“This idea that children won't learn without outside rewards and penalties, or in the debased jargon of the behaviorists, "positive and negative reinforcements," usually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we treat children long enough as if that were true, they… — John Holt Copy Share Image
“When children are very young, they have natural curiosities about the world and explore them, trying diligently to figure out what is real. As… — John Holt Copy Share Image
The idea of painless, nonthreatening coercion is an illusion. Fear is the inseparable companion of coercion, and its inescapable consequence. If you think it… — John Holt Copy Share Image
“Fear, boredom, and resistance--they all go to make what we call stupid children.” — John Holt Copy Share Image
Schools assume that children are not interested in learning and are not much good at it, that they will not learn unless made to,… — John Holt Copy Share Image
“John, if you ever get a family, there’s one thing you should know. No matter how well you get along with your children when… — John Holt Copy Share Image
It is hard not to feel that there must be something very wrong with much of what we do in school, if we feel… — John Holt Copy Share Image
“Why do they do this? Because it gives them a license to act like tyrants and to feel like saints. “Do what I tell… — John Holt Copy Share Image
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,… — John Holt Copy Share Image
“Leaders are not, as we are often led to think, people who go along with huge crowds following them. Leaders are people who go… — John Holt Copy Share Image
People should be free to find or make for themselves the kinds of educational experience they want their children to have. — John Holt Copy Share Image
“Someone asked the other day, "Why do we go to school?" Pat, with vigor unusual in her, said, "So when we grow up we… — John Holt Copy Share Image
“I doubt very much if it is possible to teach anyone to understand anything, that is to say, to see how various parts of… — John Holt Copy Share Image
