Book Review: Free from School

Title: Free from School

Author: Rahul Alvares

Date: 2003

Publisher: Other India Press

Quote: “It’s not every day that a 16 year old writes a book.”

I downloaded this book from Gutenberg.org. If you’re online, you can read, print, or download it too, paying only printing expenses. If you’re not, I’ll print a copy for you at cost.

So this  teenager took a year off school. Having chosen a major field of study (natural science), he found a way to work-study in a nature park. This short book is his report on how he “lost nothing but gained a lot.”

Who should read what Alvares had to say? Educators (including homeschool parents) who want to help bright teenagers avoid self-sabotaging in moments of frustration with slow, boring classes.

Who are likely to read it? Bored kids—some of whom will be pleased by the fact that it’s a straightforward alternative-to-school report, not a novel. Alvares doesn’t solve any murder mysteries, fight any bank robbers, fall in love, or even save the planet, although he helps to save a few protected animals. He explores different possible future jobs on a tour of southern India. He shares lots of fun facts about India’s wildlife—perhaps disappointingly, not elephants and tigers, but uniquely Indian and threatened species of reptiles and insects. Some readers may be disappointed, others relieved, that the e-book available in the United States has no close-up pictures of the creatures Alvares helped his mentors care for.

Who will love it? Parents who are homeschooling with bright, restless teenagers. The way Alvares’s family cooperate to arrange his year of applied study may give them ideas.

Who will hate it? Educators who are aware of the traditional function of the traditional school to slow bright teenagers down, not to help them get ahead in their education and adult careers.