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His Passion for Education and Learning is Palpable

Customer Rating:

This book by John Holt is one of the more idealistic works on education in the last 50 years or so. He accurately represents the problems facing modern education and has harsh words for its supporters. But his solutions for solving the problems seem very naive. It places a lot of trust in humanity's thirst for learning. The truth is, we are naturally inquisitive, but also naturally lazy. Even Augustine, one of the greatest thinkers of the ancient world, admits in his Confessions that he would rather have been playing sports and chasing girls than learning. Also, having taught the great books to middle and high schoolers, I found that you can try to create the most open learning environment possible, but if the home environment these students are coming from is adversarial to learning, you will always have an uphill battle. Finally, I disagree somewhat with his overall purpose of education. He states that it is to help us do things better. Huh? I don't know about you, but utilitarianism is not at the root of my love for learning. So the subtitle of the book just does not resonate with me. All in all, this was an inspiring, idealistic book on education. I think it deserves a prominent place in the school reform dialogue. It helped me tremendously when I did research for my podcast, Chrisian With A Brain. In an episode titled, Why Do We Value Education?, Holt's perspective gave me much fodder for discussion.

Holt great as usual

Customer Rating:

It's the sixth book of Holt I have read so far and probably the most syntetic; he outlines not only the problems but also the solutions. He has no mercy for knowing-better educators, T-eachers working not FOR, but ON students, S-chools full of fear and anxiety and humiliation, coercion, mindlessness, forced learning, carrot-and-stick attitude; and great appreciation for sensitive, competent t-eachers that are models themselves, self-directed do-ers and s-chools that are not compulsory and help their students to thing better on their own terms. Holt's radical vision is very clear, very understandable; his solutions so natural that they seem to be inevitable and not radical at all. His ability to deconstruct the mechanisms of human learning and expose the hidden curriculum of public schools and social system we live in is outstanding. The book is worth every minute you spend on reading.

New views on Education	Customer Rating:
John Holt puts to the read a new perspective on what education really involves. He talks about a self-directed learning process that makes a lot of sense.

A seminal contribution to education policy discussions

Customer Rating:

Instead Of Education: Ways To Help People Do Things Better by alternative education advocate John Holt (author of the 1964 book How Children Fail) is an iconoclastic and seminal work presenting a persuasively argued case for "un-schooling" from traditional classroom structures and curriculum fare, to innovative, self-directed learning as the basis for a truly creative life. A direct challenge to the complacency of today's educational status quo (even in this political age of "no child left behind" and school voucher proposals), Instead Of Education should be required reading in every Teacher's College, District School Board, and governmental education policy development office whether it be federal, state, or local. Instead Of Education is a significant and seminal contribution to education policy discussions and commended to the attention of education reform activists at all levels and from all perspectives.