Selection bias is the most powerful force in education and indeed child rearing in general. It's hard to infer anything about the outcomes you might expect for a child in general from the observed outcomes of those who did choose to unschool.
In the US at least you can try homeschooling, and if it doesn’t work for you or your child they can just return to school. In the state I lived in when unschooling three kids, Oregon, public schools allow homeschoolers to participate in sports and other activities. It’s not an all-or-nothing or permanent choice. Kids change schools all the time, which can prove just as disruptive as taking a year to try something different.
Sure, but I think this at least demonstrates that unschooling deserves to be within the window of discourse. I've seen many people express the opinion that unschooling is inherently completely insane.
Because they only have their own experience in school to judge from.