Free to Learn

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

#7days7books That Had an Impact on Me - Day 7
#PeterGray #FreetoLearn #education

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

pick

This is a must read for every parent, caregiver, and educator in the western world.
If you do not believe the planet is older than 4K years, you don‘t believe in evolution, or you genuinely believe your children were born bad and have to be taught to be good, this book is NOT for you.
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

GingerAntics Everyone else, this is a wonderfully insightful book about how as a society we are absolutely failing to prepare our children for any of the things adults demand of them and how we can do a better job. It shows a clear path to less bullying and more learning. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 5y

GingerAntics The chapter on age mixed groups was probably my favourite. Like he said, a lot of it is really obvious, but I would add that a lot of it is also ignored or written off as unimportant these days. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 5y

GingerAntics I really liked the chapter of history, too. It‘s very eye opening about the true origins of our modern education system and that alone, I believe, should motivate a lot of change (especially in societies that value a separation of church and state). #PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education (edited) 5y

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Izai.Amorim Are there people on Litsy who don't believe the Earth is millions of years old? Holy shit! 😂I thought that reading would be a cure for ignorance... IMO Education is also failing because the emphasis is on employability, skills, etc, not character development. 5y

GingerAntics @Izai.Amorim not sure, but you never know. It‘s funny, the book rarely mentions that as well. Apparently even young children‘s parents are often focused on resume building, but by doing that their children end up LESS prepared for the job market. By letting them play and be more relaxed, they‘re actually better prepared for the uncertain job markets they will eventually face. 5y

RavenLovelyReads Quick question- can you recommend a book for me? I want to learn about Irish history, and I trust your opinion 💕💕 I need a good Irish history 101 🤓 5y

GingerAntics @RavenLovelyReads I actually haven‘t read many Irish history overviews, but I would recommend The Story of Ireland from what I have read. It has a few issues, but it‘s well written and doesn‘t wax poetic for one side or the other.

The Story of Ireland: A History of the Irish People

RavenLovelyReads @GingerAntics Thanks!!! I‘ll check it out!! 5y

Bookwomble @Izai.Amorim Reading is only a cure for ignorance of you're not reading ignorant books 😀 5y

Izai.Amorim @Bookwomble you‘re completely right. As they say in the software business, “garbage in, garbage out.” 😂 But Since I‘ve never seen anyone talking about stupid books here on Litsy, I found the disclaimer funny. But as @GingerAntics said, you never know... 5y

GingerAntics @Bookwomble @Izai.Amorim to be honest, I write one review in my reading journal, then post it both to Apple Books and Litsy, so that disclaimer is less for Litsy and more for Apple Books, really. I thought of leaving it out, but then I thought “hey, you never know who‘s going to stumble upon this at some point.” 🤷🏼‍♀️ 5y

Izai.Amorim @GingerAntics now that Litsy is online as website, the answer is: anyone! It‘s not the walled garden it used to be. 5y

GingerAntics @Izai.Amorim right? It‘s nice to be able to access it from the computer, but I fear it will also change things. 5y

Izai.Amorim @GingerAntics To me it has already changed. I think three times before I post anything. You‘re not talking to friends anymore, you‘re broadcasting to the world. Like on GoodReads or LibraryThing. The intimacy that made Litsy special, is gone. RIP. 5y

GingerAntics @Izai.Amorim that‘s true. I left GR because of the BS and the drama and because I can‘t stand Amazon. I really hope I don‘t end up having to leave Litsy. 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Think of how much better we could pay our teachers if we only needed HALF the budget to educate the children in schools, and the kids ended up way better prepared for life than they are now.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

AshleyHoss820 But that would be...downright logical! We can‘t have that! *flips table* 😊 5y

GingerAntics @AshleyHoss820 🤣😂🤣 right? 🤣😂🤣 *rights table just to flip it again* 5y

AshleyHoss820 @GingerAntics 😂🤣😂🤣 5y

Megabooks I‘m sure Betsy DeVos will jump right on this! 😒 Great idea though!! 5y

GingerAntics @Megabooks right? 🙄 I‘m guessing she‘d also manage to make tuition MORE expensive per student because obviously the cost saving just means more profit margin for her and the companies she want to bring in. 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

I wish more parents understood this. I no so many educators that would jump at the chance to work with kids in this capacity instead of the stressful, coercive capacity they currently work. I don‘t know a single person who got into education to coerce children, but they have all found themselves there anyway.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #freethechildren ##freetheteachers

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

We seriously need to stop segregating children by age. It‘s hurting all of the kids. I‘m not sure it‘s helping in any way.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #agemixedgroups #agenixedlearning

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

This seriously just made me tear up. I think Darren is going to be okay.
💙💙💙
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #agemixedgroups #compassion

CarolynM 💔 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

I think I talk about what I read way more. I feel like what I have to say has value, and I know I‘ll find someone who likes similar books or the topic to discuss with. Prior to Litsy, the people I‘m around IRL don‘t read what I read, so they would sort of roll their eyes and ignore me if I talked about what I was reading.
#changes @Megabooks

Megabooks That is nice! It is wonderful that everyone here can find someone who likes what they do. 😊😊 5y

19 likes1 comment

GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Through out this book, I‘ve thought about the adage that to teach is to learn again. Now, I‘m also thinking it‘s easier for a student to say “I don‘t know” to a younger student than to an adult, which also opens up the next part of the answer, “let‘s find out” or “let‘s look it up.” My older cousins did this with me all the time when I was growing up, and I frequently did it with the younger kids in my neighbourhood.

GingerAntics I think the default with adults is to just think “I‘m a kid” or if it was my grandmother, I was sent away to “look it up.” It was a demand, not something I chose, so it stuck with me less than if the time had been taken to have a conversation about it. I also still do not see the value in my asking how to spell something and my grandmother telling me to look it up. If I can‘t spell it, how am I supposed to look it up? 5y

GingerAntics Google is great at guessing what I mean when I can‘t spell something, but that was still a good 15 years off when I was a kid. #PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #agemixedgroups #agemixedlearning (edited) 5y

Chrissyreadit Another perspective- I teach in trainings- children in same age groups are not able to imitate and engage in play that helps them gain developmental skills naturally. Instead everything must be manufactured. They also do not learn positive, appropriate social mores because teachers create the rules, vs groups developing fluid rules and learning how to change or transition in a natural environment. I‘m also very passionate about this topic. 5y

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Chrissyreadit Have you read

The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way

Chrissyreadit I really enjoy the information provided regarding education systems, but truly the best education would reflect developmental understanding and opportunities. 5y

GingerAntics @Chrissyreadit I agree with absolutely every part of that. Our current education systems are totally failing at developmental appropriateness or giving them opportunities for developmental advancement. I have not read that book, but it‘s getting added to the list. 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Outside of school, I was generally with much older kids or significantly younger kids. At one point, my 4th grade teacher complained to my mother that I wasn‘t content to just be with other 4th graders. I wanted to play with everyone and she thought something was wrong with me. Too bad for her it was actually making me smarter.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #agemixedgroups #agemixedlearning

GingerAntics I like that he‘s also addressed that nuclear families used to be larger (allowing sit mixed groups at home) and greater connection with extended families (allowing further age mixing when visiting or being visited by cousins, etc), but that these things rarely happens today, so Age mixed groups rarely if ever happen for today‘s children. 5y

wanderinglynn Wow, I can‘t believe how short sighted your teacher was. 5y

GingerAntics @wanderinglynn I think she was just looking for things to complain about. I was the only kid in catholic school whose parents had never been married, so prejudice was most of it. She claimed my mother worked as a store clerk and that I couldn‘t read by 4th grade. The principal happened to be my uncle, so when he read her assessment, he laughed in her face and informed her that I‘d taught myself to read at age 3 and she was way off base. 5y

wanderinglynn Again, wow. So short sighted that she would make up lies about a child. That woman had issues. 5y

GingerAntics @wanderinglynn right? It was ridiculous. She made up lies about a child and a parent she hardly knew. We found out about the claim I couldn‘t read when my uncle told us. I don‘t think I was supposed to overhear it. I was pissed. He laughed and said that he gladly dismissed her by telling her that I probably read more and better than she did. 😏 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

It‘s amazing the number of people who say it‘s cruel to do this to animals, but necessary to do to children. Nope.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #play #freethechildren

Chrissyreadit 👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️yes- one of the many reasonsI love homeschooling 5y

GingerAntics @Chrissyreadit I always wanted to be homeschooled. My parents didn‘t believe in it. I think I‘ve wanted to homeschool my kids since then. If I ever get to have kids, those kids are so not going into the school system. They‘re going to get to be kids and they are never taking those ridiculous standardised tests. 🙄 5y

Chrissyreadit @GingerAntics homeschool is the way to go! It is very freeing and my kids love to learn because of it. It‘s so common now too!!!! I hope you get to also. 5y

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GingerAntics @Chrissyreadit I‘ve heard that from so many homeschool parents. I kind of want to start a school like the one described in this book. It‘s basically homeschool in a group. Same things, the kids are happy, they‘re free to be kids, the kids are amazingly successful as adults. It‘s basically homeschooling for parents who can‘t homeschool their kids for whatever reason. 5y

Chrissyreadit Nice!!! 5y

GingerAntics @Chrissyreadit right? Bring the joys of freedom and play for more children who otherwise would get shoved through the system. 5y

readinginthedark I don't know that I'd agree with this. My son goes to public schools, and they have two recesses and lots of "wiggle time" and little dance parties and yoga and stuff as well as the sit-down reading and writing moments. Schools have changed a lot since we were kids. And I do think it's important for kids to learn that there's a time for different kinds of activity, both active and quiet. Not to mention grounding my son so he learns not to lie, etc 5y

GingerAntics @readinginthedark your son‘s school is the exception to the rule. Most schools is doing away with recess and even PE because it‘s not on the tests. Children playing doesn‘t mean they don‘t learn not to lie, there is actually evidence they learn this better through play because their are consequences besides timeouts or being hit, they won‘t have playmates. That‘s more important to them. 5y

GingerAntics @readinginthedark Yoga is nice, but adults are still telling him what to do for his down time. This is talking more about self-directed play and free time. It‘s hard to explain the book in one quote, really. 5y

readinginthedark That makes sense. He gets a lot of free play, too, but I see your point. Too bad all of the public schools can't have the same standards for this; seems ironic. 5y

GingerAntics @readinginthedark it seems they try to standardise all the wrong things. 5y

readinginthedark Agreed. 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Love this. The golden rule is oddly selfish...not to mention most people treat themselves horribly (and they learn to do so in childhood).
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

readinginthedark Yes, this is so good! 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Could someone please pass this message on to all government officials, especially at the national level? Thank you.
I told you they freakin failed kindergarten. I guess, in a way, kindergarten also failed them.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

I love how this sentence is worded. 💙💙💙
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #play #freethechildren

Texreader It is a delicious sentence! 5y

GingerAntics @Texreader isn‘t it? 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Kids, are amazingly young age, think creatively, hypothetically and critically in play. As young as 4 years old they can do this, but by that age we‘ve got them in play free preschools, listening to lectures and writing in workbooks, then we wonder why we have 17 year olds who can only think literally.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #play #weallneedtoplay

readinginthedark 🤔 I don't know of any play-free preschools, though. Most of them are primarily play and active environments with a few sit-down moments for eating, (now) using technology, and learning basics like letters and sounds. That's been my experience, anyway. 5y

GingerAntics @readinginthedark your kids are very lucky!!! A lot of preschools have become hyper academic. Kids rarely if ever play freely. There is no pretend play, it‘s always directed in one way or another by adults. Their time is spent listening to instruction and working in workbooks (never mind that‘s developmentally inappropriate). This is more common in low income areas, honestly, but even preschools are becoming college readiness centres in many place 5y

GingerAntics @readinginthedark this might be a better quote for explaining the book than the other. Still, a single quote doesn‘t hint at all of the amazing research that has gone into this book. The big distinction is the difference between play and free play where adults just stay out of it completely. The whole book is about the amazing capability children have to educate themselves if supplied with the tools and allowed to do their thing. 5y

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GingerAntics @readinginthedark even 20 years ago now, kids were expected to be able to “read” when they left kindergarten even when it wasn‘t required to attend kindergarten. I knew a kid who had to repeat kindergarten because she couldn‘t “read” under pressure. It was madness. This has spread and now most schools are starting to teach reading in kindergarten and even preschool. It doesn‘t actually increase literacy, but it does make kids burn out on school by 5y

GingerAntics @readinginthedark middle school. The tests and the pressure and all the homework starting so young, even though study after study proves that homework (especially when it‘s just more of what was done in class) does not help students learn more or better or whatever. Honestly, this guy explains it way better. He‘s the researcher. I totally recommend the book. He‘ll explain this so much better than I ever will. 5y

readinginthedark I agree that the pressure of literacy too much or too early can be hard. I tried to start teaching my son how to read before kindergarten 'cause I knew he'd love it, but I stopped when he resisted and just kept reading to him instead. He picked up reading in kindergarten so fast! The lack of pressure really helped, I think. 5y

readinginthedark Also, a lot of this might be the area I'm living in. There's a lot of focus on social and emotional readiness as well as mental readiness to learn and be in a certain environment, which is awesome. 5y

GingerAntics @readinginthedark I think that lack of pressure is really important. The research shows that the way we educate kids is actually really good for things kids can already do but horrible for the things they‘re learning. It‘s sad. There is just way too much pressure built into the system. 5y

GingerAntics @readinginthedark oh wow, that‘s great. Sadly, that is what should be made the standard instead of some of this madness they‘re all into. 5y

readinginthedark Definitely! 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Educational Disneyland!!!
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

Weaponxgirl Education Disneyland is like a really great museum right? 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl 🤣😂🤣 sort of, accept you can touch EVERYTHING and run around all you want. So museum might not be the best word. 5y

Weaponxgirl Hmmmm, I want to make one now! 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl I would gladly sign on to go back to school if we could play all day if we wanted and learn about whatever struck our fancy. That‘s what makes it sound so great. 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Sin 6 has lead directly to Trump in the Whitehouse and Brexit. Just a thought.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #criticalthinking

Eggbeater Yes to this! 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

WTF?!
“Stop experimenting, this is science class!” Does this teacher even know what science is? Clearly the school system is screwed up if science class is not for experiments. Then again, I did tons of science experiments in grade school in the 90‘s in MN where we had no standardised tests, but in the early 2000s when I was in high school in TX with a long history of standardised tests...

GingerAntics I managed to take bio, chem, and physics and never once did an experiment. I‘m still trying to workout what exactly we learned (right about nothing is probably accurate). #PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

I can vouch for this. In school, I absolutely HATED history classes. They were my least favourite classes throughout school. My love of history came from reading books over the summer, asking adults (especially my grandmother‘s friends) about their lives as kids, and later, looking things up on the internet. I was interested and I educated myself.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

Weaponxgirl That‘s awesome, glad you found something you love despite how it was taught to you 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl in grade school I hated history, it was boring and all memorisation. In high school I slept through history like just about everything else. It seriously all happened on my own time. (edited) 5y

Weaponxgirl Honestly that‘s so cool! 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl how do you learn about stuff you‘re interested in now? You read books about it and find people to talk about it with. It‘s basically the same idea, accept this is even for little kids. It‘s the greatest school ever. 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl in hindsight, I think I was also rebelling. I never read about the history I knew Mrs. Johnson was going to end up teaching eventually. That‘s probably how I got into British history. We never talked about that. 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

This is the greatest school story I‘ve ever heard. This school is awesome.
“I want to build a still, just to see how it works.”
“Okay, go for it.”
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #schoolstories #buildastill

AshleyHoss820 “For science” is one of my favorite reasons to do anything you want and no one questions it. 😂😂😂 5y

GingerAntics @AshleyHoss820 right? If you‘re doing something for science, unless you‘re talking to a conservative Christian, you‘re pretty much free to do what you want. It‘s awesome. 5y

AshleyHoss820 @GingerAntics As a liberal Christian, can confirm. 😂😂😂 My recent favorite was when they attached plungers to chickens butts to see if they could really be descendants of the T-Rex! I love science! 5y

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GingerAntics @AshleyHoss820 WHAT?! How did the plunger on chickens‘ butts prove or disprove that? Surgically attached? That might be into the realm of animal cruelty. Who are these scientists. Tell more!!! (edited) 5y

Weaponxgirl I want in on this story! 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl this guy who is now a machinist built a still at this school, ground his own grain and made whisky just so he could discover how whisky was made. That‘s what‘s so awesome about this school. 5y

Weaponxgirl @GingerAntics that‘s sounds cool but I also want to know about the chicken butts! 🤣 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl 🤣😂🤣 right? I‘m hoping @AshleyHoss820 has just gone for a nap and will be back with more info on these chicken plunger butts and what they discovered about their connections to t-Rex from this strange experiment. Who thought of this? And why? 🤣😂🤣 COME BACK ASHLEY!!! WE NEED TO KNOW!!! 5y

AshleyHoss820 @Weaponxgirl @GingerAntics NOT surgically applied, just strapped! My sister is not a fan of chickens, so I, like a good big sister, constantly send her chicken-related things. Lemme see if I can find that article again! 😂🤣 5y

AshleyHoss820 @Weaponxgirl @GingerAntics FOUND IT! Apparently they wanted to see how the t-Rex would‘ve walked with that big ‘ol tail...for science... https://www.popsci.com/article/science/chickens-wear-prosthetic-dinosaur-tails-s... 5y

Weaponxgirl @AshleyHoss820 that is exactly what siblings are for! 😁😆 5y

AshleyHoss820 @Weaponxgirl Right!? 😂😂😂 5y

GingerAntics @AshleyHoss820 that is amazing!!! That is wonderfully amazing!!! 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

A wonderful, simultaneously outdated and new fangled, education system where NO BODY WINS!!! Isn‘t it great?! 🙄
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

hermyknee Yes. Hits home. We only have 7 days left... 😭 it‘s been such a rough year 5y

GingerAntics @hermyknee I‘m friends with so many K-12 teachers. Every year they seem to feel like the recent year is the toughest year yet. Things just keep getting worse and worse. Teachers have to take child development courses and know what their kids need, but the government wants a citizenry that “knows it‘s place” and just follows authority without question. When looked at in that light, the school system is working perfectly. It‘s horrible. (edited) 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl this was from the section from his discussions with teachers. Teachers are fully aware that they‘re stuck, that they can‘t really do their jobs because the system is focused on the wrong things. They know. They‘d love to do what they signed on to do, educate children, but they also know their jobs depend on not doing that. It sucks. 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

And the powers that be don‘t care, because education does exactly what they want, namely keep them in power.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

Weaponxgirl It‘s all about teaching what to think rather than how to think it feels like. 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl you‘ve hit the nail on the head. It seems since the dawn of agriculture when inequality needed to be kept in order for society to keep functioning as it was, education has served to keep rich people rich and poor people poor and respectful of the rich. 🙄 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

This isn‘t creepy in the extreme or anything!!!
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Because clearly, children are just wild beasts like the rest of nature and we must beat that wildness out of them and put them to work immediately. Lazy sods.
It‘s amazing the number of children whose parents genuinely see them as free labour or servants. The mentality is “why do something I can more easily have my children do, and then beat them for doing it wrong or not wanting to do it.”
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

15 likes

GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

The more violent and unequal a society is, the more likely that society is to hit their children. Hm. No wonder America is leading the charge to keep beating children. That certainly explains a lot. That does make me wonder why people who fight for equality still beat their kids. Part of me thinks it must be because they spent their childhood just waiting for their turn to do the hitting and they‘re not about to give up their turn.

GingerAntics #PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education 5y

Weaponxgirl Wow, that‘s a great quote. Too many people equate discipline with corporal punishment and teaching values with following the hierarchy. 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl because that‘s what we‘ve done for the last 4,000 years...so roughly 1% of human history (or all of it if you ask a Protestant. They generally believe the world is only 4,000 years old, but that‘s another story). 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

I find it amusing that so many people feel that hunter-gatherers are less civilised, and the way we show our advanced civilisation is by hitting the weakest members of our society and calling it “good for them.” 🙄 Clearly it‘s not necessary to keep children alive or respectful or decent people. It seems with “greater” civilisation, we‘ve gotten less logical, less humane, and less decent. Funny how that works out.

GingerAntics #PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Interesting concept. If we don‘t jump in for our children all the time and solve their disputes for them, they learn to do this peacefully and just keep playing, which leads them to be calm, self controlled, self reliant adults.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

@Weaponxgirl this made me think of learning to spell without creating childhood trauma or an anxiety disorder in children. 🤣😂🤣 It‘s only funny because it‘s so logical.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #naturaleducation #logicaleducation

Weaponxgirl Ohhh 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl if we actually educated like this, it would actually cost LESS, but students would actually learn (not remember just long enough to pass the test) and would be healthier and happier. It‘s amazing, right? 5y

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GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

But as a society we keep taking away their play, then blaming them for feeling like they have no control over their lives. We tell them to “take some initiative” and when they do, we punish them.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #freethechildren

21 likes

GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

This is what taking away recess and free play, and adding in standardised tests has done to our children. Yet most of society will blame the students themselves.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #freethechildren

16 likes

GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Really shocked by the small town rural parents concerns about crime keeping their children indoors. Seriously? Cut the bloody umbilical chord.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #freethechildren

18 likes

GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Actually, school wife cheating happens more often than you think. One local school got busted for having all the kids test in the cafeteria and each corner of the room was labelled A, B, C, or D and the principal would point to a corner for each question. This was seen as okay because it kept their funding high.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #childrenarepawns

CarolynM Apart from being disturbing in regard to the academic learning those kids are doing it is even more concerning in the life lessons they are being taught - someone else will do the work for you, not only is it ok to cheat, it is the clever way to get what you want. 5y

GingerAntics @CarolynM I completely agree with you, but at the same time of all the students taking these ridiculous tests, those kids (the ones gathered in the lunchroom to cheat) are at least learning something from the experience. The rest of the kids, the ones that didn‘t cheat, are just wasting time and being completely messed up. 5y

CarolynM Indeed 5y

GingerAntics @CarolynM it‘s not a good thing, but none of the kids are learning anything “academic,” at least these kids are learning something. Apparently now memory tricks to remember things until the test is over is now considered education, so once the test is over students have no knowledge to show for their school year. It‘s ridiculous. Standardised tests are the worst thing that ever happened to education. It‘s absolute stopped education cold. 5y

13 likes4 comments

GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

And yet somehow, as adults, we are blamed for this. Sorry middle aged people, millennials were moulded into exactly what they are today. God help us all.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

12 likes

GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Childhood is having the joy removed as painfully and ridiculously as possible. Anything that lets children still feel the joys of childhood I‘m all about. If you look at the right kids, childhood seems downright painful now.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education #joyofchildhood

21 likes

GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

I like this description of the education system. Especially now, it‘s coercive and beyond ineffective.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

Weaponxgirl I felt like this at school. It‘s ridiculous as I love learning new things 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl I feel like this in hindsight, if that makes any sense. I hated school, it was exhausting, but I loved learning. I loved reading (obviously), but hated reading for school. 5y

Weaponxgirl @GingerAntics yup, I didn‘t do well in school at all! 5y

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GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl I didn‘t do too bad, but I definitely could have done better. I had at least two teachers that openly didn‘t like me (as in totally wrote me off because of my age or my parents‘ marital status), so that certainly didn‘t help. 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl I still have nightmares of at home spelling quizzes devolving into tears (generally somewhere after “this is the easiest word, how did you misspell it?” Or “you spelled it right last time, what‘s wrong with you?”) All these years later, I‘m still trying to see what value any of that had for my education. Still can‘t spell. Have a masters degree. Get stuffed. 🤷🏼‍♀️ So much anxiety and trauma for nothing. 🙄 5y

Weaponxgirl Oh god that sounds hellish! 5y

GingerAntics @Weaponxgirl oh it was. I swear, if I ever have kids, they‘re not doing spelling tests. There have got to be more natural ways to learn to spell. Apparently here in the states, we are now giving spelling tests to kids who can‘t even read yet!!! As in, haven‘t been taught to read yet. Why?! How does anyone think this is a good idea? I mean, seriously. (edited) 5y

17 likes7 comments

GingerAntics

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

I‘m really excited to dig into this book. It‘s part of the reading list I‘ve created to help we in my next writing project (part 2 of what I wrote for NaNo in November) and also for my foray into EdD studies.
#PeterGray #FreeToLearn #Education

13 likes

saresmoore

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

“By segregating children by age, by caging them in so they can‘t avoid those who harass them, by indoctrinating them in a setting where competition and winning—being better than others—are the highest values, and by denying them any meaningful voice in school governance, we establish the breeding grounds for bullying.”

saresmoore To me, this is duh-obvious, but apparently not apparent enough to legislators to actually change anything. 5y

ravenlee I think part of the problem is that even when this is recognized, much of the solution would hinge on such a drastic overhaul of the existing school system that it seems impossible. And because of that, fixing any of the smaller component pieces gets shunted because it won‘t fix the whole problem, so nothing gets better. 5y

GingerAntics I agree with absolutely everything you said!!! This is all so very true!!! @ravenlee has a very good point as well. Instead of taking things in fixable steps that will eventually, over time, fix the whole problem, they seem to either do nothing or just make the problem worse. 5y

59 likes1 stack add3 comments

saresmoore

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

Today‘s schedule:

Read a chapter of tagged book
Pack lunches & breakfast
Take kiddos to cooperative school
Haircut
Pick up CSA share
Pop by schoolhouse to watch daughter facilitate a cooking class for her fellow students
Bring kids home
Laundry, dishes, gardening
Make dinner
Crochet chainmail costume for kid‘s Joan of Arc presentation
Read some more
Bedtime

It‘s going to be a good day.

hermyknee Busy day! I hope you have nice weather for it ♥️ 5y

erzascarletbookgasm A very productive day! Cheers to a superwoman! 🍷 🍷 5y

Cathythoughts Wow ! That‘s an impressive day 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 5y

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saresmoore @hermyknee The weather is lovely today! ♥️ 5y

saresmoore @erzascarletbookgasm @Cathythoughts It turns out I‘ll be substitute teaching for the afternoon, so it‘ll be even busier than I anticipated. 😅 5y

batsy You're my actual hero. 🥂 5y

GingerAntics The chainmail sounds awesome. Can't wait to see it. 5y

Suet624 Best wishes to you on your grand adventures. 😁😁 5y

readordierachel Sounds like a wonderful (and busy) day! And I love your bookmark! 5y

saresmoore @readordierachel Isn‘t it great? That was a gift from @TrishB and I love it. 5y

saresmoore @Suet624 Not only did I avert at least three potentially catastrophic head/brick collisions, I also climbed over a tall fence, and saved a pair of boots from drowning. 😆 And I get to do it again tomorrow! 5y

saresmoore @GingerAntics I will definitely share some photos! 5y

saresmoore @batsy 😘♥️ 5y

TrishB I‘m tired looking at that 😘 5y

87 likes1 stack add14 comments

Jlmergler

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

I'm reading this book because I #homeschool my two kids, and have doing a great deal of thinking about child-interest led learning, also known as #unschooling. This passage is literally on the second page of the prologue, and resonates so strongly with me. What if all children were able to learn what and how they felt best for their needs and interests? What world it would be!

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Fishinthefield

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life | Peter Gray

pick

Can't help but read up on education now that I've got a little one... Even though she only just turned one. Heh. Interesting thoughts on learning and education. Motivation to look into all learning options; traditional school might not be right for all ways of learning.

1 like

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