On The Underachieving School Again

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Each of us should have favourite books written by different favourite authors. I also have some. Currently, I revisit a book by John Holt which is The Underachieving School. It is indeed true that every time in which we revisit books we will find something new. It may not be something new, but maybe that every time when we read it, we interpret it quite differently (our brain grows and changes everyday). Nevertheless, we might find something which we may have overlooked the first time we read!

Favourite quote for the time being:

One of the things that are so wrong with school is that most of the words children hear there carry no nonverbal meaning whatever, and so add nothing to their real understanding. Instead they only confuse them, or worse yet, encourage them to feel that if they can talk glibly about something, it means that they understand it.(p. 18)  

You know who your enemy is. But most of the harm that is done to children in schools they can't and don't resist, because they don't know what is being done to them or who is doing it because they don't know what is being done to them or who is doing it, or because, if they do know, they think it is being done by kindly people for they own good. (p.23)

What this boils down to is, are we trying to raise sheep - timid, docile, easily driven or led - or free men? If what we want is sheep, our schools are perfect as they are. If what we want is free men, we'd better start making some big changes (p.34)

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