How Children Fail - Read Jim Fulner

English language

Published Sept. 4, 1995

ISBN:: 978-0-201-48402-1

How Children Fail is a non-fiction book by John Holt that was published in 1964 and republished in 1982 in a revised edition. It has sold over a million copies. In it, he cites personal teaching and research experiences that led him to the belief that traditional schooling does more harm than good to a child's ability and desire to truly learn.

1 edition

JIm FUlner reviewed How Children Fail by John Caldwell Holt

4 stars

Holt's first book Is primarily a collection of his notes from his early years at teaching, primarily at the Colorado Mountain School. A private school for rich "progressives."returnreturnThe copy I read was a later re-issue. It was certainly a different way of doing an updated revision. Normally when I read such its the exact same book with only a few paragraphs re-edited due to some new information, or updated references, since the original publishing. However This one kept the entire original in tact and the added additional commentary where the author had changed his mind since the original publishing, marked as such. I'm not clear if I really liked that or not, but it certainly made for a significantly longer book. returnreturnHolt argues that children fail because school is set up in a way that most kids are too afraid to actually learn. They need or want the right answer, …

Holt's first book Is primarily a collection of his notes from his early years at teaching, primarily at the Colorado Mountain School. A private school for rich "progressives."returnreturnThe copy I read was a later re-issue. It was certainly a different way of doing an updated revision. Normally when I read such its the exact same book with only a few paragraphs re-edited due to some new information, or updated references, since the original publishing. However This one kept the entire original in tact and the added additional commentary where the author had changed his mind since the original publishing, marked as such. I'm not clear if I really liked that or not, but it certainly made for a significantly longer book. returnreturnHolt argues that children fail because school is set up in a way that most kids are too afraid to actually learn. They need or want the right answer, but cramming for tests only ensures they don't actually know what they are being taught. returnreturnI lot of focus on math and the wildly disconnected "ideas" children have about it.