How Children Learn (Classics in Child Development)

偏差値ちゃうねん、教育ってそういうことじゃ無いねん、と考える人には勇気つけられる内容が書いてあると思います。平易な文体なので英検準一級くらいあれば問題なく読めるのでは無いかと思います。

This is a must must read for all parents and educators.

almost a philosophical book on childhood. I loved it! it shows in a very easy way how children love to learn, without the need to teach them. they learn because they are human and are eager to learn. as simple as that. if you love childhood and want to understand it better, buy it!

I picked up this book from Amazon because I am planning on homeschooling my children. Without going any further in my review, I want it to be known that this book has revolutionized my thinking on children and education. I always had a strong negative reaction to what's known as "the dicovery method," even as we were constantly presented with it in required classes for my education minor. My mind was truly opened as he explained case after case of how children really benefit, and in fact NEED, time to "mess about," as he is fond of calling it. Another thing that really struck me was how he explained the process of learning. Children are constantly in a state of testing what they know, but this process isn't necessarily linear. They are in a sort of state of uncertainty at almost all times. It takes a lot of testing to really know something, but once they know it, they know it. Forcing it into them by rote (or when they aren't interested in it or have not discovered it for themselves) is counterproductive. One of the things that I loved about this book is that it had lots of real-world examples of parents and educators putting this into practice, and then Mr. Holt would comment on these examples. I am very much more eager to learn as much as I can about "unschooling" now than I ever was. This book I will credit in years to come with changing my mind about "unschooling" (even though that term is not really used). This approach is different than anything I have seen (or maybe it has just given me a new perspective.) I could go on and on about the things I learned from this book. There were so many things in this book that I was inspired to do. In particular, he talks a lot about children writing on their own. They may just make scribbles, but to them they are writing something important. This is better than forcing them to write something in a certain way perfectly. They are exploring and learning. (It is ok for them to "mess about".) So today is my youngest daughter's birthday, and I asked my oldest daughter to write a card for her sister. She knows how to write some letters, but she mostly wrote lines of scribbles. But she pointed out that the piece of paper I gave her was too small to be a card, so I folded it like a greeting card. Then when she was finished, she wanted to "mail" it to her sister. I got an envelope and I asked her to write her sister's name. (I told her how to spell it, and she got most of the letters correct - writing the "e" backwards.) Then she wanted to "stamp" it, so I got her a square shaped sticker. She seemed to know approximately where to put it. She put it in the top right hand corner, but I was actually surprised. Then she had to put it in the "mailbox." She didn't ask to take it outside to the real mailbox, so we hunted for a spot around the house. I put it on the counter under my computer, and she said, "She won't be able to reach that." Then I moved it to a low shelf. She called her sister over, telling her she had mail. Then she "read" the note to her sister. Very little of this process was directed by me. I was so thrilled by this since it is so similar to stories throughout the book. If John Holt were alive, I would fangirl out and attend any lecture, book signing, or appearance of his. I have several more of his books, and I have bumped them up on my TBR list. I would highly recommend this book to anyone - parent, educator, HUMAN - who wants to understand children and learning better.

Haven't read the entire book quite yet but wanted to get my thoughts out already. So this is a pre-emptive 5 stars but it already deserves it so take it for what it is. The basic concepts behind what John Holt is explaining in the book are very different from what most people consider the "right" way of parenting. His section early on about how so many parents pay thousands of dollars for their kids to go to school but yell and scream at them if they happen to break something in a store worth just a few dollars. Let your kids experience the world. They're curious. Having my first child this year and will absolutely be putting what John Holt speaks about in this book to practice. Highly recommended for all parents and parents-to-be.

John Holt's classic has been around and pertinent for many many years ..... This is one of my foundational books that was a guide for me as a teacher of 28 years. Holt's classic HOW CHILDREN FAIL is equally as compelling and eye opening a classic. I was fortunate enough to study with an academic Child Developmental Professor who considered his work revolutionary over 20 years ago. As I developed my own teaching style and continued broadening and challenging the newest and greatest flavor of teaching over my career.... The concepts and the methods in this book and its sister book remainded the cornerstone of my own professional success...HOW CHILDREN LEARN AND HOW CHILDREN FAIL should be a gift to every teacher upon hiring. It is a timeless gift to all parents and teachers.