Instead of Education: Ways to Help People do Things Better. This item is unavailable.Instead of Education: Ways to Help People do Things Better

Holt's emphasis on solutions distinguishes this book from others that are critical of our failing educational system. The book is packed with ideas about and examples of creating learning opportunities and environments outside the established educational structure. Holt's ideas are as fresh and relevant as they ever were -- in fact, more so now, as our educational system has only grown worse in the years since this book was written. He firmly believes in learning by doing, and makes the point that schools stifle children's creativity and individuality. He describes actual non-compulsory schools, learning centres, and informal learning arrangements in action. Reading this brilliant educator revolutionises our thinking about what schooling is for and what we can do to accomplish its true goals.

John Holt was a fifth grade teacher who worked in private schools. In 1964, his book "How Children Fail" created an uproar with his observations that forcing children to learn makes them unnaturally self-conscious about learning and stifles children's initiative and creativity by making them focus on how to please the teachers and the schools with the answers they will reward best. His subsequent book, "How Children Learn" (1967), also became widely known. The two are still in print and together they have sold over a million and a half copies and have been translated into over 14 languages.