School is Bad for Children

Almost every child, on the first day he sets foot in a school building, is smarter, more curious, less afraid of what he doesn’t know, better at finding and figuring things out, and more confident, resourceful, persistent and independent than he will ever be again in his schooling – or,…

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The Right to Control One’s Learning

Young people should have the right to control and direct their own learning; that is, to decide what they want to learn, and when, where, how, how much, how fast, and with what help they want to learn it. To be still more specific, I want them to have the…

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Why Our Coercive System of Schooling Should Topple

Originally published on PsychologyToday.com at my blog, “Freedom to Learn“. I’ve been called a crazy optimist, a Pollyanna, a romantic idealist.  How can I believe that our system of compulsory (forced) schooling is about to collapse? People point out that in many ways the schooling system is stronger now than…

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Why Don’t Students Like School?

Originally published on PsychologyToday.com at my blog, “Freedom to Learn“. Someone recently referred me to a book that they thought I’d like. It’s a 2009 book, aimed toward teachers of grades K through 12, titled Why Don’t Students Like School? It’s by a cognitive scientist named Daniel T. Willingham, and it has received rave…

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