Punk music and community have been a piece of United States culture since the early 1970s.

Although varied scholarship on Punk exists in a variety of disciplines, the educative aspect of Punk engagement, specifically the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethos, has yet to be fully explored by the Education discipline. This study attempts to elucidate the experiences of adults who describe their engagement with Punk as educative.

To better know this experience, is to also better understand the ways in which Punk engagement impacts learner self-concept and learning development. Phenomenological in-depth interviewing of six adult participants located in Los Angeles, California and Gainesville, Florida informs the creation of narrative data, once interpreted, reveals education journeys that contain mis-educative experiences, educative experiences, and ultimately educative healing experiences.

Using Public Pedagogy, Social Learning Theory, and Self-Directed Learning Development as foundational constructs, this work aims to contribute to scholarship that brings learning contexts in from the margins of education rhetoric and into the center of analysis by better understanding and uncovering the essence of the learning experience outside of school. Additionally, it broadens the understanding of Punk engagement in an attempt to have an increased nuanced perspective of the independent learning that may be perceived as more educative than any formal attempt within our school systems.