Free to Learn
"A lightning bolt of a book" makes the case for why self-directed learning — "unschooling" — is the best way to get kids to learn (Lenore Skenazy) In Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Gray argues that in order to foster children who will thrive in today’s constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development. Drawing on evidence from anthropology, psychology, and history, he demonstrates that free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become emotionally resilient. A brave, counterintuitive proposal for freeing our children from the shackles of the curiosity-killing institution we call school, Free to Learn suggests that it’s time to stop asking what’s wrong with our children, and start asking what’s wrong with the system. It shows how we can act—both as parents and as members of society—to improve children’s lives and to promote their happiness and learning.
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- Think about what every adult absolutely needs to know: how to be an effective member of society, how to interact with people, how to self-regulate, and generally being a person other people want to be around and work with. That is what a Sudbury school supports learning while conventional school hinders it, offering an authoritarian-based lifestyle instead.
Most people going through conventional school don't get the freedom to learn to be themselves in a community until their 20s, not mastering it until often their early 30s. As for academics, Sudbury students have repeatedly demonstrated having no problem quickly learning whatever it is they want or need to learn as an adult. Many Sudbury students go to college, getting A's even in their first semester, making good bonds not only with other students but also faculty and administrators. They help form communities wherever they go. They are engaged in classes in a way that their peers are not. They are coming to academic learning fresh and eager not weighed down by 14,000 hours of conventional school tedium. Those who do not go to college often advance very quickly in whatever work they end up doing as person skills are the key to being successful.
The results speak for themselves. You can read about it in Peter Gray's book Free to Learn and other works by him.
Also keep in mind that teaching, which is what conventional school focuses on, is not the same as learning.
- As another product of the British 'education' system, this is all very familiar.
If you're interested in some content that really helped me understand why I hated school so completely, I recommend "Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling" by John Taylor Gatto, and "Free to Learn" by Peter Gray. Peter Gray also has a very nice blog called "Play Makes Us Human" at https://petergray.substack.com/
As a parent of a toddler, deciding on schooling options is one of the most serious decisions I'll have to make with my partner over the coming years and it terrifies me. Home schooling is a very attractive option from my perspective, but only due to lack of alternatives that offer the sort of nurturing and positive environment that I want my child to have.
- A book "Free to learn" by Peter Gray help us wit decision of homeschoolong our kids.
Our education system is broken.
- Free to learn, a book by Peter Gray about unschooling, really opened my eyes and finally help with decision about homeschooling.
It shood be basic literature for all institutional teachers.
- Homeschooler / semi-unschooler, here.
The school system tried to shave down our square-peg for years before we re-arranged our lives so we could bring them home. It’s fair to say we have a highly critical view of the education system (in Canada, but I think it’s reasonably similar to the U.S.).
That said: To me, this article is raving. The author is taking real problems and attributing them to the machinations of their own personal hobgoblins.
Just because a historical figure had a sinister motive in education, that doesn’t mean that a front-line teacher in the classroom today is using that ideology when interacting with their children. The quality of the relationship between a child and their teacher, produces at least half of that child’s overall experience (with the other half coming from requirements of “the system”).
There can be bad things in a system that happen for reasons that aren’t sinister. By and large the “round pegging” of children is not harmful at all to kids who are roundish in shape to begin with. Most people who achieve some kind of prominence in their fields as adults came through the school system just fine, but that path is by no means the only one that leads to success.
The key is to note when a particular child doesn’t fit into the available system. Private schools can only provide a slightly more accommodating model, largely because of improved student/teacher ratios (improving that relationship) and less restrictive finances (improving resources). Beyond that it’s a question of how much support the child can be given (by parents, tutors, etc.) to help extract what they can from school, and fill in where it's lacking with other activities.
For a more rational look at the education system and the needs for its reform (towards a more individualized educational experience for each child), I’d recommend:
The End of Average - Todd Rose
Free To Learn - Peter Grey
- Greatest positive influence: teachers who let me skip class in elementary school (basically built and ran the school's website, handled any software issues etc.), and then teachers/admins who allowed me to opt out of math class in favor of independent study math from 7th-12th grade. Huge help in math competitions, getting a full scholarship to Caltech etc.
Book Recommendations: Free to Learn, and Children above 180 IQ, Stanford-Binet, by Leta Stetter Hollingworth
The former recommends letting children chart their own course, the latter suggests profoundly gifted children (really anyone ~160+) opt out of middle school and study something orthogonal then resume high school with their age group. (Elementary school and a good high school provide important socialization and can generally avoid being too boring; while middle school teaches nothing a bright child needs to learn, and is usually a dead-zone as far as extracurriculars or advanced coursework).
I'd avoid planting any ideas, and just let the child run with whatever interests her.
