I discovered him when a college professor told me I might find his work interesting. I did and shortly after I pulled my first son out of public school when he was in 2nd grade. Thank you John for giving me a 2nd chance to give my son his childhood back.
I fell in love with John Holt when I was a kid myself - age twelve in 1970. I devoured "How Children Learn" and "How Children Fail" and fervently wished that my education was not a term of imprisonment. I never got that wish. It's very sad that he didn't live much longer than he did as I feel that the sensibility that he pioneered would have been much more influential today.
@@leslieam9808 If that is true, perhaps you should reference somewhere where he makes such statements, rather than making accusations with no reference in comments? Also, if it is true (no evidence as yet) does that mean he can't be right or have insights in other ways?
I wish John Taylor Gatto and John Holt were still alive. It's up to us out of boxers to help carry the legacy of this thinking in education. It's tough to go against the mainstream thought of education, but, it's the homeschoolers, independent small schools such as Sudbury, Free schools, and newly rising Alliance of Self-directed education online and in-person unschool programs that will help keep the tyranny at bay. Rock on, John! Please come and be reborn now if you haven't been already. LOL.
I love explanation for why homeschooling parents find it easy and enjoyable to do it - they love being around their children and watching them learn. See video at 15:00.
I am with you there. If you like John Holt's thinking try reading Frog and Taod stories written by Arnold Lobel, who had the same appreciation of the genius for discovery that young minds have, much as did John Holt. Frog and Toad stories are loved by children who 'get' the epistemological and ontological issues that confront the main characters in so many amusing and thought-provoking ways. I wonder if Arnold Lobel and John Holt ever met?
The things I am good at doing, I Enjoy, Understand and Practice (Play Guitar well enough to be in a Semi-Pro Soul Band; Draw, Paint and Design things; Build Structures using Cement, Steel and Timber, Look After My Grandchild).... exactly as John Holt could have predicted in his book 'How Children Fail' (1958). The things I am bad at I Dislike, Fail to Understand and Don't Practice (eg Country Dancing, Ironing Clothes, Form-Filling, Memorising Lists). With the exception of good English Teachers and a wonderful hands of Physics Teacher I loathed school and school loathed me. It was great to leave school. And yet by happy chances I went to university, gained a degree and a PhD and did OK in Higher Education.... where alas I see the same creeping mechanisation of 'learning' now also taking place in Universities as haunted my School years. Holt's struggle is being lost not won, but I will remain on his side 'till my dying breath.
I am surprised at how many in the Unschooling/home ed community don't know who he is or about Growing Without Schooling. Mostly only know of Sandra Dodd or Dayna Martin. No disrespect on them, but one cannot understand this movement without knowing of John Holt and others during this time.
I also wondered about that. But after having joined several facebook groups I now have the impression that home schooling is mainly a business model and a way to sell the same bad textbooks as kids are forced to use in school. Similar what a plant based diet is to the fake meat products isle in the supermarket.
I read three of John Holt's books as a trainee teacher. I do not know we covered John Holt because it was the opposite of what the British Government wanted to do. I realised that a person with my social outlook had no business wanting to teach.
I really wonder whether John Holt ever met John Taylor Gatto. His off the cuff comments are expanded substantially in The Underground History of American Education by Gatto.
John Holt died in 1985 and John Gatto didn't write his first book until the early 1990s. John Gatto spoke at several Growing Without Schooling conferences we put on over the years and supports unschooling.
@@zygmuntthecacaokakistocrat6589 Given that JTG references John Holt in his discussions, (which is where I heard of JH , and the reason I youtubed him) --- and I suspect probably notes him in written references, and given JTG seems to have been insanely well-read, I would say you are probably right.
I wonder if reading and writing was more prevalent as there was less distractions. Children that get a chance to be bored also have a chance to become focused on interests, rather than addicted to social media, gaming ect.
Han, People were worried that children were getting addicted to TV instead of reading back then; some fears adults have about the young never seem to change. I agree that children should figure out how to not be bored on their own but I think it is more social pressure to use social media, etc. than the technology itself that causes the problems.
@@Johnholtgws and look at us now, in a pandemic, remote learning through video conferencing apps on smart devices (e.g., Chromebooks, iPads, laptops) which are government issued "educational technologies" and surveillance devices (i.e., schools monitor children without their or their parents knowledge, and we know this because several gave been caught spying through the cameras and microphones, monitoring what websites you visit, et cetera) that you as a parent must tolerate in your home, tracking your child [everywhere they take their assigned “learning” device.] Edit: Those last seven words in brackets. Also, a little history on the D.A.R.E. program: Most teachers and school officials involved in the D.A.R.E program have no idea what the system is compelling them to do with this program; that being: they are teaching the children not only to use, and abuse, drugs, but also they are making the child become a part of the Corporate U.S. system of using the schools to police the parents. These remote learning devices destroy our reasonable expectations of privacy in our own home.
@@averat84this whole arms race to build the best AI is really a race to build the best surveillance system, in my opinion. An entity that can read and listen to everyone and everything, know the sentiment, meaning and implications…
7:32 I am with John Holt here. What can I do? I‘ve spent the last 4 years in reclusion, with growing disgust for what’s going on, and have lost all hope. What could safe me?
John suggested that we get out of our homes, classrooms, and other social silos and start interacting with one another, young and old, to create the social situations we desire. Instead of Education is a book by John that describes why and how this can happen, and it helped spark the homeschooling movement in 1976.
dentonet2 I edited out a couple of long pauses where John is being asked questions and you can't hear the question clearly in the recording. Also, the original is an unedited tape and I believe some gaps are from the camera being turned on and off while it was being filmed. Clearly, it ends abruptly and I hope someone will find the missing footage. I've scoured my home and office to no avail.
