{"id":8321,"date":"2014-11-11T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T11:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/?p=8321"},"modified":"2016-09-07T19:30:40","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T00:30:40","slug":"reading-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crumbbums.com\/?p=8321","title":{"rendered":"Reading…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Free to Learn<\/a>, by Peter Gray<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you read this book? I’m only halfway through, but it’s really gotten to me. Maybe it is because my children are just now entering official school, but I have become quite preoccupied with the institutionalization of education. This book, by developmental psychologist Peter Gray, uncovers the complex problems of “imprisonment schooling,” where we expect children to forgo play in exchange for indoctrination. He takes the standpoint that children are naturally curious, playful, and social, and that they come into the world “burning to learn,” with energy and passion for mastering skills they will need as adults.<\/p>\n

I know this sounds extreme, and it is. But our schools are failing all over the country, and instead of taking a close look at the entire institution and the way it is set up, we are going in the wrong direction: opting for\u00a0more\u00a0<\/em>testing,\u00a0longer\u00a0<\/em>school hours,\u00a0longer\u00a0<\/em>school years,\u00a0<\/i>when in fact what our children may need more than anything is just time to be… children.<\/p>\n

If you have 15 minutes and are interested, watch his TED talk below. It left me shouting “YES! YES! I agree! I see this!” and feeling an aching in my chest because, “yes, yes, I agree to this and it is so wrong that this is happening to our children…”<\/em><\/p>\n