Old Fashioned

I was thinking about being old fashioned, and are there parts of unschooling that are old fashioned? should we have a page, on HowUnschoolingHasChanged?

I like modest clothes (though not uncomfortable clothes). I like long courtships. I like chivalry (to both sexes). In those ways, I am very old-fashioned. - Naela

Sometimes I feel old fashioned because I actually like it when people are nice to eachother, and it isn't really a popular way to behave nowadays. There are a lot of bitchy people now for some reason. Ew. And why the hell are most conversations focused on bodily functions like farting or shitting, or made up of really bad sex jokes? Oh well. I guess it is just the teenagers I have been with. It's rather funny, though. "Back to conversation #1" Alex would say to me, and we'd snicker. ~Erin

Eeek! I've discovered I'm old fashioned... of course just in some ways, not all ways... but nevertheless, its a startling realization. Maybe it comes from watching all those old classics (Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, etc) on tv as a kid. Maybe its from the classic books, or the old fashioned parents, or the fact that one of my friends at college is at least a hundred years out of date. Or maybe it has to do with working at a historic site, learning to fingerweave, spin wool and make homemade icecream.

Whatever it is... I've discovered I'm almost old fashioned. I am no longer utterly convinced that its alright for young people to be alone with members of the opposite sex, particularily if they're in "a relationship" with someone else at the time. I'm no longer believing in the idea that anyone can be friends with anyone.

I'm almost old fashioned. I've discovered that I really like the idea that if or when I marry, I'll change my name to whatever my husbands is. Oh, I know that isn't popular in today's culture... as a strong female I'm supposed to refuse, right? But I like the thought that if or when I marry I become "Mrs so-and-so", have a proper role and position. I don't object to giving up my last name, because it will always be a part of me anyway.

It's just wierd... thinking about it... realizing that there's reason behind some things people seem to think is old fashioned.

- Christy

• Actually, I think a lot of women still change their names, and I don't know of any general stigma attached to it. There's no reason not to, unless there's a reason not to. I share a personal opinion on that common to many scientiststhat is, I definitely won't change my name if I've published under my current name, because I want people to be able to find all of my work. If I haven't published by the time I marry :( then it'll just depend on which name I find more aesthetically pleasing after mine. - Julie(lipse

i feel old fashioned in some ways. i am jewish, and even though i'm not exactly observant, i celebrate all the holidays, and really love it. i feel this connection to over 4000 years of jewish people before me. there are traditions in our family that my great grandparents started, and seeing and participating in them is a way to get to know the parts of my family i've never met. holidays are also a wonderful way to keep in touch with family. i know my dad's cousin's children, and i'm so glad i do. i believe in family, and that if a person decides to have children, they should devote as much or more time to that as they would to a job. defintely more. i believe raising children is the most important 'job' on earth. which is pretty old fashioned, i guess.

on the other hand, i also think i'm pretty liberal, in terms of technology, sexuality, education, stuff like that. i really don't understand the people who do away with computers, phones, electric light, etc. i guess i'm outwardly liberal and inwardly old fashioned. :) not that old fashioned is the opposite of liberal...

marina

People have told me I'm old fashioned, and it really offends me. I want to get a mohawk or something after that. Because I'm not. I feel like I have an old soul, some larger force inside that knows an afful lot and likes to observe and listen, but NO WAY do I want to have anything to do with those dress-wearing, strangled, sad, vioceless women of yore. In fact, I hardly ever wear dresses, and I am not tidy! I respect the women of older times, but I am very contemporary, and do not like to be labeled.

  bECKINA

i am quite old fashioned. i think there's nothing quite so charming as afternoon tea and crumpets, and i love to celebrate may day. yea, i detest computers and think that we should only use candles. i like long dresses and think suits and little mustaches are generally preferable to sweats. (the old kind of suits, of course. the modern ones are abhorable.) and, yea, i think it would be awesome to go calling on people. i want to be sent abroad for a year and go to plays and assemblies and meet other oldfashioned people. princessraina the oldfashioned.

• Me too.. -wanderlust the urban pixie

I'm old fashioned in some ways. Like, I really like to be modest in both style and personality. I like to wear clothes that cover a decent amount of my body, and I like to be quiet and careful with what I say so that people can get to know me slowly but surely. I don't think everyone should be that way, but it suits me. I love tea; teatime sounds lovely to me.... but those things are really only part of me. I'm quite a modern girl in other ways. Hmm. -wanderlust the urban pixie

There are things about me that different people might consider old-fashioned. I wear long skirts and a flowing cape and long hair. I spin, knit, weave, sew, garden, raise chickens, cook, bake, play the piano, paint watercolors, study hard. I like to take care of children. I think that being a parent is the most important job that there is, and yes, like it or not, I'm judgmental towards parents or potential parents who think differently. I favor long-term monogamy for myself, although not necessarily for anyone else. I'm anti-car and anti-car culture. I favor getting around by foot, bike, canoe, or small sail boat. I don't currently ingest many mind-altering chemical substances, although that could change at any time. One of my goals is to be beyond the sidewalks and off the grid. I don't watch TV. I love computers, but especially obsolete ones. I like to be polite, even sometimes deferentially so.

I don't think that I'm old fashioned at all. I have a typical human need to connect with the past, yes, but nothing in my life is out of place in this time. Most seemingly old-fashioned beliefs or practices of mine have grown out of a response to the current world around me, and they're held in place by my generational outlook, my 'modern' values concerning tolerance, love of diversity, DIY-hard pragmatism, information for its own sake, revolution in design, technology in its place, no easy answers, freedom, be yourself, beyond liberal activism

Julie(lipse