the need of providing evidence or providing an alternative education system, that is why it is easy to assume that his book will be taken seriously only by those that have already a positive predisposition towards unschooling. All of this is reflected in his appraisals, which are all negative concerning public education and positive concerning ideas opposed to public education. He rarely expresses his own feelings or the feelings of others about public education, most of his appraisals of public education are negative judgements, oriented to social sanction, suggesting that public education is a crime.

7.3. APPRAISALS IN REVIEWS OF THE BOOK WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION BY JOHN TAYLOR GATTO ON AMAZON.COM

7.3.1. Context

Amazon.com or otherwise simply known as Amazon is an online shopping company selling various products and is the largest of its kind. In addition to other products, Amazon also sells books. A great aid for buying books and other products is the recommendation system that allows people to express their opinions and give ratings to the products on Amazon.com, positive and negative. Users can also answer the question "Was this review helpful to you" by clicking “Yes” or “No” and by that, reviewers get favourable or unfavourable quotes. We will analyse appraisals in customer reviews of the book Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto,

the book we did an analysis on in the previous chapter. The sample consisted of 20 positive user reviews.

7.3.2. Analysis

Table 2: Appraisal in positive reviews of the book Weapons of mass instruction by John Taylor Gatto on Amazon.com

Sentence/clause/instance AFFECT/ POSITIVE/ SOURCE/ TARGET JUDGEMENT/ NEGATIVE EMOTER OF APPRECIATION EVALUA TION Never the less, I formed appreciation negative customer schools the firm opinion that (inscribed) supporte schools supported by d by government were a governm serious mistake in a free ent society and were dangerous to that society's long-term health. Gatto has done us all a judgement – positive customer Gatto huge service by social esteem providing a history of (inscribed) educational thought in America and identified its roots and personalities Mr. Gatto correctly judgement – positive customer Gatto identifies standardized social esteem testing as the first tool (inscribed) that needs to be destroyed to permit appreciation negative customer standardi children to pursue an (inscribed) zed education rather than be testing

18 schooled as obedient robots. I believe Mr. Gatto is judgement – positive customer Gatto entirely correct when he social esteem recommends (inscribed) homeschooling. EXCELLENT, a truly appreciation positive customer book great book from a true (inscribed) educator who cares about the American judgement – positive customer Gatto student. social esteem (inscribed) The testing mania is out judgement – negative customer testing of hand. More so the social esteem mania ignorance of education vs (invoked) forced compulsory schooling has never been appreciation negative customer educatio so obvious to me after (inscribed) n reading this book. So this book may be appreciation negative book teachers scary for teachers, it is (inscribed) certainly a must for new positive customer book parents. It will shine a appreciation light on how to love your (inscribed) children without sentencing them to a +12 negative Horace school year jail sentence as judgement – Mann Horace Mann called social sanction school. (inscribed) I recommend it as a read appreciation positive customer book along with Dumbing Us (inscribed) Down and as a

19 complementary work. It is eye-opening, inspiring, and well structured. One negative aspect is appreciation negative customer book the lack of clear (inscribed) referencing in the book. Though only 1/3rd the appreciation positive customer book way thru this book, it's (invoked) incredibly interesting and insightful, while laying a path for turning education into something that can once again inspire and engage. The book is wonderful, if appreciation positive customer book you have doubts and (invoked) concerns about the public education system then you aren't alone. The author goes all out to explain the damage and judgement – negative Gatto schooling destruction schooling social esteem has on our children the (inscribed) community and our families. On some parts of the book I literally had to stop reading to re digest what I had actually read because it was so appreciation positive/neg customer book mind blowing. (invoked) ative I wish every student judgement – negative customer could read this book. Just social sanction

20 helping them making (inscribed) sense of their forced cruel and inhumane incarceration would be a great act of kindness. Gatto's thesis is clear appreciation positive customer Gatto’s from the beginning of the (inscribed) thesis book. Schooling hurts judgement – negative customer schooling our abilities to develop social esteem critical thinking. (inscribed)

Terrifying truth about our affect (inscribed) negative customer kids and mandatory schooling. The book will answer all appreciation positive customer evidence of your questions with (inscribed) extremely well documented evidence that everything you have been told is an judgement/appre negative customer undoubted lie ciation – social sanction (invoked) This book was inspiring, appreciation positive customer book intriguing, shocking and (inscribed) exciting. If this won't make you a judgement – negative customer school believer that our public social esteem system school system is a huge (inscribed) problem, nothing will. Brilliantly written, and thoroughly researched. I often felt trapped in affect (inscribed) – negative customer school

21 school, doing things that, comparing school even then, I didn't think to a prison were going to help me. There's not a kid alive affect (inscribed) – negative kids regiment who didn't, or doesn't, comparing school ation of feel imprisoned by the to a prison compuls regimentation of ory compulsory schooling schooling Were we all trained to be judgement – negative author automatons to please social sanction corporate America, (invoked) condemned to spend meaningless lives in the real-life equivalent of a Dilbert cartoon? Life is not that simple, appreciation negative customer corporati and even the most (inscribed) ons heartless, faceless corporations have yet to destroy free will. I have always wondered appreciation negative customer compuls why compulsory (inscribed) ory schooling seemed so schooling irrelevant to real life, not helping students develop the skills that they need to survive, an intrinsic desire to learn, and to be fully developed adults. That anger results in this appreciation negative customer book book's being more a (invoked) protracted rant than a

22 well-organized, closely reasoned awakening to the harmful effects of appreciation negative customer enforced enforced attendance in (inscribed) attendan schools. ce of schools

Table 3: Appraisals in negative reviews of the book Weapons of mass instruction by John Taylor Gatto on Amazon.com

Sentence/clause/instance AFFECT/ POSITIVE/ SOURCE/ TARGET JUDGEMENT/ NEGATIVE EMOTER OF APPRECIATION EVALUA TION I read this book with great affect (inscribed) negative customer anticipation. However, it didn't take long into the book before I became frustrated. In addition, the book appreciation negative customer book devolves into a (inscribed) conspiracy-theory rant based on anecdotal evidence and subjective analysis. Mr. Gotto's premise is judgement – positive/neg customer Gatto’s provocative and, I think, social esteem ative premise dead-on. (invoked) In closing, Gatto makes appreciation positive customer Gatto valid points regarding (inscribed) serious issues with public education in America, but

23 it’s hard to truly enjoy and appreciate a book that’s riddled with such appreciation negative customer book misconceptions about (inscribed) reality. Having read a few books judgement - negative customer Gatto and primary sources from social esteem the Civil War I can tell (invoked) you that's at best some crazy guy with no research, and at worst an outright lie to advance his illuminati-esque education conspiracy theories. He has a disturbing judgement - negative customer Gatto habit to fetishistically social esteem dwell on children and (inscribed) romanticize early American history in a way that is problematic. There is a taint of sexism appreciation negative customer book (father works, mother (inscribed) homemaker) and a stream of shortsighted classism that runs throughout the book as well. School systems are a appreciation negative customer school mess and the (inscribed) systems government is a key factor in why they are a

24 mess but Gatto has misdiagnosed the judgement – negative customer Gatto school system and is social esteem almost completely out of (inscribed) touch with current educational trends It is scary that this man affect (inscribed) negative customer spent 30 years in a system that he seems to understand so little. I am glad I was schooled affect (inscribed) positive customer schooling well enough to not be appreciation convinced by such frail (inscribed) negative customer argument argumentation ation But these sorts of affect (inscribed) negative customer critiques critiques are getting tired. They are half Oliver Stone conspiracies and appreciation negative customer critiques half hippie-collectivist (invoked) nonsense about how every child could learn if only the powers that be were exposed for their nefarious puppeteering. While I think Mr. Gatto judgement – positive customer Gatto has some good insights social esteem into the problems of (inscribed) institutionalized schooling, I found this appreciation negative customer book book to be an incoherent (inscribed) jumble of half-formed arguments.

If you want to understand affect (inscribed) negative you straightfo the social and individual rward functions of learning and polemical education today or in the approach future, you may become frustrated with the rather straightforward polemical approach adopted by the author Good on education but appreciation negative customer watch out for subtle (invoked) Marxist philosophy Personally I think he is judgement - negative customer Gatto trying to undermine our social esteem economic/political system (inscribed) in Marxist fashion (the cover of the book judgement – negative customer Gatto includes a formal social esteem endorsement by the (invoked) Communist Howard Zinn). Overall, this book was a affect (inscribed) negative customer book disappointment from someone who is generally well-respected in homeschooling circles

7.3.3. Findings and observations

At the time this thesis was written, the book received 109 customer reviews, 93 of which were positive and 16 critical. Although the majority of reviews were positive, the question arises whether they can be regarded as a true indicator. This is mainly because Amazon.com does not provide any information concerning personal data of customers providing reviews, such as age, education level etc., therefore whether the reviews are credible is subject to speculation. What should also be noted is that not all reviews are entirely positive or entirely negative; some praise only certain elements while condemning others. It is nevertheless an indicator to some extent that the book is received positively by its readers. Appraisals are very diverse, ranging from positive to negative judgements and appreciations, however it is evident that positive reviews are far more substantiated than negative ones, as reviewers who rated the book as positive provided much more feedback on the book and unschooling in general, providing a lot of personal experience and other information. Negative reviews give the impression that customers gave it a negative review because they have a negative predisposition towards unschooling and dismiss it indiscriminately. Customers who rated the book positively with a negative emotional response framed the book as shocking and terrifying. Positive reviews with a judgemental positive response framed Gatto and his book as correct and truthful and framed public education as a form of prison and brainwashing. Positive reviews with an appreciation response framed the book as well documented, inspiring and eye-opening and public education as damaging and irrelevant. Negative reviews on the other hand framed the book as frustrating, disappointing and scary (affect), Gatto as a conspiracy theorist, leftist (Marxist philosophy) and out of touch with the education system.

7.4. APPRAISALS IN THE YOUTUBE CLIP “UNSCHOOLING VS. HOMESCHOOLING VS. FORMAL EDUCATION” AND COMMENTS

7.4.1. Context

YouTube is an American video-sharing website. On it, users can upload, view, rate, share and comment on videos. The clips are usually between 4 and 15 minutes long. YouTube is the second most visited site, after Google. Because of this, it is one of the greatest sources of media, news, music and information of all kinds. As expected, I discovered several clips addressing unschooling. I searched for clips with a high number of views, so I choose the clip called "Unschooling vs. Homeschooling vs. Formal Education", which was 6 years old at the time of writing my thesis. The clip is just under 9 minutes long. It features an interview with a typical unschooling family that advocates an unschooling life for their kids, where they do not only advocate that their children may learn what they want and when, but also what to eat etc. Various people and the news reporters in the clip give their opinions, which are mixed and tend to be more of an ideological and subjective point of view rather than based on substantial facts and objectivity, with even some ridiculing on part of the reporters. The clip itself does not contain a large number of appraisals, only vague language, therefore the use of appraisals in it was not analysed, the comments however had an enormous amount of appraisals, so an analysis of those was performed. Due to the huge number of comments (2,945 at the time of writing) only certain were selected which reflect an attitudinal position on unschooling of the person commenting.

7.4.2. Analysis Table 4: Appraisals in user comments on the Youtube clip “Unschooling vs. Homeschooling vs. Formal Education"

Sentence/clause/instance AFFECT/ POSITIVE/ SOURCE/ TARGET JUDGEMENT/ NEGATIVE EMOTER OF APPRECIATION EVALUA TION These kids look like judgement – negative user kids, lazy social misfits just like social esteem parents their lazy parents. (inscribed) This is the dumbest crap I appreciation negative user video have ever heard in my (inscribed) life. Our current schooling appreciation negative user schooling model (the industrial (inscribed) model schooling model) is not only bad for many students (some do well, but many could do better with other models), but it's also a drain on appreciation negative user schooling teachers who have to (inscribed) model work extra hard to get their students interested. None of this is an appreciation negative user video accurate example of true (invoked) unschooling they should research Charlotte Mason

If all you do is allow the appreciation negative user unschooli children to do whatever (invoke) ng the hell they want, then parents stop calling yourself a parent. Call yourself a appreciation negative user unschooli moron, because that is (inscribed) ng what you are & what your parents children will most likely grown up to be.

From my experience appreciation negative user unschool meeting people, (invoked) ed homeschooled children children tend to fit into one of two categories; really freakishly bright or really, really dumb. I'm guessing there's only one category for unschooled children and I'm pretty certain it's not the first one. I think these parents are judgement – negative user parents wrong in what they are social esteem doing yet I fully accept (inscribed) their right to do it. they are crazy an have every right to be crazy. this hurts to watch, affect (inscribed) negative user video makes me cringe Stupid contard (sic) judgement – negative user parents parents who shouldn't be social esteem allowed to procreate (inscribed)

Hope these contart (sic) judgement – negative user parents parents were smart social esteem enough to at least teach (inscribed) their unschooled children the single phrase they'll be uttering at work for the rest of their lives, "Want unschooli fries or onion rings with appreciation negative user ng in that burger" Oh and you (invoked) general might want to make sure they can sign their name so they can cash their welfare check LOL These parents have no judgement – negative user parents idea how they are social sanction screwing up these kids (inscribed) in the future. Everyone appreciation negative unschooli was able to doe whatever (invoked) ng in they want in life ... we general would have a messed up society. Modern schools are appreciation negative user modern corporate / government (invoked) schools training facilities. Regimented learning centers with strict rules that treat children like numbers and train them judgement - negative user regiment to be obedient are social sanction, ed designed to prepare social esteem learning them for a life as a (invoked) centers compliant worker for a

31 corporation and/or subservient citizen for the government (Pledge of Allegiance). TYT are extremely judgement – negative user TYT judgmental and social esteem ignorant in their (inscribed) expressions here. this video is ridiculous appreciation negative user video (inscribed) but the people in the judgement – negative user people in video are terrible at social esteem the video unschooling their kids (inscribed) These commentators are judgement – negative user comment speaking from the basis social esteem ators of ignorance of (inscribed) unschooling/homeschooli ng. So sad. Homeschooling is so appreciation negative user homesch incredibly stupid (inscribed) ooling Young Turks or whatever appreciation negative user young you call yourselves...you (inscribed) turks are projecting your narrow minded views on others! What biased propaganda appreciation negative user propagan (inscribed) da I see a bunch of judgement – negative user pretentious controlling social sanction brats coming into the (inscribed) world. This gives homeschooling a bad

32 name. unschool??? the kids will appreciation - negative user unschooli just pick up on it??? (invoked) ng This is a fantastic judgement – negative user journalis example of irresponsible social esteem m journalism, fallacious (inscribed) and ignorant. That's technically judgement – negative user unschooli neglecting your children social sanction ng (inscribed) Pretty much raising their appreciation negative user unschooli kids to be dumb assess (invoked) ng This should be illegal appreciation negative user unschooli under Federal Law (inscribed) ng This is an extremely appreciation negative user report unfair, cruel, and false (inscribed) report! How this can be legal? appreciation negative user unschooli (invoked) ng Oh my gosh! Those appreciation negative user parents parents are morons! (inscribed)

Those poor kids! This is judgement – negative child abuse! social sanction (inscribed) So the kids can smoke appreciation negative user unschooli weed, drink alcohol, have (invoked) ng in sex when ever, run general around naked make death threats with No hierarchy? Unschooling is an appreciation negative user compuls

33 attempt to avoid the (invoked) ory pernicious effects of educatio compulsory education. n To the hosts of this show, judgement – negative user hosts of you're ignorant, and social esteem the show extremely uneducated. (inscribed)

7.4.3. Findings and observations

The clip had approximately 120,000 views at the time this thesis was written, with 1,371 likes and 488 dislikes. Upon searching for other unschooling videos, I discovered that the ratio is approximately the same. Based on this fact we can assume that the unschooling idea is widely supported in the YouTube community, however it does not necessary represent the views of the general population. The comments are aimed both at the news reporting agency that presents the clip, unschooling in general and the unschooling society. The overall feeling is that the news agency tried to show unschooling in an unfavourable light. Many users therefore frame it as ignorant, fallacious, judgemental, manipulative and biased. Users providing a negative appreciation or judgement on unschooling frame it mostly as dumb, irresponsible, deranged, insane, child abuse, neglect and a hindrance to obtain employment and parents and their kids as social misfits, lazy, morons and crazy. Users providing a positive appreciation or judgement on unschooling frame it as advantageous to learning and motivating. The semantic region of affect is almost none existent in the comments and therefore no frames were identified arising from it.

7.5. APPRAISALS IN THE ARTICLE “WHY UNSCHOOLING

IS THE NEXT WAVE OF HOME-BASED EDUCATION

FOR KIDS” ON THE WEBSITE YAHOO! NEWS

7.5.1. Context

Yahoo Inc. or simply known as Yahoo! is an American multinational technology company. It is known for its several online services such as the search engine Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo! News and others. It features several articles and upon searching I stumbled upon an article called “Why Unschooling is the Next Wave of Home-Based Education for Kids”, in which the author conducted an interview with a famous unschooler advocate, Laurie Couture, under the Yahoo Parenting category. As the title suggests, the author believes that unschooling will soon be the preferred education type at home. That is why I chose this article as the last one in my thesis, firstly analysing the article and then a few selected comments on it.

7.5.2. Article analysis

Table 5: Appraisals in the article Why Unschooling is the Next Wave of Home- Based Education for Kids” on Yahoo! News

Sentence/clause/instance AFFECT/ POSITIVE/ SOURCE/ TARGET JUDGEMENT/ NEGATIVE EMOTER OF APPRECIATION EVALUA TION When I first heard about affect (inscribed) negative author practice unschooling, I felt a little suspicious of the practice. How could children meet appreciation negative author unschooli their educational needs if (invoked) ng they were truly self- directed in their learning?

Wouldn’t they just sit around and watch television all day? Unschooling and affect (inscribed) positive Laurie unschooli attachment parenting Couture ng coach Laurie Couture is adamant that the exact opposite occurs when children are truly free to explore their educational interests. She unschooled her son appreciation positive Laurie nontraditi through his adolescence (invoked) Couture onal and all the way to his educatio high school graduation, n and she observed him reap incredible benefits from his nontraditional education. According to The Natural appreciation positive organization unschooli Child Project, Couture (invoked) / Laurie ng nailed the unschooling Couture trend with the style of her son’s education. “Unschooling is a unique opportunity for each family to do whatever makes sense for the growth and development of their children,” the organization explains. In fact, she sees appreciation positive Laurie unschooli

36 unschooling as an effective (inscribed) Couture ng way to set a child on course for the career he or she will want as an adult. She believes that he appreciation negative Laurie public would have missed out (invoked) Couture educatio on these creative career n opportunities if he had been pigeonholed into a one-size-fits-all public education. “He was safe from the judgement – negative Laurie public bullying of public schools social esteem Couture shools that especially target boys (inscribed) for negativity, labels and failure. The vibrant and dynamic life experience my son has had would have been impossible in the traditional public school system,” she says.

7.5.3. Findings and observations

The article features an interview with Laurie Couture, an unschooling advocate. In the article Couture states that she believes unschooling is an effective way for children to be educated, however Couture fails to back up her statements with evidence that unschooling is really more effective than public education. Couture frames unschooling in a very positive appreciative light, she says it is an effective education, incredibly beneficial, creating career opportunities and positive and public schools as hostile towards boys.

7.6. APPRAISALS IN COMMENTS ON THE ARTICLE “WHY UNSCHOOLING IS THE NEXT WAVE OF HOME-BASED EDUCATION FOR KIDS” ON THE WEBSITE YAHOO! NEWS

7.6.1. Context

Similar to YouTube, Yahoo offers a feature of commenting articles, however in comparison with the reviews on Amazon and YouTube it does not show the ratio between positive and negative comments, so in order to obtain information how the readers frame this article and unschooling in general we had to analyse several comments to obtain a general picture.

7.6.2. Analysis

Sentence/clause/instance AFFECT/ POSITIVE/ SOURCE/ TARGET JUDGEMENT/ NEGATIVE EMOTER OF APPRECIATION EVALUA TION Public school is about appreciation negative reader public making you an obedient cog (inscribed) school in society, it's not about "learning" anything. Home-based education has appreciation positive reader home always been a good (inscribed) based alternative to today's public educatio school approach to n education. Well that was a big pile of appreciation negative reader article/u excrement. The real world (inscribed) nschooli is tough and unforgiving, ng you are not doing your kid appreciation any favor by avoiding (inscribed) structure, critical thinking and discipline.

The great majority don't judgement – negative reader govern trust the government and social sanction ment see how corrupt it is. (inscribed) Nothing like some nut cases appreciation negative reader unschoo who want to do a social (inscribed) ling experiment with children only to find, but never admit, that they have promoted the breeding of judgement – negative idiots. social esteem (inscribed)

If unschooling produces appreciation negative reader unschoo children who run down the (invoked) ling center of a public road, as pictured, then it's usefulness speaks for itself. Anything to keep your kid appreciation positive reader unschoo out of government schools! (invoked) ling I'm all for it! Government education is appreciation negative reader Governm child abuse. (inscribed) ent educatio n This article is B$. appreciation negative reader article (inscribed) I think this is a great appreciation positive reader unschoo alternative for lots of kids. (inscribed) ling TOTAL HELICOPTER appreciation negative reader PARENT NONSENSE. (inscribed) Give me a break, To Me appreciation negative reader article/u this is about the dumbest (inscribed) nschooli idea I have ever herd ng

"Unschooling" will produce appreciation negative reader unschoo a generation of musical (inscribed) ling slackers who can't interact with others, are unable to do critical thinking, and have never competed in a stressful environment. I can say with absolute judgement – negative reader unschoo certainty that this idea of social sanction ling "unschooling" would have (inscribed) wreaked havoc on most kids I taught. This is nonsense. appreciation negative reader unschoo Unschooling is doing a (inscribed) ling disadvantage to a child judgement – because children are not social esteem adults and need guidance (inscribed) when it comes to growing and learning. Unschooling is a joke! appreciation negative reader unschoo (inscribed) ling Ms. Couture is lucky to appreciation negative reader unschoo have such a brilliant child. (invoked) – the ling She is lucky to be able to negative spend the money it takes to appreciation is not give your child these immediately experiences. How amazing obvious, by that he had his own looking at the business at age 12 article as a whole (lemonade stand?) and started his interest in music it is evident that at 14 (this does not seem to the reader is be exceptional). What we ridiculing the don't need is a new concept and not generation of uneducated

40 hippies who think they're meaning literally special because they've bucked the system. I don't appreciation negative see this supposed "trend" (inscribed) catching on.

This article was horrible. appreciation negative reader article (inscribed) This is such an absolute appreciation negative reader article load of over-blown, (inscribed) pretentious #$%$ that I thought I was reading 'The Onion'. Children in this country are YEARS behind the rest of the world already. Years. Behind. appreciation negative unschoo Sure, by ALL means lets stop educating them. (invoked) – ling Brilliant plan. “brilliant plan” is not meant literally, implicitly it is ridiculing unschooling If you want your child to be appreciation negative reader unschoo a complete moron with no (invoked) ling social skills, unfit for college or getting a job then this sounds like a great idea. The future of America is appreciation negative reader unschoo apparently a country with no (invoked) ling structure, no tests, no offices, no time-cards, no dress codes, and no rules. I wonder why so many corporate heads are fighting

41 to move our jobs overseas? And everyone wonders appreciation negative reader unschoo why America keeps (invoked) ling falling further down the list of most intelligent nations. Right, like this current appreciation negative reader kids generation of (inscribed) who are chuckleheads isn't unschoo coddled and politically led corrected enough. Another wacko education appreciation negative reader unschoo theory to add to the list of (inscribed) ling theories that have ruined judgement – negative theories kids chances to succeed social esteem in fundamental education. (inscribed) This idiocy had to be appreciation negative reader unschoo sprung from the mind of a (inscribed) ling Lib. Sounds like a good way appreciation negative reader unschoo to raise a future Occupy (invoked) ling Wall Street hippie Anything that keeps that appreciation positive reader unschoo out of the government run (inscribed) ling schools, is a great idea. An excellent way to take appreciation negative/pos reader unschoo the kids back to hunter- (invoked) – in this itive ling gatherer status. comment it is not clear whether the readers comment was meant negatively or

positively Oh great. Another appreciation negative reader people generation of people who (invoked) who are will end up dependent on unschoo the working tax payers of led this country. Splendid!

7.6.3. Findings and observations

In comparison with other comments on YouTube and Amazon, a lot of those comments contain implicit negative appreciation by readers criticising unschooling, often ridiculing the unschooling method advocated by Laurie Couture by framing unschooling as a “hippie” and irresponsible culture, a burden to the state, detrimental to the development and economy of the USA, a burden to the working people by not working or doing anything meaningful. Certain reader’s comments are mixed, criticising some aspects while praising others. An observation I made is that among the comments there was one reader who framed government education as child abuse, while several other readers have framed it similarly, as being damaging to children in several ways. What is interesting is that among the comments in the YouTube clip, users framed unschooling as child abuse and detrimental to the education of children.

8. CONCLUSION

Perhaps the greatest challenge that I faced in the thesis is how to apply the Appraisal framework to discussions about unschooling. During my research I discovered that discourse analysis is usually applied for political speeches, news reports, poems and similar texts and speeches that contain rich and colourful language, such as figures of speech. In order to analyse the discourse on unschooling, the Appraisal framework by Martin and White (2005) was used, as it provided useful categories to take into consideration the contentious nature of public debates about unschooling in the USA. In order to obtain a general picture of appraisals and frames by authors in various texts, comments and reviews on unschooling, we had to gather large chunks of information and from those chunks select samples of clauses and sentences that best represent the attitudinal stance of authors. The hypothesis that authors do not react emotionally to unschooling or public schooling was confirmed. We discovered that in most of texts the authors did not express their attitudinal stance directly with affect but rather with judgement and appreciation, which means that they mostly do not react to unschooling emotionally. The hypothesis that authors provide a lot of supporting evidence to back up their statements was confirmed only to a certain extent. Some provide own experiences, data obtained from other credible sources etc., while others just oppose or support unschooling or public schools without any substantial evidence. We wanted to know how authors of those texts frame unschooling. Surprisingly, we discovered that some frames by proponents and supporters of unschooling are identical, for example some unschooling proponents view unschooling as child abuse while some unschooling supporters believe exactly the opposite is true, that compulsory schooling

44 is child abuse. A lot of comments and reviews were neutral and balanced, praising and criticising certain aspects of unschooling and public schools. While the analyses and observations were by no means exhaustive and final, they still could be useful for future researches on the linguistic and cultural implications of the discourse on unschooling.

9. LITERATURE

1. Cook, Guy (2003): Discourse and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2. Fairclough, Norman (1995): Critical discourse analysis. New York: Longman

3. Martin, James R. and Peter R.R. White (2005): The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. New York: Palgrave.

4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232544669_The_Impact _of_Schooling_on_Academic_Achievement_Evidence_From_Hom eschooled_and_Traditionally_Schooled_Students, obtained 1.9.2016

5. The Appraisal Theory Website, obtained 1.9.2016 from http://www.grammatics.com/appraisal/

6. Appraisal, obtained 1.9.2016 from http://www.alvinleong.info/sfg/sfgappraisal.html

Analysis materials:

1. Gatto, John Taylor (2009): Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling. Canada: New Society Publishers

2. Reviews of the book Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto, obtained 1.8.2016 from https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Mass-Instruction- Schoolteachers-Compulsory/product- reviews/0865716692/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewpnt_rgt?ie=UTF8&pag eNumber=1&filterByStar=critical

3. Video clip “Unschooling vs. Homeschooling vs. Formal Education”, obtained 1.8.2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYZrho7Th68

4. Why Unschooling is the Next Wave of Home-Based Education for Kids, obtained 1.8.2016 from https://www.yahoo.com/news/why- unschooling-is-the-next-wave-of-home-based-127236627413.html