One of the mysteries of life for me is why we have designed school in such a way that it requires children to do so many things which are very hard for them - and which become much easier in adulthood.
Naomi, I think your question becomes even more important when we look at what has happened in Early Years.
Historically, the education system emerged during industrialisation and was primarily designed for children from around five years onwards. It was built to deliver literacy, numeracy, and social conformity at scale.
Today, however, we have extended many of the same assumptions into the EYFS, which in England covers children from birth to five years of age.
That should concern us.
A three-month-old baby, a two-year-old toddler, and a four-year-old child are not simply younger versions of school pupils. They are passing through some of the most important developmental periods in human life. Their brains are not primarily experience-dependent. They are experience-expectant. They are still building the cognitive architecture upon which later learning depends.
I often think of this as the difference between making a metal box and making a wooden box.
To make a metal box, we use heat, flames, molten metal, pressure, hammers, and force. Metal tolerates these processes. Indeed, it is shaped by them.
But if we apply the same manufacturing process to a wooden box, we do not get a better wooden box.
We get splinters.
We get cracks.
We get burn marks.
We get broken boxes.
The tragedy is that we increasingly interpret the damage as evidence that something is wrong with the box.
Perhaps the child is not the problem.
Perhaps we have imported educational processes designed for mature, experience-dependent learners into a developmental stage where movement, play, attachment, co-regulation, exploration, and curiosity are the primary mechanisms of learning.
The question is not why so many children struggle.
The question is why we continue to use the wrong manufacturing process and then act surprised by the outcome.
My older son turns 9 tomorrow. He loved school until Year 2. He’s slowly become more convinced he can’t keep up with everything on the whiteboard. Now he’s in Year 4 & told me doesn’t like staring at the whiteboard. I took him for an eye test. He told me his eyes were fine. He just doesn’t like school anymore.
I love this: Children aren’t built to sit still and absorb information. They are built to keep moving and playing. To hang upside down and climb on the roof. To dream and shout and talk all the time.
Always a joy to read your unique articles. I'm starting to enjoy the journey of unschooling and trying to get some guidance from your courses and webinars, though I must confess the transition is giving me a hard blow of the mind since the decision has always been difficult to take but the kids can say No in our house💕
I would assume you would be the first one to demonstrate for us how that’s done for say 10 years. You can demonstrate your new theory of what should be done and how. Oh wait, you have no real ideas, just a criticism. What a surprise.
You may criticize anything you wish but just criticism is just wind but that’s the problem with internet communications. No back ground(I could be an ogre), which school in what particular school are we talking about. There ate something on the order of 2000 school districts in the US. There are a wide variety of teaching methods and teacher and students. A general statement can be made but it effects nothing. If you have an idea you can share it with your opinion, otherwise no one takes it seriously.
No mystery, although I think your question is rhetorical ;) School is the first step in the capitalist economy, which requires conformity and control.
Brilliant (As always).🙏🏻
Spot on. Love this.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Yerrrrrp!
Naomi, I think your question becomes even more important when we look at what has happened in Early Years.
Historically, the education system emerged during industrialisation and was primarily designed for children from around five years onwards. It was built to deliver literacy, numeracy, and social conformity at scale.
Today, however, we have extended many of the same assumptions into the EYFS, which in England covers children from birth to five years of age.
That should concern us.
A three-month-old baby, a two-year-old toddler, and a four-year-old child are not simply younger versions of school pupils. They are passing through some of the most important developmental periods in human life. Their brains are not primarily experience-dependent. They are experience-expectant. They are still building the cognitive architecture upon which later learning depends.
I often think of this as the difference between making a metal box and making a wooden box.
To make a metal box, we use heat, flames, molten metal, pressure, hammers, and force. Metal tolerates these processes. Indeed, it is shaped by them.
But if we apply the same manufacturing process to a wooden box, we do not get a better wooden box.
We get splinters.
We get cracks.
We get burn marks.
We get broken boxes.
The tragedy is that we increasingly interpret the damage as evidence that something is wrong with the box.
Perhaps the child is not the problem.
Perhaps we have imported educational processes designed for mature, experience-dependent learners into a developmental stage where movement, play, attachment, co-regulation, exploration, and curiosity are the primary mechanisms of learning.
The question is not why so many children struggle.
The question is why we continue to use the wrong manufacturing process and then act surprised by the outcome.
You just described my life.
My older son turns 9 tomorrow. He loved school until Year 2. He’s slowly become more convinced he can’t keep up with everything on the whiteboard. Now he’s in Year 4 & told me doesn’t like staring at the whiteboard. I took him for an eye test. He told me his eyes were fine. He just doesn’t like school anymore.
Completely agree
I love this: Children aren’t built to sit still and absorb information. They are built to keep moving and playing. To hang upside down and climb on the roof. To dream and shout and talk all the time.
Always a joy to read your unique articles. I'm starting to enjoy the journey of unschooling and trying to get some guidance from your courses and webinars, though I must confess the transition is giving me a hard blow of the mind since the decision has always been difficult to take but the kids can say No in our house💕
I would assume you would be the first one to demonstrate for us how that’s done for say 10 years. You can demonstrate your new theory of what should be done and how. Oh wait, you have no real ideas, just a criticism. What a surprise.
Just because someone doesn’t have ideas (and who is to say the author doesn’t anyway?) doesn’t mean you can’t criticise a system.
You may criticize anything you wish but just criticism is just wind but that’s the problem with internet communications. No back ground(I could be an ogre), which school in what particular school are we talking about. There ate something on the order of 2000 school districts in the US. There are a wide variety of teaching methods and teacher and students. A general statement can be made but it effects nothing. If you have an idea you can share it with your opinion, otherwise no one takes it seriously.
Spot on!!