Freedom to Learn

Ah! I'm in love again! This time with this man. His name is Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College and a specialist in developmental and evolutionary psychology. One of my readers, Allison, pointed me to his new blog (as of last month) in one of her comments.

In his first post, he writes:

Everywhere we turn these days we find pundits and politicians arguing for more restrictive schooling. Of course they don’t use the word “restrictive,” but that’s what it amounts to. They want more standardized tests, more homework, more supervision, longer school days, longer school years, more sanctions against children’s taking a day or two off for a family vacation. This is one realm in which politicians from both of the major parties, at every level of government, seem to agree. More schooling or more rigorous schooling is better than less schooling or less rigorous schooling.

Then he goes on to say:

Whatever happened to the idea that children learn through their own free play and exploration? Every serious psychological theory of learning, from Piaget’s on, posits that learning is an active process controlled by the learner, motivated by curiosity. Educators everywhere give lip service to those theories, but then go ahead and create schools that prevent self-guided play and exploration. Every one of us knows, if we stop to think about it, that the most valuable lessons we have learned are not what we “learned in kindergarten,” nor what we learned in courses later on. They are, instead, the lessons that we learned when we allowed ourselves the luxury of following through on our own interests and our own drives to play, fully and deeply. Through those means we acquired skills, values, ideas, and information that will stay with us for life, not just for the next test. And, perhaps most important, we discovered what we most enjoy, which is the first step in finding a satisfying career.

His other posts that follow are just as refreshing and invigorating. He digs into the subject of education as if I had written the exact words myself (only if I were as smart or articulate as he is.) Man, it feels good to see my thoughts and feelings in words written by someone else. And the blog is named "Freedom to Learn." How can I not love it?

Be sure to bookmark it and check it often.

I wish there was a way to get all of their (the ones I fall in love with) brains together and make something happen. I mean, really turn things upside down...