Unschooling Quotes

"There is no difference between living and learning... it is impossible and misleading and harmful to think of them as being separate.” ~ John Holt

“When you teach a child something you take away forever his chance of discovering it for himself.” ~ Jean Piaget


“Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with school or college.” ~ Lillian Smith


"Ask questions to find out something about the world itself, not to find out whether or not someone knows it." ~ John Holt


“As far as I have seen, at school...they aimed at blotting out one's individuality.” ~ Franz Kafka


“School presents daily exercises in dis-association. It forces unwelcome associations on most of its prisoners. It sets petty, meaningless competitions in motion on a daily basis, pitting potential associates against one another in contests for praise and other worthless prizes.” ~ John Taylor Gatto


"Children are born passionately eager to make as much sense as they can of things around them. If we attempt to control, manipulate, or divert this process...the independent scientist in the child disappears."  ~ John Holt


"Everything I am interested in, from cooking to electronics, is related to math. In real life you don’t have to worry about integrating math into other subjects. In real life, math already is integrated into everything else." ~ Anna Hoffstrom


“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” ~ Pablo Picasso

“Where is the wisdom lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge lost in information?” ~ T. S. Eliot


“If you don’t make mistakes, you aren’t really trying.” ~ Coleman Hawkins

“Creative work and critical thought, which produces new knowledge, can’t be conditioned; indeed, conditioning prevents these things from ever happening.” ~ John Taylor Gatto

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” ~ Albert Einstein

"Teaching does not make learning…organized education operates on the assumption that children learn only when and only what and only because we teach them. This is not true. It is very close to 100% false. Learners make learning.” ~ John Holt

"Children don’t need to be taught how to learn; they are born learners. They come out of the womb interacting with and exploring their surroundings. Babies are active learners, their burning curiosity motivating them to learn how the world works. And if they are given a safe, supportive environment, they will continue to learn hungrily and naturally – in the manner and at the speed that suits them best." ~ Wendy Priesnitz

2 comments: