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How Children Fail
"Back to school for teachers--First published in the mid 1960s, How Children Fail began an education reform movement that continues today. In his 1982 edition, John Holt added new insights into how children investigate the world, into the perennial problems of classroom learning, grading, testing, and into the role of the trust and authority in every learning situation. His understanding of children, the clarity of his thought, and his deep affection for children have made both How Children Fail and its companion volume, How Children Learn, enduring classics"
223 pages
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
John C. Holt
31 books330 followersAfter teaching in private schools for many years John Caldwell Holt wrote his first two books, How Children Fail, and How Children Learn. He became a vocal advocate for school reforms, and wrote several more books about education theory and practice, including alternative forms and many social issues relating to the education system. Eventually he decided school reform was impossible, and changed his focus to homeschooling. He started America's first magazine dedicated to the subject, Growing Without Schooling, in 1977.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 184 reviews
April 2, 2011
Holt has a way of cutting through the bullshit when it comes to how children learn (or more realistically, as the book contends: how they do NOT learn) in schools. He approaches the subject almost as a scientist, eschewing fancy, obfuscating academic language as well as cleverness and finger-pointing. It is a remarkably gimmick-free book that attempts to put aside the supply-side notion of "how can we as teachers discover clever methods for imparting knowledge to our captive charges?" in favor of "how do students actually and naturally learn, and how can we as teachers facilitate that learning?" The difference between these two questions may seem subtle, but the distinction is crucial if our goal is to truly educate.
The structure of the book is built around Holt's journal of his experiences team-teaching with another man in the late '50s/early '60s (one taught while the other observed the children), interspersed with Holt's own comments, amendments, contradictions, and clarifications some 30 years later. Indicative of Holt's earnest desire to objectively account for how children learn or don't learn is his willingness to be as critical of his own methods and philosophical conclusions as he is of others'. This is refreshingly honest in a field crowded by lazy and cowardly theory and practice aimed at maintaining conventional wisdom and the status quo, both of which are deadly to real and lasting education.
I was at once encouraged and depressed by this book. I was encouraged because Holt’s experiences seem to confirm many of the ideas I have been bandying about in my head as I try to educate my own students, ideas full of hope and the notion that we CAN change society’s screwed-up, anti-instinctual notions of how people are best educated.
But what is depressing is that this book was written SIXTY YEARS AGO, and way too many of the backward, counterproductive, even harmful practices, thoughts, and attitudes Holt identifies in the book still dominate education! In fact, some of them (such as the Sacred Cow known as standardized testing) are even MORE ingrained now, at once bloating and eating away at education in the exact ways Holt predicted if they were not corrected. It is amazing and alarming that the diseased seeds Holt saw being planted in the mid-twentieth century have now blossomed and flourished into full-blown rotten, choking vines, an educational Kudzu from which it is almost impossible to extricate actual education. This is sad and frustrating for anyone truly invested in educating anyone. It is akin to watching Network, a movie which was supposed to be a satirical “what if?” about the merging of news and entertainment, but is now merely a darkly funny reflection of the frightening reality in which we live. Remove the satire and the dark humor (Holt is straightforward, honest, and sincere), and the same can be said of this book, only in terms of education.
So why read something so depressing? Because any honest assessment of how we educate is bound to be depressing, given how broken everyone knows our educational system to be. But as with any dysfunctional social institution, ignoring the depressing truth about it can only serve to perpetuate that dysfunction, since the continued existence of the dysfunction is certain as long as we blindly obey the uniquely human instinct to pretend that the dysfunction does not exist. “What most teachers want and reward,” says Holt, “are not knowledge and understanding, but the appearance of them.” This unthinking, blind allegiance to appearance at the expense of reality is at the heart of every social dysfunction. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in challenging that dysfunction and looking for ways to make the system healthy again.
The structure of the book is built around Holt's journal of his experiences team-teaching with another man in the late '50s/early '60s (one taught while the other observed the children), interspersed with Holt's own comments, amendments, contradictions, and clarifications some 30 years later. Indicative of Holt's earnest desire to objectively account for how children learn or don't learn is his willingness to be as critical of his own methods and philosophical conclusions as he is of others'. This is refreshingly honest in a field crowded by lazy and cowardly theory and practice aimed at maintaining conventional wisdom and the status quo, both of which are deadly to real and lasting education.
I was at once encouraged and depressed by this book. I was encouraged because Holt’s experiences seem to confirm many of the ideas I have been bandying about in my head as I try to educate my own students, ideas full of hope and the notion that we CAN change society’s screwed-up, anti-instinctual notions of how people are best educated.
But what is depressing is that this book was written SIXTY YEARS AGO, and way too many of the backward, counterproductive, even harmful practices, thoughts, and attitudes Holt identifies in the book still dominate education! In fact, some of them (such as the Sacred Cow known as standardized testing) are even MORE ingrained now, at once bloating and eating away at education in the exact ways Holt predicted if they were not corrected. It is amazing and alarming that the diseased seeds Holt saw being planted in the mid-twentieth century have now blossomed and flourished into full-blown rotten, choking vines, an educational Kudzu from which it is almost impossible to extricate actual education. This is sad and frustrating for anyone truly invested in educating anyone. It is akin to watching Network, a movie which was supposed to be a satirical “what if?” about the merging of news and entertainment, but is now merely a darkly funny reflection of the frightening reality in which we live. Remove the satire and the dark humor (Holt is straightforward, honest, and sincere), and the same can be said of this book, only in terms of education.
So why read something so depressing? Because any honest assessment of how we educate is bound to be depressing, given how broken everyone knows our educational system to be. But as with any dysfunctional social institution, ignoring the depressing truth about it can only serve to perpetuate that dysfunction, since the continued existence of the dysfunction is certain as long as we blindly obey the uniquely human instinct to pretend that the dysfunction does not exist. “What most teachers want and reward,” says Holt, “are not knowledge and understanding, but the appearance of them.” This unthinking, blind allegiance to appearance at the expense of reality is at the heart of every social dysfunction. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in challenging that dysfunction and looking for ways to make the system healthy again.
July 17, 2008
So, after all these years of homeschooling I finally read John Holt. And, believe it or not, I whole-heartedly agree with a lot of what he has to say. He so eloquently puts into words many things I have thought about education and learning. I don't know if I could've understood so much of this before experiencing it through learning with my own children. One of my many favorite quotes: "But a child who is learning naturally, following his curiosity where it leads him, adding to his mental model of reality whatever he needs and can find a place for, and rejecting without fear or guilt what he does not need, is growing--in knowledge, in the love of learning, and the ability to learn. He is on his way to becoming the kind of person we need in our society...the kind of person who, in Whitney Griswold's words, seeks and finds meaning, truth and enjoyment in everything he does. All his life he will go on learning. Every experience will make his mental model of reality more complete and more true to life, and thus make him more able to deal realistically, imaginatively, and constructively with whatever new experience life throws his way."
May 18, 2013
John Holt summarizes perfectly the problem with contemporary education: it emphasizes right answers rather than learning, production rather than thinking. Read this book to understand this problem and its results, as seen through his experience as a collaborative teacher and thoughtful observer. The rewards for "right answers" over thinking even persists at higher education levels. "What would happen at Harvard or Yale if a prof gave a surprise test in March on work covered in October? Everyone knows what would happen; that's why they don't do it." (p. 232)[return][return]He advocates for schooling at home (and in the world) as the best method of education. "People teaching their children at home consistently do a good job because they have the time - and the desire - to know their children, their interest, the signs by which they show and express their feelings." (p. 36) Four key principles: 1. Children do not need to be "taught" in order to learn, and they often learn best when not taught, 2. Children are very interested in the adult world, 3. Children learn best when the subject is "embedded in the context of real life," 4. "Children learn best when their learning is connected with an immediate and serious purpose."[return][return]Holt blames the current system, pointing out that if a system consistently fails, the problem is with it, not its inputs or participants. In the summary section, he forcefully points out the negative effects of the current system - low self-esteem, ignorance about how to learn, and a mind trained not to want to do so.
September 14, 2015
Excellent! Definitely a book worth rereading. I can't wait to read some of his other books.
A few of my favorite quotes
A few good principles to keep in mind:
1 - Children do not need to be "taught" in order to learn; they will learn a great deal, and probably learn best, without being taught.
2 - Children are enormously interested in our adult world and what we do there.
3 - Children learn best when the things they learn are embedded in a context of real life, are part of what George Dennison, in The Lives of Children, called "the continuum of experience."
4 - Children learn best when their learning is connected with an immediate and serious purpose.
What this means in the field of numbers and math is simply this: the more we can make it possible for children to see how we use numbers, and to use them as we use them, the better.
Pg 222
The attention of children must be lured, caught, and held, like a shy wild animal that must be coaxed with bait to come close. If the situations, the materials, the problems before a child do not interest him, his attention will slip off to what does interest him, and no amount of exhortation or threats will bring it back.
Pg 265
Since we can't know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned.
Pg 291
A few of my favorite quotes
A few good principles to keep in mind:
1 - Children do not need to be "taught" in order to learn; they will learn a great deal, and probably learn best, without being taught.
2 - Children are enormously interested in our adult world and what we do there.
3 - Children learn best when the things they learn are embedded in a context of real life, are part of what George Dennison, in The Lives of Children, called "the continuum of experience."
4 - Children learn best when their learning is connected with an immediate and serious purpose.
What this means in the field of numbers and math is simply this: the more we can make it possible for children to see how we use numbers, and to use them as we use them, the better.
Pg 222
The attention of children must be lured, caught, and held, like a shy wild animal that must be coaxed with bait to come close. If the situations, the materials, the problems before a child do not interest him, his attention will slip off to what does interest him, and no amount of exhortation or threats will bring it back.
Pg 265
Since we can't know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned.
Pg 291
December 5, 2018
There is a special place in heaven where angels sing dirges for children herded off to school each day. Lamenting the destruction of their infinitely creative capacities as fear of authority, fear of being made fun of, is inculcated deep within their minds. And which drives them towards the hunt for right answers to please countless adults around them and very far away from truly discovering life and their own selves. This, in a nutshell, is what John Holt's book is about. Its immensely sad to read as he recounts case after case of little kids floundering in the midst of the slave-like circumstances they are thrust into. Tethered to their desks for hours, in perpetual dread of the adults around them, who only seem to be interested in developing a very narrow form of learning. Made to learn about things that basically just don't matter to them. Things that they just parrot to get through the tests. Or to escape adult disapproval.
Sad, anger-inducing and such an immense wastage of time. School really is the place where we destroy life, destroy everything joyful and beautiful that exists in it, and our capacities to experience it all. Brilliant book. Wish I could lay my hands on more of John Holt's stuff.
Sad, anger-inducing and such an immense wastage of time. School really is the place where we destroy life, destroy everything joyful and beautiful that exists in it, and our capacities to experience it all. Brilliant book. Wish I could lay my hands on more of John Holt's stuff.
June 8, 2016
A great insight into learning (& somehow also a view into some adult behaviors). Just some quotes in place of a review. The book is rich in its specificity.
“The very natural mistake that Bill and I made was to think that the differences between the children in our class had to do with techniques of thinking, that the successful kids had good techniques of thinking while the unsuccessful, the "producers," had bad, and therefore that our task was to teach better techniques. But the unsuccessful kids were not trying, however badly, to do the same things as the successful. They were doing something altogether different. They saw the school and their task in it differently. It was a place of danger, and their task was, as far as they could, to stay out of danger. Their business was not learning, but escaping. ”
“I see now that I was wrong about Emily's task. The task for her was not to spell "microscopic," or write a word backwards, or balance a weight The thought in her mind must have been something like this: "These teachers want me to do something. I haven't got the faintest idea what it is, or why in the world they want me to do it. But I’ll do something, and then maybe they'll let me alone." ”
“Our way of scoring was to give the groups a point for each correct prediction. Before long they were thinking more of ways to get a good score than of making the beam balance. We wanted them to figure out how to balance the beam, and introduced the scoring as a matter of motivation. But they out-smarted us, and figured out ways to get a good score that had nothing to do with whether the beam balanced or not. ”
“I haven't forgotten Jack and his falling down. One thing I have discovered is that there is a peculiar kind of relief, a lessening of tension, when you make a mistake. For when you make one, you no longer have to worry about whether you are going to make one. ”
“The remedy is not to think of more and more tricks for "building intelligence," but to do away with the conditions that make people act stupidly, and instead make available to them a wide variety of situations in which they are likely once again to start acting intelligently. ”
“The idea of painless, non-threatening coercion is an illusion. Fear is the inseparable companion of coercion, and its inescapable consequence. If you think it your duty to make children do what you want, whether they will or not, then it follows inexorably that you must make them afraid of what will happen to them if they don't do what you want. ”
“The very natural mistake that Bill and I made was to think that the differences between the children in our class had to do with techniques of thinking, that the successful kids had good techniques of thinking while the unsuccessful, the "producers," had bad, and therefore that our task was to teach better techniques. But the unsuccessful kids were not trying, however badly, to do the same things as the successful. They were doing something altogether different. They saw the school and their task in it differently. It was a place of danger, and their task was, as far as they could, to stay out of danger. Their business was not learning, but escaping. ”
“I see now that I was wrong about Emily's task. The task for her was not to spell "microscopic," or write a word backwards, or balance a weight The thought in her mind must have been something like this: "These teachers want me to do something. I haven't got the faintest idea what it is, or why in the world they want me to do it. But I’ll do something, and then maybe they'll let me alone." ”
“Our way of scoring was to give the groups a point for each correct prediction. Before long they were thinking more of ways to get a good score than of making the beam balance. We wanted them to figure out how to balance the beam, and introduced the scoring as a matter of motivation. But they out-smarted us, and figured out ways to get a good score that had nothing to do with whether the beam balanced or not. ”
“I haven't forgotten Jack and his falling down. One thing I have discovered is that there is a peculiar kind of relief, a lessening of tension, when you make a mistake. For when you make one, you no longer have to worry about whether you are going to make one. ”
“The remedy is not to think of more and more tricks for "building intelligence," but to do away with the conditions that make people act stupidly, and instead make available to them a wide variety of situations in which they are likely once again to start acting intelligently. ”
“The idea of painless, non-threatening coercion is an illusion. Fear is the inseparable companion of coercion, and its inescapable consequence. If you think it your duty to make children do what you want, whether they will or not, then it follows inexorably that you must make them afraid of what will happen to them if they don't do what you want. ”
Read
June 16, 2010Pretty intense. I have decided not to rate this book with gold stars (John wouldn't have approved).
It definitely wasn't perfect, there were certain points where the spelling and grammar made it difficult to understand what was going on. Another aspect that I wasn't crazy about was the product placement. I can tell that John was just trying to be helpful and give pointers to other teaching personnel and share what he was interested in, but it's clear in revision notes that John wished he hadn't included products in the work. This brings me to another, more minor problem, which is that he takes such a long time to go through the revision notes on the products that I've forgotten about what the main idea of the paragraph or chapter was about.
I definitely don't hate this book though. It's very clear from his narrative sections that he really does care about and respect children in the up most. I agree with most of his ideas as they are brought up. I think that John Holt I could have accomplished great things, were he alive today. His ideas are well logically and methodically mapped out and respectfully put forward so as not to offend anyone. This book made me realize that there are other people in the world who care about what happens to students.
Definitely a neccessary read for anyone thinking about attempting the formal education system.
It definitely wasn't perfect, there were certain points where the spelling and grammar made it difficult to understand what was going on. Another aspect that I wasn't crazy about was the product placement. I can tell that John was just trying to be helpful and give pointers to other teaching personnel and share what he was interested in, but it's clear in revision notes that John wished he hadn't included products in the work. This brings me to another, more minor problem, which is that he takes such a long time to go through the revision notes on the products that I've forgotten about what the main idea of the paragraph or chapter was about.
I definitely don't hate this book though. It's very clear from his narrative sections that he really does care about and respect children in the up most. I agree with most of his ideas as they are brought up. I think that John Holt I could have accomplished great things, were he alive today. His ideas are well logically and methodically mapped out and respectfully put forward so as not to offend anyone. This book made me realize that there are other people in the world who care about what happens to students.
Definitely a neccessary read for anyone thinking about attempting the formal education system.
December 18, 2023
From the very start, I was blown away. Reading this book felt like inspiration, like new knowledge flowing into my mind.
One of my big takeaways was about how much fear can affect learning and performance: fear of failure, fear of being wrong, fear of looking stupid. We develop strategies to try to figure out what the person in charge wants us to say, to avoid the thing we’re afraid of. Instead of understanding and trying to find and speak the truth, we do what protects us from failure.
One of my big takeaways was about how much fear can affect learning and performance: fear of failure, fear of being wrong, fear of looking stupid. We develop strategies to try to figure out what the person in charge wants us to say, to avoid the thing we’re afraid of. Instead of understanding and trying to find and speak the truth, we do what protects us from failure.
September 26, 2020
This book is disorganized and rambling and not particularly well-written, but John Holt was an otherwise pretty cool teacher. So he gets at least 3 stars for his ideas, and the little nuggets of truth hidden in this long-winded diary.
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“Only as teachers in schools free themselves from their traditional teacher tasks - boss, cop, judge - will they be able to learn enough about their students to see how best to be of use to them.”
“Success, as much as failure, are adult ideas we impose on children.
“Even in the kindest and gentlest of schools, children are afraid, many of them a great deal of the time, some of them almost all the time.”
“Perhaps children are thrown too early, and too much, into a crowded society of other children, where they have to think, not about the world, but about their position in it.”
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“Only as teachers in schools free themselves from their traditional teacher tasks - boss, cop, judge - will they be able to learn enough about their students to see how best to be of use to them.”
“Success, as much as failure, are adult ideas we impose on children.
“Even in the kindest and gentlest of schools, children are afraid, many of them a great deal of the time, some of them almost all the time.”
“Perhaps children are thrown too early, and too much, into a crowded society of other children, where they have to think, not about the world, but about their position in it.”
September 21, 2020
I wouldn't say that it was a great book, but it had some ideas that I really liked and impressed me and with which I resonated. The main idea that will stay with me for a long time after having read this book is the following: "Schools should be a place where children learn what they most want to know, instead of what we think they ought to know. The child who wants to know something remembers it and uses it once he has it; the child who learns something to please or appease someone else forgets it when the need for pleasing or the danger of not appeasing is past. This is why children quickly forget all but a small part of what they learn in school. It is of no use or interest to them; they do not want, or expect, or even intend to remember it."
April 22, 2018
School is a jail of some sort. Is there a room for growth in such environment? I doubt it and so does the author.
June 4, 2019
Восхитительная книга!
В формате дневника с наблюдениями за детьми в классе и собственными размышлениями Холт просто показывает как дети пытаются решить задачи и как они ищут ответ любыми способами кроме того, который от них ждут. Они списывают, угадывают ответы, угадывают даже объяснения выбора этого ответа, читают лица педагога и говорят неразборчиво. Все, чтобы упростить себе задачу, получить правильный ответ и избежать осуждения учителя и других детей. А заодно сбежать, наконец, от этого луча внимания, который выхватил его из толпы и выставил на публику.
Книга отлично показывает как путём принудительного монотонного обучения и приучения к награде за правильный ответ школа и взрослые убивают исследователей в детях и тренируют их нейросетки на выполнение базовых алгоритмов. Причём делает это настолько плохо, что к любому тесту детей необходимо готовить специально, а к крупным типа ЕГЭ - натаскивать по полгода.
Единственная книга автора, которую удалось найти в переводе, теперь остальные обязательно буду читать в оригинале.
В формате дневника с наблюдениями за детьми в классе и собственными размышлениями Холт просто показывает как дети пытаются решить задачи и как они ищут ответ любыми способами кроме того, который от них ждут. Они списывают, угадывают ответы, угадывают даже объяснения выбора этого ответа, читают лица педагога и говорят неразборчиво. Все, чтобы упростить себе задачу, получить правильный ответ и избежать осуждения учителя и других детей. А заодно сбежать, наконец, от этого луча внимания, который выхватил его из толпы и выставил на публику.
Книга отлично показывает как путём принудительного монотонного обучения и приучения к награде за правильный ответ школа и взрослые убивают исследователей в детях и тренируют их нейросетки на выполнение базовых алгоритмов. Причём делает это настолько плохо, что к любому тесту детей необходимо готовить специально, а к крупным типа ЕГЭ - натаскивать по полгода.
Единственная книга автора, которую удалось найти в переводе, теперь остальные обязательно буду читать в оригинале.
February 6, 2022
This book is well intentioned, but has a shoddy argument to make. The idea that children should be left to their own devices to learn is idealistic and romantic. Many children would much rather just play games - and that is entirely natural.
Learning is hard. This puts many students off. Even if students are still interested surely it makes more sense to teach students key concepts which have taken others many years to work out rather than encourage to try and uncover it themselves. Holt even goes as far to acknowledge this in one case before arguing without evidence his own method is better.
In terms of evidence there is not a shred in the entire book. Holt creates an argument from anecdotes and his own personal musings. There is no discussion of results just horror stories of children being mistreated, his own musings on 'not bright children' (many of which are definitely questionable), and his own stories of success (or more often partial success).
The book rests on an idealised imagining of a child as an inquisitive being who when fails it is because of the shackles the school system places on them rather than anything else. He goes as far in the conclusion of the book to argue for the disbanding of schools and instead for them to be replaced by activity centres and libraries and for these to be open to all. This is no real policy for the betterment of children, but a day dream to comfort those who feel let down by the world.
Rigorous teaching and a strong curriculum (which Holt argues is pointless) is the more effective way out of educational disparities. Not lowering our expectations so that students languish in ignorance, because we think it is too unkind to help them.
Incidentally, the writing is not particularly enjoyable either.
Learning is hard. This puts many students off. Even if students are still interested surely it makes more sense to teach students key concepts which have taken others many years to work out rather than encourage to try and uncover it themselves. Holt even goes as far to acknowledge this in one case before arguing without evidence his own method is better.
In terms of evidence there is not a shred in the entire book. Holt creates an argument from anecdotes and his own personal musings. There is no discussion of results just horror stories of children being mistreated, his own musings on 'not bright children' (many of which are definitely questionable), and his own stories of success (or more often partial success).
The book rests on an idealised imagining of a child as an inquisitive being who when fails it is because of the shackles the school system places on them rather than anything else. He goes as far in the conclusion of the book to argue for the disbanding of schools and instead for them to be replaced by activity centres and libraries and for these to be open to all. This is no real policy for the betterment of children, but a day dream to comfort those who feel let down by the world.
Rigorous teaching and a strong curriculum (which Holt argues is pointless) is the more effective way out of educational disparities. Not lowering our expectations so that students languish in ignorance, because we think it is too unkind to help them.
Incidentally, the writing is not particularly enjoyable either.
April 20, 2021
As a student, I schooled the educational system. I was the teacher's pet, the A student, the girl with all the answers. Yet, when I finished it all (including grad school), I knew hardly anything, and I was frustrated that I could remember so little. Nineteen years and thousands of dollars, and not much to show for it.
As a teacher, I started asking questions. Am I actually helping my students learn? Why are kids graduating from college with absolutely no idea about what they're good at or even interested in? Why is our entire educational system basically a false measure of intelligence based on arbitrary goals and silly comparisons?
Then I read this book. Holt, with his years of experience teaching kids, makes some brilliant observations and offers some helpful insights that have heightened my awareness of the pathetic state of what we call "education" today. If you're interested in education, this will definitely rile you up in one way or another. I was literally putting my book down and yelling "Yes, that's right!" at my confused husband. Note of caution: Holt's passionate about this, and his conclusions sometimes seem a bit exaggerated; in addition, not all of his assertions are provable. However, I definitely recommend this book to ANYONE interested in education (which should be everyone). It'll at least provoke your thinking, and that's never a bad thing.
As a teacher, I started asking questions. Am I actually helping my students learn? Why are kids graduating from college with absolutely no idea about what they're good at or even interested in? Why is our entire educational system basically a false measure of intelligence based on arbitrary goals and silly comparisons?
Then I read this book. Holt, with his years of experience teaching kids, makes some brilliant observations and offers some helpful insights that have heightened my awareness of the pathetic state of what we call "education" today. If you're interested in education, this will definitely rile you up in one way or another. I was literally putting my book down and yelling "Yes, that's right!" at my confused husband. Note of caution: Holt's passionate about this, and his conclusions sometimes seem a bit exaggerated; in addition, not all of his assertions are provable. However, I definitely recommend this book to ANYONE interested in education (which should be everyone). It'll at least provoke your thinking, and that's never a bad thing.
September 15, 2012
I would recommend a different title: How Children are Failed.
Fantastic. Cannot recommend this highly enough. Some of the references are a bit dated, but the main points are just as valid as ever. It is nothing short of criminal what is done to children "in their own good".
Fantastic. Cannot recommend this highly enough. Some of the references are a bit dated, but the main points are just as valid as ever. It is nothing short of criminal what is done to children "in their own good".
February 3, 2016
I really thought I would enjoy this book. It has been on my "to read" list for years. It just wasn't for me. I'm not sure who his target audience is, but I had zero interest in reading through decades old notes he took while observing kids who are now adults. Zero.
March 17, 2016
https://learningaboutlearningar.wordp...
"كيف يفشل الأطفال" هي مذكرات المُعلم جون هولت التي بدئها عام 1958 و -هو مُعلم و كاتب أمريكي عاش في الفترة بين 1923-1985 - للبحث عن هذه الإجابة . لماذا يفشل اللأطفال ؟ لماذا لا يُطور الأطفال في المدارس إلا جزء ضئيل جداً من قدراتهم على التعلم و التي تتجلى بوضوح في الثلاث سنوات الأولى حيث يتعلم الأطفال مهارات حيوية مثل الكلام و المشي وحدهم ؟ كيف يُفكر الأطفال ؟ و كيف يحدث هذا الفشل ؟ كل هذه الأسئلة كان يحاول هولت أن يبحث عن إجابات لها. في البداية كان يكتب هذه المذكرات لصديقه المُعلم و بعذ ذلك انتشرت هذه المذكرات بين مجموعة من المُدرسين المُهتمين و في عام 1960 صدرت أول طبعة من هذا الكتاب الذي بيع منه أكثر من مليون نسخة .
النقطة التي ينطلق منها هولت في مقدمة كتابه هو أننا -كمُعلمين- مسئولين عن رحلة تعلم الأطفال في مدارسنا ، بكل ما تحمله هذه الرحلة من عواقب. عندما يُخفِق الأطفال فنحن المسئولون كُلياً عن هذا الإخفاق. نحن الذين لم نفهمهم ، لم نفهم قدراتهم و رغباتهم و ما يمرون به و لم نهيء لهم بيئة تعلم تناسب هذه القدرات ، و يجب أن نبحث عن الأسباب و نُعيد النظر في الطرق و الوسائل التي نتبعها و لكن الذي يحدث أننا دائماً نُلقي اللوم على الأطفال ، نلقي اللوم على قدراتهم ، جهودهم و ربما مجتمعهم أو الظروف التي يمرون بها ، بينما نرى دائماً أن طريقتنا هي الأفضل و أننا فعلنا كل ما في وسعنا. و القاعدة معروفة : عندما ينجح الأطفال الفضل يعود للمدرسة و المُعلم ، و عندما يخفقون اللوم دائماً يعود على الطفل. نحن لا نتحمل المسئولية إلا في حالة النجاح فقط.
’’ لماذا تلومنا علي كل شيء خطأ في المدرسة ؟ لماذا تُحاول أن تُشعرنا بالذنب ‘‘ ؟
يقول هولت أن هذا كان رد فعل المُعلمين علي مدى سنوات عديدة تجاه هذا الموضوع ، و يرد هو في مُقدمة الطبعة الجديدة للكتاب :
’’أنا لا ألومهم. أنا لم ألم نفسي و لم أشعر بالذنب أن طُلابي في معظم الأحيان لم يتعلموا ما كنت أحاول تعليمهم إياه،أنا لم أقم بما كان يجب القيام به لأنني لم أكن أعرف كيف أقوم به. و لكن كُنت أشعر نفسي دائماً أنني مسئول. لندع كلمات اللوم و العتاب خارج حديثنا عن التعلم ، فهي كلمات للأطفال ، لنستخدم بدلاً منها كلمة مسئول‘‘.
المُلفت في كتاب هولت بجانب إحساسه العالي بالأطفال و تأمله الدقيق لتصرفاتهم، هو صدقه في محاولة البحث عن الإجابه لذا لم يتردد في الطبعة الجديدة من الكتاب التي صدرت عام 1982 أن يُراجع أخطائه و تفسيراته فتجد هذه العبارة تكررت كثيراً ’’أُدرك الأن أنني كنت مُخطيء..‘‘. يقول أيضاً في مقدمة الطبعة الثانية :
قد يبدو للبعض أن��ي استغرقت سنوات عديدة لأتعلم ما تعلمته و أنني قمت بأخطاء حمقاء كثيرة و أنه كان هناك إجابات كثيرة واضحة لأسئلتي لم أنتبه لها. أنا لا أشعر بالذنب تجاه ذلك. أنا كنت أحاول على قدر إستطاعتي أن أكتشف شيئاً صعباً و مُهماً، و لا أعتقد أنه كان هناك طريق أقصر أو أسرع من الطريق الذي سلكته.
المُلفت ايضاً أنه رغم أنا هذا الكتاب كُتب من أكثر من 50 سنة إلا أنك ستشعر أنك تقرأ عن أحد فصولنا الدراسية الحالية بكل أخطائها و طرائقها. بشكل شخصي ، عدت للوراء أكثر من 10 سنوات و استحضرت صورة فصلي و معلماتي و مدرستي و أنا و أصدقائي في الفصل. وجدتني أعلق على ما يقول�� "إيه ده..أنا فعلاً كنت بعمل كده..أيوة الميس كانت بتعمل كده بالظبط" وجدتني أيضاً أجد تفسيرات لأشياء كنت أفعلها و أنا صغيرة أو أجد الأطفال يفعلونها " عشان كده و أنا بذاكر لأروى كانت بتعمل كده". الكتاب ممتع جداً و أنصح به كل مُعلم و أب.
قسم هولت الكتاب إلى أربعة فصول :
الإستراتيجيات : و فيها يتحدث عن الإستراتيجيات التي يتبعها الأطفال مع المُعلمين كرد فعل لما يطلبه أو يتوقعه منهم الكبار .
الخوف و الفشل: يتحدث عن تفاعل الخوف و الفشل و تأثير ذلك على إستراتيجيات الأطفال و رحلة تعلمهم.
التعلم الحقيقى: و فيه يفرق بين ما يبدو أن الأطفال تعلموه ، أو ما نتوقع منهم أنهم تعلموه و بين ما تعلموه فعلاً.
كيف تفشل المدارس: يُحلل الطرق التي تتبعها المدارس و التي تؤدي في النهاية لإسترتيجيات سيئة،و زيادة مخاوف الطلاب، و عدم تلبية إحتياجاتهم بل تعليمهم تعليمًا هشًا قصير المدى.
ما المشكلة ؟ المعلم و طلابه ليسوا في نفس المركب بينما يفكر الُمعلم في دوره المُقدس ، وفي السنة الدراسية من أولها لأخرها ،و في التعلم داخل الفصل و في دوره تجاه الطلاب في تعليمهم و تثقيفهم و ربما
إقناعهم بأن ما يفعلونه مهم و ذو تأثير بعد ذلك. هو مثل الطبيب الذي يحاول إقناع طفل صغير بأن الدواء المر مفيد، لكن الطفل كل ما يفكر به كيف يتخلص من الدواء المر. ببساطة الأطفال لا يجدون معنى في كل هذا : لم علينا أن نذهب للمدرسة أصلاً ؟ حصة رياضيات ثم علوم ثم دراسات إجتماعية ثم لغة عربية. ساعة بعد ساعة هي مهام مُنفصلة لا تشكل أي معنى أو مغزى شخصي بالنسبة للطفل. الرابط الوحيد بينها هو أننا (كـأطفال) نفعلها لأن الكبار فرضوا علينا ذلك. علينا أن نُرضي الكبار،علينا أن أجد الإجابة الصحيحة لأن المُعلم يرغب في سماعها. المُعلم دائماً يبحث عن الإجابة الصحيحة في أسرع وقت و يُكافئ عليها. علينا أن نحصل على درجات عالية لأن هذا في نظرهم ما يجعلنا متفوقين وأذكياء.
ما الحل الذي سيفكر به الأطفال؟ لنجد طريقة ننهي بها هذا الهراء بأقل ألم نفسي ممكن و بأكبر قدر ممكن من إرضاء الكبار، و من هنا تظهر الإستراتيجيات التي يتبعها الأطفال بشكل يومي و تلقائي للتخلص من هذا العبء . عندما تساءل أحد الطلاب يوماً لماذا نذهب إلى المدرسة ؟ أجابت إحدى الطالبات بحزم "كي لا نكون أغبياء عندما نكبر" .يقول هولت: هؤلاء الأطفال يربطون الغباء بالجهل. هل هذا ما يعنونه عندما يقولون عن أنفسهم أنهم أغبياء ؟ هل لهذا السبب يشعرون بالخجل عندما لا يعرفون إجابة سؤال ؟ علينا أن نُعرفهم أن الغباء و الجهل ليسا مرتبطين. يمكنك أن تعرف معلومات و حقائق قليلة و لكن تستخدمها جيداً، و العكس صحيح يمكنك أن تعرف الكثير و لكن تتصرف بغباء. و المتعلمون الأغبياء كثر في هذه البلد"
من هذه الإسترتيجيات :
- لا تنظر للخلف ..الوضع سيء جداً : الوضع يكون سيئًا بما فيه الكفاية عندما يخبرك أحد أنك مُخطئ، فلا تبحث عن أخطائك. لذا تجد الأطفال يكتبون مثلاً كلمات خطأ أو يحلون مسائل رياضية بطريقة غير منطقية دون أن يعطوا لأنفسهم فرصة أن يعودوا للوراء و يُفكروا فيما كتبوه . فمن ناحية هو لا يجد معنى فيما يحاول الإجابة عنه ، لا يعرف السؤال الذي يجيب عليه. المُعلم يطلب منه شيء و هو ينُنفذه ثم يذهب مسرعاً ليتأكد إن كان ما فعله صحيح أم لا : إن كان صحيحًا و وافق عليه المُعلم فلا يحتاج أن يُعاود النظر فيما كتبه ، و إن كان خطأ ينزعج. و كأنه يقول في نفسه " هؤلاء يطلبون مني شيئاً ما ، ليس لدي أي فكرة عنه ، سأعطيهم شيء أنا ايضاَ ربما بعد ذلك يتركوني و شأني " . من ناحية أخرى ، هو خائف من أن يكون أخطأ.
كنت أتحير دائماً عندما أرى الطلاب الحاصلين على أسوأ العلامات في الاختبار، هم أول من يُسلم ورقة الإجابة يوم الإختبار. كنت أقول لهم نصيحة المُعلم التقليدية" إذا كان لديك وقت، راجع ما كتبته. أعد حل بعض المسائل لتتأكد أن إجابتك صحيحة" . و لكن تعلمت بعد ذلك : عندما يعطيني ورقته ، فإن كل القلق والتوتر لديه يكونان قد انتهيا. قدره الآن بيد المعلم و ليس بيده هو. ربما ما يزال متوترًا و لكن هذا التوتر لن يفيده بشيء.
- تظاهر بأن تعرف كل شيء أو تظاهر بأنك غبي لا تعر ف شيئًا: تظاهر بأنك تعرف ، لأن المُعلم شغوف بسماع الإجابة الصحيحة ليتأكد أن طريقته جيدة و أنه معلم ناجح . إذن تظاهر أنك تعرف هذه الإجابة. ارفع يدك مع بقية الأطفال و كأنك على وشك أن تجيب. هز رأسك عندما تسمع الإجابة الصحيحة كتأكيد أن هذا ما كنت تريد قوله. غمغم بكلمات و كأنك على وشك أن تجيب، حينها سيكمل المُعلم ما تحاول أن تقوله و يجيب هو الإجابة الصحيحة و هنا تخرج أنت من منطقة الخطر و ستبدو كأنك أجبت. في مواقف أخرى، يمكنك التظاهر بعدم المعرفة ، الزم الصمت و هنا لن يسخر أحد من إجاباتك إذا كانت خاطئة و هذا أكثر أمانًا وراحةً . خمن و انظر :خمن الإجابة و راقب وجه المُعلم. غالباًستخبرك تعبيرات وجهه و ردة فعله على ما تقوله فيما إن كنت على صواب. في مواقف أخرى تظاهر بأن قدراتك ضعيفة و أنك لا تفهم فهذا سيُقلل من توقعات المُعلمين بالنسبة لك ،وعندها لن يطالبوك بشيء و لن يلوموك أو يعاقبوك على شيء. ذكر هولت حكايته مع طالبته التي لم تبد سعيدةً بدرجتها الجيدة في إختبار مفاجئ للكتابة وكأنها تقول " هو يعرف الآن أنني أقدر..ربما سيتوقع مني في كل مرة أنني سأحصل على علامة جيدة ، و يعاقبني عندما لا أستطيع". المشكلة هنا أن الإستمرار بهذا التظاهر لا يؤدي فقط إلى تقليل ما يتوقعه الكبار من الأطفال ، و لكن يقلل كثيراً مما يتوقعه الطفل من نفسه. فعندما تكون مُهيئأً للفشل لن يصيبك الإحباط. فكما يُقال " لن تسقط و أنت في القاع".
ما المشكلة أيضاً ؟ أن مقدار الخوف الذي يشعر به الطلاب في المدارس لا يُوصف ، خوف غير مُلاحظ ولا يهتم به أحد. من السهل أن تُلاحظ خوف الطفل أول يوم في المدرسة في إرتباطه بأمه و إلتصاقه بها. قد تلاحظ الخوف في البُكاء و لكن عندما يُصبح الخوف شيئًا طبيعيًا و يوميًا بالنسبة للأطفال ، فعليهم أن يتأقلموا و يتكيفوا معه مثل المحارب في الحرب غليه أن يتحكم في خوفه، فلا يدعه يسيطر عليه بل يتكيف معه. و لكن الفرق بين المحارب و الطفل أن هذاالخوف ينعكس بشكل هدام علي تعلمه و طريقة تفكيره.
الخوف من ماذا ؟ عندما سأل هولت يوماً طُلابه:’’ما شعوركم عندما اسألكم سؤالًا و لا يمكنكم الإجابة عنه‘‘ أجابوا ’’بالرعب‘‘ !!. الكلمة صدمته ، فهولت مُعلم رقيق ليس بالذي ينهر و يعلي صوته أو يضرب. ليس المقصود هنا الخوف من إرهاب المعلم للطفل بالصوت العالي أو الضرب، فالمدارس التي تحدث عنها هولت كانت من أفضل المدارس في ذلك الوقت. قد يكون الخوف مُتمثلًا في جملة مثل " أنت ولد متفوق يمكنك أن تفعل هذا..يمكنك أن تحل هذه المسألة... الواجب سهل ستنهيه في وقت قصير لأنك ذكي و شاطر" عندما لا يحقق الطفل هذه التوقعات، عندما يأخذ الواجب المدرسي وقتًا أكبر مما توقعناه له أو عندما لا يستطيع أن يحل المسألة التي أخبرناه أنها سهلة عندها يشعر بالخوف "ربما أنا غبي أو فاشل..ربما أنا أقل مما يتوقعه الكبار مني..يقولون أن المسألة سهلة و لكني وجدتها صعبة للغاية فأنا إذن لست ذكي كما يقولون عني" الخوف من أن تسأل المُعلمة سؤال فيرفع معظم الأفطفال أيديهم للإجابة و أنا لا أعرفه. الخوف أن أنسى الكتاب فأضطر أن أقف و أبرر ذلك .
النجاح و الفشل هي كلمات يفرضها الكبار على الصغار ، الطفل الصغير و هو يتعلم المشي لا ينظر مثلاً لوقوعه المتكرر على أنه فشل و لا يؤثر ذلك سلباً على محاولاته. هو ينظر لمحاولاته (الناجحة و الفاشلة) على أنها سلسلة من المحاولات، يستمتع بالفعل نفسه و ليس فقط بالوصول للهدف. فقط عندما يكون إرضاء الكبار هو الغاية يظهر هذا الخط الفاصل بين النجاح و الفشل.
لم لا يُلاحظ المُعلم كل هذا ؟ بالنسبة لمُعلم كل ما يربطه بالأطفال هو ال 40 أو 60 دقيقة التي سيمضيها معهم ، 20 طفل على الأقل أمامه و هو مدفوع بأهداف تعليمية يُريد أن يحققها و دائماً ما تكون هذه الأهداف هي الأولوية ،مقدمةً على أن يتعلم عن طلابه و منهم و معهم و أن يفهم إهتماماتهم ، ورغباتهم و ما يرغبون حقاً في تعلمه و كيف يمكنه كمعلم خلق بيئة تعلم مناسبة لذلك. فعندما عرف هولت عن إحدى طالباته أنها تحب الخيول، استطاع أن يساعدها في التغلب على مشكلة ضعفها في القراءة بأن وضع ��ين يديها كتبًا عن الخيول ، و كما توقع أحبت الطفلة الكتاب و دفعها ذلك الحب إلى التغلب على مشكلتها. مشكلتها في الأساس أنها كانت خائفة من أن تخفق في تعلم القراءة، و خائفة من لوم الكبار الذي سيلاحقها إن فشلت فعلاً.
الأسوأ أن يعتقد المعلم أنه فعلاً يفهم طلابه و لا يحتاج أن يتعلم عنهم، يُشبهه هولت برجل يسير في غابة ليلاً و معه كشاف . كلما سلط الضوء على أي حيوان انتبه و غير سلوكه ، و لم يعد يتصرف مثلما يتصرف في الظلام. فإذا كنت تنظر للطلاب فقط لتنظر إذا كانوا يقوموا بما تطلبه منهم فقط ، فأنت في النهاية لن تتعلم شيئاً عنهم أو منهم أو معهم و هذا هو الأهم.
May 21, 2024
This is not the first time I have read this book, not by a long shot. If the fossil record is to be trusted, I plucked it off the shelf in my family's library when I was still either in late grade school or junior high school. What an opportune time to read a book, originally written in the early Sixties, that castigated American education for being so disappointingly bad at its job.
I could have used that as an excuse. I almost did.
See, I wasn't a very good student for most of my K-12 time, and I knew it. Tempting as it was for "How Children Fail" to give me an excuse for that (see, it's all the school's fault!), it was more constructive to see how it gave me context (if you have these problems, this may be why they're not able to help much). And after I graduated and went on to college, where I did far better, that told me the venue had a lot to do with the problems I had. School wasn't a place where education happened, but where various other things were done in the name of educating, most of them having nothing to do with the subjects they claimed to be about.
But even while this is a key theme in Holt's book, it is not the biggest takeaway -- no more now than it was when I first encountered it as a student myself. The reason schools fail their students is not because they are existentially terrible places (again: too easy), but because many of our ideas about what education is, and how kids should learn, or what they should learn, are the products of prejudice or self-interest. They revolve more around our attachments to our ideas about such things, and less around observing how kids actually learn things and working with that.
Kids are not stupid, Holt argues. But we give them tons of incentives to act stupid, to abandon their intelligence, and to either let the adults take over or to just abdicate completely. We don't give them places to let their intelligence flourish, but instead construct environments where they end up playing elaborate social games with the teachers and each other.
Holt's book examines how these things manifest in what were, in his time, some of the most lavishly funded and highly pedigreed primary schools in the country. These classrooms were not the hellpits of Jonathan Kozol's "Death At An Early Age"; they were, in theory, the best on offer. And they still ended up being places where real learning was rare and sporadic, and often in spite of how things were structured. But here and there he offers answers, glimpses of how things could be and sometimes are better -- making spaces where children can investigate an idea for themselves, at their own rate, and then gradually turn that curiosity into things that are directly connected to their actual lived experience instead of injected clumsily into it.
A few years after this book came out, Professor Ken Macrorie wrote "Uptaught", his own examination of how higher education was also failing its students, and often for many of the same reasons. Even at the college or grad-school level, insults to the intelligence of the students persisted, and took other forms that were often not as easy to discern. And in that book, too, Macrorie suggested other possibilities existed. He left it to us, as Holt did, to enact them. Have we come very far at all since then?
I could have used that as an excuse. I almost did.
See, I wasn't a very good student for most of my K-12 time, and I knew it. Tempting as it was for "How Children Fail" to give me an excuse for that (see, it's all the school's fault!), it was more constructive to see how it gave me context (if you have these problems, this may be why they're not able to help much). And after I graduated and went on to college, where I did far better, that told me the venue had a lot to do with the problems I had. School wasn't a place where education happened, but where various other things were done in the name of educating, most of them having nothing to do with the subjects they claimed to be about.
But even while this is a key theme in Holt's book, it is not the biggest takeaway -- no more now than it was when I first encountered it as a student myself. The reason schools fail their students is not because they are existentially terrible places (again: too easy), but because many of our ideas about what education is, and how kids should learn, or what they should learn, are the products of prejudice or self-interest. They revolve more around our attachments to our ideas about such things, and less around observing how kids actually learn things and working with that.
Kids are not stupid, Holt argues. But we give them tons of incentives to act stupid, to abandon their intelligence, and to either let the adults take over or to just abdicate completely. We don't give them places to let their intelligence flourish, but instead construct environments where they end up playing elaborate social games with the teachers and each other.
Holt's book examines how these things manifest in what were, in his time, some of the most lavishly funded and highly pedigreed primary schools in the country. These classrooms were not the hellpits of Jonathan Kozol's "Death At An Early Age"; they were, in theory, the best on offer. And they still ended up being places where real learning was rare and sporadic, and often in spite of how things were structured. But here and there he offers answers, glimpses of how things could be and sometimes are better -- making spaces where children can investigate an idea for themselves, at their own rate, and then gradually turn that curiosity into things that are directly connected to their actual lived experience instead of injected clumsily into it.
A few years after this book came out, Professor Ken Macrorie wrote "Uptaught", his own examination of how higher education was also failing its students, and often for many of the same reasons. Even at the college or grad-school level, insults to the intelligence of the students persisted, and took other forms that were often not as easy to discern. And in that book, too, Macrorie suggested other possibilities existed. He left it to us, as Holt did, to enact them. Have we come very far at all since then?
December 27, 2020
John Holt has written this spectacular book and I cannot help but say I can relate to many of the things that he has noticed children do. This book reaches into the psychology of the confusingly clever child’s mind. John Holt perfectly summarizes the problem with education in schools throughout the whole history of schooling. He himself was a teacher who studied the behaviour of many children within classes he taught. A child, in one example from the book, reads the expressions from what the teacher’s face show and if the child says the slightest something wrong, the slightest something in the teachers face gives that away to the child and therefore he or she knows to correct it.
My favourite quotes from the book were:
Children do not need to be "taught" in order to learn; they will learn a great deal, and probably learn best, without being taught.
Children are enormously interested in our adult world and what we do there.
Children learn best when their learning is connected with an immediate and serious purpose.
My favourite quotes from the book were:
Children do not need to be "taught" in order to learn; they will learn a great deal, and probably learn best, without being taught.
Children are enormously interested in our adult world and what we do there.
Children learn best when their learning is connected with an immediate and serious purpose.
January 15, 2021
If there is a book that evrey adult in this earth should read it will be that one , it explain how awful schools are and what harm it does to the learner , if we want to solve that problem , the problem of the schools being more like jails , of school not being a place for a REAL LEARNING , we should first be AWARE of the problem and that it does exsist and it's not just children being stupid or teenagers being lazy , that there is a real issue with that system and that it should be changed , ofc it had changed through the years but unfortunately it did for the worst , we shouldn't change the branches but instead the ROOTS.
September 23, 2022
Brilliant book. The memo format makes it very digestible. The author clearly loved working with children, and it's hard not to feel connected with some of the kids by the end. Crazy to think that Barbara and Betty (two of my favs) are now senior citizens. The book gave me plenty to think about. It made me reflect on my own childhood, my experiences in school, and how I would educate children of my own. Reading the book reawakened in me the passion I feel for teaching, and left me fantasizing about designing and running my own school.
April 2, 2010
As my husband is a teacher by trade, he has read several books on children and education that he recommended I read. One of these is How Children Fail by John Holt. I found it to be profound and fascinating and recommend it to anyone who cares about what their children learn or education. (Plus at under 200 pages, it's a quick read.) John Holt was a teacher and this book is a collection of memos that he shared with other teachers and his administration. His memos were based on observations in teaching his own students and observing other teachers in their classrooms. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:
* The only answer that really sticks in a child's mind is the answer to a question that he asked or might ask of himself.
* Our aim must be to build soundly, and if this means that we must build more slowly, so be it. The work of the children themselves will tell us.
* The invention of the wheel was as big a step forward as the invention of the airplane—bigger, in fact... Above all, we will have to avoid the difficult temptation of showing slow students the wheel so that they may more quickly get to work on the airplanes...Knowledge that is not genuinely discovered by children will very likely prove useless and will soon be forgotten.
* There must be a way to educate young children so that the great human qualities that we know are in them may be developed. But we'll never do it as long as we are obsessed with tests...How can we foster a joyous, alert, whole-hearted participation in life, if we build all our schooling around the holiness of getting "right answers?"
* A child is most intelligent when...he cares most about what he is doing.
* When a child gets right answers by illegitimate means, and gets credit for knowing what he doesn't know, and knows he doesn't know, it does double harm. First, he doesn't learn, his confusions are not cleared up; secondly, he comes to believe that a combination of bluffing, guessing, mind reading, snatching at clues and getting answers from other people is what he is supposed to do at school; that this is what school is all about; that nothing else is possible.
* Kids really like to learn (they) just don't like being pushed around.
Throughout the book he talks a great deal about the use of fear to get children to learn. Fear is not an effective motivator. It may have immediate results, in that children grasp at whatever means possible to find the right answer, but they don't usually understand or retain the process this way. As he described the children he worked with and their various learning failures I thought back to a girl I had worked with during my psych rotation of nursing school. She started out as bright, smart, cheerful, healthy and happy. After a weekend visit to her father, she was found abandoned and huddled in a little ball. No one knows exactly what happened to her. They suspected some extreme abuse, but she never came out of the secret world that she had run away to. I observed her more than a dozen years after the incident and she was still rocking and hiding somewhere else, only emerging occasionally to scream. This is obviously an extreme example, but I think that it holds true. Children can become so crippled by fear and stress that they don't learn. Afraid of failure and disapproval they often hide away within themselves, away from the unpleasant stimulus that they can't bear.
Another method that he speaks against is tricks and formulas. I remember as a student being bothered by formulas. They didn't tell me why I was getting the answer I was getting. And when I would I ask why, my teachers would be annoyed and generally tell me in an exasperated manner, that's just the way it is. As a result I forgot most algebra as soon as I possibly could. No one could ever tell me where these answers were coming from, I was just manipulating numbers. The "right answers" were not relevant to me, so I didn't retain it.
This book makes me resolved to be a better teacher of my own children. I want them to love learning.
* The only answer that really sticks in a child's mind is the answer to a question that he asked or might ask of himself.
* Our aim must be to build soundly, and if this means that we must build more slowly, so be it. The work of the children themselves will tell us.
* The invention of the wheel was as big a step forward as the invention of the airplane—bigger, in fact... Above all, we will have to avoid the difficult temptation of showing slow students the wheel so that they may more quickly get to work on the airplanes...Knowledge that is not genuinely discovered by children will very likely prove useless and will soon be forgotten.
* There must be a way to educate young children so that the great human qualities that we know are in them may be developed. But we'll never do it as long as we are obsessed with tests...How can we foster a joyous, alert, whole-hearted participation in life, if we build all our schooling around the holiness of getting "right answers?"
* A child is most intelligent when...he cares most about what he is doing.
* When a child gets right answers by illegitimate means, and gets credit for knowing what he doesn't know, and knows he doesn't know, it does double harm. First, he doesn't learn, his confusions are not cleared up; secondly, he comes to believe that a combination of bluffing, guessing, mind reading, snatching at clues and getting answers from other people is what he is supposed to do at school; that this is what school is all about; that nothing else is possible.
* Kids really like to learn (they) just don't like being pushed around.
Throughout the book he talks a great deal about the use of fear to get children to learn. Fear is not an effective motivator. It may have immediate results, in that children grasp at whatever means possible to find the right answer, but they don't usually understand or retain the process this way. As he described the children he worked with and their various learning failures I thought back to a girl I had worked with during my psych rotation of nursing school. She started out as bright, smart, cheerful, healthy and happy. After a weekend visit to her father, she was found abandoned and huddled in a little ball. No one knows exactly what happened to her. They suspected some extreme abuse, but she never came out of the secret world that she had run away to. I observed her more than a dozen years after the incident and she was still rocking and hiding somewhere else, only emerging occasionally to scream. This is obviously an extreme example, but I think that it holds true. Children can become so crippled by fear and stress that they don't learn. Afraid of failure and disapproval they often hide away within themselves, away from the unpleasant stimulus that they can't bear.
Another method that he speaks against is tricks and formulas. I remember as a student being bothered by formulas. They didn't tell me why I was getting the answer I was getting. And when I would I ask why, my teachers would be annoyed and generally tell me in an exasperated manner, that's just the way it is. As a result I forgot most algebra as soon as I possibly could. No one could ever tell me where these answers were coming from, I was just manipulating numbers. The "right answers" were not relevant to me, so I didn't retain it.
This book makes me resolved to be a better teacher of my own children. I want them to love learning.
January 23, 2023
By the end of the book I realized that what makes it great are not the many (many) particular insights that Holt dishes out or his clear writing style that's for some reason associated with 1960s in my mind, but the fact that he loves children and cares about them: it shines through the whole book, overpowers his desire to accept that he is a great teacher instead of digging deeper and figuring out whether children have actually learned anything or just pretended to (included are lots of examples of children guessing a teacher's answer and the teacher is happy to believe them), whether whatever he taught changed a student's world model or was forgotten after the following test (pre-announced, of course, could you imagine giving an unexpected test on the whole college class so far: the prof would be eaten alive; what does it say about education?).
Come for the insights, stay for the excellent display of "caring so much that you can't fool yourself".
Come for the insights, stay for the excellent display of "caring so much that you can't fool yourself".
May 11, 2009
This book is a highly personal rumination on why so many schoolchildren have trouble absorbing and understanding the material being taught in school. The main focus is on the difference between the passion for learning readily observed in infants and the boredom, frustration, and rebellion against learning that is already manifest in students in the earlier grades. Through a series of memos that read almost like diary entries, Mr. Holt describes his observations of his own and other teachers' classrooms.
What impressed me most about this book was Mr. Holt's obvious passion for his subject matter. As a concerned teacher, he noticed a problem in his classroom and, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the problem did not make any sense to him. Accordingly, he threw all his powers of observation, reason, and empathy into trying to understand it. The result is a fascinating and unique book that seeks to understand, not through studies or "science" but rather through direct firsthand observation, what exactly is going on in the minds of kids.
The book makes a lot of good points and raises a lot of interesting questions about the nature of education and learning. To my mind, though, none of its conclusions were unquestionable, and more than once I found myself wondering if Mr. Holt's deeply felt empathy for the children he was observing caused him to focus too exclusively on the child's point of view. Also, he takes it for granted that the kind of keen desire to learn about the world found in infants would continue unchanged through adulthood if only adults would "get out of the way." This conclusion, though possible, seems to me unprovable in either the positive or the negative sense.
Still, I think everyone should read this book. The questions that an obviously concerned individual has about education deserve to be considered and answered, in one respect or another, in the minds of every citizen of a free country, all of whom have a vested interest in the process and results of the education of the young.
What impressed me most about this book was Mr. Holt's obvious passion for his subject matter. As a concerned teacher, he noticed a problem in his classroom and, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the problem did not make any sense to him. Accordingly, he threw all his powers of observation, reason, and empathy into trying to understand it. The result is a fascinating and unique book that seeks to understand, not through studies or "science" but rather through direct firsthand observation, what exactly is going on in the minds of kids.
The book makes a lot of good points and raises a lot of interesting questions about the nature of education and learning. To my mind, though, none of its conclusions were unquestionable, and more than once I found myself wondering if Mr. Holt's deeply felt empathy for the children he was observing caused him to focus too exclusively on the child's point of view. Also, he takes it for granted that the kind of keen desire to learn about the world found in infants would continue unchanged through adulthood if only adults would "get out of the way." This conclusion, though possible, seems to me unprovable in either the positive or the negative sense.
Still, I think everyone should read this book. The questions that an obviously concerned individual has about education deserve to be considered and answered, in one respect or another, in the minds of every citizen of a free country, all of whom have a vested interest in the process and results of the education of the young.
June 19, 2014
This wasnt the best book on self guided pedagogy i have read recently. it does, however, seem to be one of the standards, due to its early observations (mid '50s) on the destructive nature of institutional instruction's crippling effect on learning (and happiness). It wasnt the most scintillating read due to its focus on the author's math students and their struggles with basic math. Still, it was worthwhile to read Holt's process of unraveling each student's approach to the subject until he could understand how exactly they were approaching their work. He was more often than not horrified at what he found. The majority of students were conditioned to not work through understanding how number relationships actually worked, but how to spit out the right answer for the teacher's approval, as soon as possible. when this didnt work, they would revert to the next step of coping mechanisms, solidifying the damage.
We dont get too much in the way of wholesale recommendations for teaching approach until the final chapter of the book. I was somewhat surprised when Holt outlines how he doesnt think any subject matter should be forced on young people. This bedrock principle of self guided learning wasnt overstated in the body of the book, so i was happily taken aback that he would feature it in his summary.
Still, the book doesnt set out to explain how to educate, but rather, how not to. Good read.
We dont get too much in the way of wholesale recommendations for teaching approach until the final chapter of the book. I was somewhat surprised when Holt outlines how he doesnt think any subject matter should be forced on young people. This bedrock principle of self guided learning wasnt overstated in the body of the book, so i was happily taken aback that he would feature it in his summary.
Still, the book doesnt set out to explain how to educate, but rather, how not to. Good read.
March 29, 2009
Original copyright date: 1964. Holt's work rings just as true now as it did when I read it in the late 60's. As I read, I could see his warning about our current testing craze: "One ironical consequence of the drive for so-called higher standards in schools is that children are too busy to think...to a very great degree, school is a place where children learn to be stupid...our 'tell 'em and test 'em way of teaching leaves most students aware that their academic success rests on shaky foundations." Holt is passionate, a zealot. He talks about the difference between thinkers and producers...thinkers are comfortable with not knowing, with ambiguity. Producers, on the other hand, are driven by the need to produce the right answer...thinking optional. "Practically everything we do in schools tend to make children answer-centered...Schools aer a kind of temple of worship for 'right answers'" I see this play out with adult learners also...many of whom would have been educated during this time Holt's writing about.
His warnings are as fresh now as they were then. When will we have a politician who lets us truly educate students to become thinkers, to trust themselves, to take risks as they learn?
His warnings are as fresh now as they were then. When will we have a politician who lets us truly educate students to become thinkers, to trust themselves, to take risks as they learn?
May 13, 2014
While I don't agree with all of John Holt's ideas, his book definitely made me think. I wish I had read this back when I was starting out as a teacher because it gave me a different perspective on some of my struggling students. Some of the information is dated (such as his treatment of special needs students) but the general ideas are still applicable. And I think his statement that teachers take responsibility when students learn and blame students when they don't is still true in many classrooms. While students do need to do their part, I also think he is right that we need to meet them where they are, not where they should be, and I liked his real world examples straight from his classroom. Since the book is made up of memos he wrote while teaching, it really is exactly what he is doing--good and bad--as opposed to teaching books where it is just someone saying what they believe is good for a classroom. This set up also made it easy to pick up the book any time and just read a little or not even the whole thing.
December 22, 2015
Are you a learner? A teacher? Do you think you might like to teach?
READ THIS!
It will teach you as much or more than any college or grad course in pedagogy and in a much more enjoyable manner with more inspiration than any pedagogy professor I've ever encountered.
It is a true today as it was when it was written.
It is an easy read, without jargon.
As a young college student, I read a library copy and as soon as I could afford to, I purchased a copy and promised myself I would read it at least once a year while I taught and while I raised my children -I promise I kept.
(How Children Learn , What do I do Monday, and Mr. Holt's autobiography grace my book shelf as well. My only regret is that these are replacements for the first editions I happened to buy; the originals were loaned to a friend who forgot to return them before her family had to make a sudden move to Texas.)
Better than Dr. Spock as a guide to the psychology of parenting.
READ THIS!
It will teach you as much or more than any college or grad course in pedagogy and in a much more enjoyable manner with more inspiration than any pedagogy professor I've ever encountered.
It is a true today as it was when it was written.
It is an easy read, without jargon.
As a young college student, I read a library copy and as soon as I could afford to, I purchased a copy and promised myself I would read it at least once a year while I taught and while I raised my children -I promise I kept.
(How Children Learn , What do I do Monday, and Mr. Holt's autobiography grace my book shelf as well. My only regret is that these are replacements for the first editions I happened to buy; the originals were loaned to a friend who forgot to return them before her family had to make a sudden move to Texas.)
Better than Dr. Spock as a guide to the psychology of parenting.
August 23, 2018
Pretty interesting book about Holt's experiences in the classroom. I really liked the notebook-esque format as well as the later commentary. As I was thinking about my own frustrations with work at the time, this seemed to also be a useful book about company management.
A few takeaways:
- "children fail because they are afraid, confused, and bored:" this seems like a pretty helpful framework, not only for thinking about the circumstances in which children disengage, but also for thinking about how adults lose motivation.
- the idea of "producers" vs. "thinkers." I see "producer" behavior frequently, even among adults, where people freeze up and stop thinking when they feel pressure to give the right answer. I do think that framing it as behaviors instead of character traits might be more helpful.
- John Holt's journey from "how can I make school work for these kids?" to "School sucks, kids need to learn in self-directed ways" is fascinating to follow.
A few takeaways:
- "children fail because they are afraid, confused, and bored:" this seems like a pretty helpful framework, not only for thinking about the circumstances in which children disengage, but also for thinking about how adults lose motivation.
- the idea of "producers" vs. "thinkers." I see "producer" behavior frequently, even among adults, where people freeze up and stop thinking when they feel pressure to give the right answer. I do think that framing it as behaviors instead of character traits might be more helpful.
- John Holt's journey from "how can I make school work for these kids?" to "School sucks, kids need to learn in self-directed ways" is fascinating to follow.
June 21, 2012
I know, I know, five stars? for an educational classic? Yes, not only does it really deserve to be considered a classic in the sense that it is very thought provoking and could bear multiple readings, but unlike many classics (esp. in education!) it is a very engaging read. I find myself very drawn in by his style as much as anything and his compelling insights into the thinking and world of children. His observations are grounded in concrete examples as they happen (as all journaling will produce), but they have a philosophical weight that always extends beyond the immediate moment under contemplation to the larger questions of "How can I help these children learn?" and "what can we do to fix education?"
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