Quote of the day: we like to learn...

One of my favorite pieces of advice about education is encapsulated in John Holt's simple philosophy:

"Basically... the human animal is a learning animal; we like to learn; we are good at it; we don't need to be shown how or made to do it. What kills the processes are the people interfering with it or trying to regulate it or control it."

Holt was an educator who worked within the education system and hoped for many years it could be improved but eventually decided it was so dysfunctional it could not be fixed and became an advocate of home schooling. He also came to the conclusion that the main reason children don't learn in schools is fear - fear of failing, fear of being laughed at, fear of not being able to tackle the tasks set by teachers, fear of not being good enough, fear of being teased by teachers and fellow pupils.