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The book is a collection of essays about many facets of learning and educational subjects (the three R's, science, music). Holt's profound observations help not only to understand how children tackle these subjects but also to gain a better understanding of these subjects ourselves.
Highly recommended for anyone involved in education.




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John Holt is one who takes 'freedom' to its limits, at least as far as children are concerned.
The change it brought in me: When I have the baby sitter's role with my kids, I try to do that which is of mutual interest to us (myself and the kids), or do something which I like while they're doing their stuff. However, I have an open door policy, and allow them to come up to me for any of their queries. Doing something which just interests my kid is defeating, as my frustration and resentment gets transferred through my tone or through my way of looking at them.
It would enable a person who always finds children to be messy, annoying, revolting and disobedient to see them as friendly, interesting, and transparent.

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If Holt never visited South Korea, I wish he could have. His dream is closer to realization here than it is in the United States. You can't walk a block without seeing a karate school, a music school, an art school, or a music school. Some of these schools hold class all day, some serve as after-school clubs, and some do both.




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By John Holt
5 stars
Holt didn't have children of his own, and his first opinions of children and learning came from being a schoolteacher in an elite private school, where he taught math to 5th graders. He was exposed to younger children and babies who were friends and relatives, and began forming different opinions about learning, which he shares in this book. Holt is fascinated by the notion that children accomplish so much before formal schooling begins and realizes that the way school is set up goes directly in opposition to what is natural and has worked for these children up to the point they are sent off to school.
The beginning of the book covers the age ranges from birth up through age 3 to 5, that is, before children go to school. Holt talks about a certain type of important learning that takes place up until the time a child enrolls in school at which point the experience of schooling changes their personality. The book starts off with how children succeed in learning many important things and huge feats such as speaking and with proper grammar and pronunciation and walking without formal schooling and that children accomplish much learning without an adult being the facilitator of it. In general the style of writing is that Holt describes a situation and then gives his opinions of the learning experience. Sometimes Holt does little experiments such as introducing a toy or a non-toy (such as a typewriter) to young children to see how they react to it and what they do with it. Holt observes with delight and amazement, these young children who are friends and relatives (they are not his students or participants in a research projects). It is clear that Holt enjoys these young children and he respects them and relishes the time he spends with them.
This revised edition makes clear which text is original then what was added-which is new perspective as he had spent more time around children and his theories matured and changed a bit. Seeing the two perspectives clearly was very interesting and educational.
Regarding the discussions about babies and toddlers there are good observations here and I appreciate them. As a stay at home parent, I have already witnessed much of this (and more) and for some of the chapters I felt I wasn't learning anything I hadn't already witnessed with my own two eyes. However, readers who are childless will definitely learn much about how learning happens from infancy and up. I highly recommend that anyone interested in going into the profession of teaching read this book, or any current teacher who is childless. Holt gives the children much-deserved respect for their innate ability to learn and figure out the world around them.
Later chapters get more analytical as Holt integrates his own observation of schooled children (about grade 5 and below) and compares and contrasts with other educators, scientists and child psychologists. (It doesn't seem to me that Holt is analyzing preteens or teenagers.) Here is where Holt exercises his ability to write clearly and concisely drive home his point in a convincing manner.
Again and again Holt shows how a child to is forced to "learn" things (such as in public and most private schools) is actually having their personality changed in the process. The act of being forced to do things and to prove oneself over and over via testing and not being trusted by adults changes their personality. Holt feels the schooling procedures have negative consequences on all children; albeit some children are more negatively affected than others. The child can develop anxiety, mistrust, and fear of all adults not to mention self-esteem problems or just killing their curiosity or interest in learning.
Great quotes from other books on education and learning are included here with Holt's reactions. A short list of books on school reform is included. The summary alone is almost worth the price of the book.
For more specific information about what goes on in school and how children learn to play the school game and how forced teaching is not always effective, read Holt's "How Children Fail".
This would make a great gift for expectant parents, I feel it would point out to them that babies deserve a lot of respect for being able to figure out the world around them. This notion of being in awe of and respectful of children starting at birth is seldom written about...so many of us were under the misguided notion that an adult must be the one to force learning onto babies and children (me included until I birthed my babies and saw firsthand how smart they are).

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A lifelong student, Holt is his own person. Learning from himself and his world, and everything in them that will help him achieve. He makes good points about fear and disappointment building barriers to improvement. The battle between competing voices of critique and edification, of between differing interests, e.g. Holt's musician vs. writer.
All this is comforting and inspiring for the adult learner in each of us. Attempting to pick up the oboe in my fifties, having abandoned it at 14, understand much of what Holt communicates so well. However, his issues of tuning and fret memory are replaced for the double reedist by the ever trying reed dilemma.
I did not profit from the lengthy recall of his music past.
This touching and useful sharing of music growth will stimulate and inspire aspiring musicians of all levels. Learning to be a learner is a wonderful thematic gift of this work.

Like Wayne Booth's book on the love of amateur cello playing, Holt's book shows how the pursuit of amateur cello playing is available to almost anyone with the drive to put in the requisite practice hours and gather with likeminded people to practice their craft.
If you put down your childhood instrument decades ago, or never picked one up in the first place, Holt can inspire you through his example to consider taking it up.


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The idea with the balance beam experiment was good. It really gave the children something to think about. Children need to learn to think for themselves and not have everything just told to them. The Cuisenaire rods seemed like a good idea at a point, but Holt just went into too much detail and repetition in the book with them. It made it hard to read much of those sections.


The teacher did suppress my indiviualism due to forcing me to have a lack of courage. My courage was often mistaken as misbehavior, and I was discouraged to speak my mind. I was taught to only speak in order to appease the teacher.
I truly disliked control and teachers always had control over everything in class, decision making, recess, lunch, field trips etc.
I could remember in my fifth grade class. I had a elderly teacher and my lessons in school was a big gap of not learning. All she was concerned with was retirement and not one intervened with the quality of our education.
I respect the idea of a second teacher in the classroom observing the children responses to the lesson being giving to them. A second teacher evaluates how, why and when to encourage a child in regards to their learning capablities and/or interest.
I plan to read the book more than once in order to gain a more knowlegde in regards to John Holt's observations. And I think it would be a good idea for other active teachers to also read how children fail, too.