Why Is That A Required Subject?

"The other day a pleasant and problably kindly coach and swimming instructor told me about some child who hadn't wanted to swim, but he had made him, and the child had learned and now liked it, so why shouldn't he have the right to compel everyone to swim?

There are many answers. The child might have in time learned to swim on his own, and not only had the pleasure of swimming, but the far more important pleasure of having found that pleasure for himself. Or he might have used that time to find some other skills and pleasures, just as good.

The real trouble, as I said to the coach, is this: I llove swimming, and in a school where nothing else was compulsory I might see a casxe for making swimming so. But for every child in that school there are dozens of adults, each convinced that he has something of vital importance to "give" the child that he would never get for himself, all saying to the child, "I know better than you do what is good for ou." By te time all those people get through making the child do what they know is good for him, he has no time or energy left.

What is worse he has no sense of being in charge of his life and learning or that he could be in charge, or that he deserves to be in charge, or that if he were in charge it would turn out any way other than badly. In short, he has no sense of his identity or place. He is only where and what others tell him he is."

John Holt, What Do I Do Monday? pg 41

Forced Learning

"Schools, teachers, parents all believe that their job is to make learning happen in children, and that if it happens it is only because they made it happen. I have known parents who became anxious and angry whenever I told them about something their children had done on their own initiative and for their own reasons. These people, like many teachers, had to believe that anything good the child did or that was in him came and could come only from them. It is as if we all dream of seeing in print, someday, a statement by some famous person that all he is he owes to us. "

John Holt What Do I Do Monday pg 40


I am not responsible for my children learning. If I put the burden of responsibility on me, then I am the one responsible, I am the one required to do the work. It is my responsibility to foster in them a love of learning and provide experiences and materials so they can do the learning themselves. You cannot teach what one does not want to learn. You will only learn that which you seek for yourself. Schools force rote memorization in lieu of true learning so they can reap the credit for all they "taught" the children. If the children do not really learn it, that is their own fault. Pshaw.

Start where he is and move out

"It would have been pointless to simply undo the errors in Jose's view of the world and supply him with information. It was essential to stand beside him on whatever solid ground he might possess. The learner, child or adult, his experience, his interests, his concerns, his wonders, his hopes, and fears, his likes and dislikes, the things he is good at, must always be at the center of his learning. He can move out into the world only from where he already is in it."

John Holt, What Do I Do Monday pg 37

When an older child struggles with reading, it is because he missed something along the way. You must go back to the beginning and start anew. When he finds the piece he was missing, he will quickly catch up to where he should be. All learning is like this. Just as when I learned how to do story problems in 7th grade. The teacher had to start with where I was. Find a connection to the child, make sure it applies to them. Then and only then can you move forward.

Window for active mind and Love of Learning

"Prior to puberty, children can absorb information. But the independent concept of intellect-intelligence stored up, then arranged in equational form-begins at puberty. From thirteen on, intently for perhaps five years more, the mind is extra active, more so than at any time before or after, developing methods of taking in, processing, and organizing information.

If we miss that early opportunity, and we generally do in public middle and high schools, we may never again be able to ignite the instinct of scholarship. By not acting on that glorious chance, we leave many students permanently marred by boredom and without the love of learning."

The Conspiracy of Ignorance: The Failure of American Public Schools, Gross, Martin L