First published in the mid 1960s, How Children Fail began an education reform movement that continues today. In his 1982 edition, John Holt added n...
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Jul 16, 2008
Tani
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So, after all these years of homeschooling I finally read John Holt. And, believe it or not, I whole-heartedly agree with a lot of what he has to say. He so eloquently puts into words many things I have thought about education and learning. I don't know if I could've understood so much of this before experiencing it through learning with my own children. One of my many favorite quotes: "But a child who is learning naturally, following his curiosity where it leads him, adding to his ment
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May 11, 2009
Tim
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This book is a highly personal rumination on why so many schoolchildren have trouble absorbing and understanding the material being taught in school. The main focus is on the difference between the passion for learning readily observed in infants and the boredom, frustration, and rebellion against learning that is already manifest in students in the earlier grades. Through a series of memos that read almost like diary entries, Mr. Holt describes his observations of his own and other teachers' cl
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Apr 02, 2011
Leif Erickson
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Holt has a way of cutting through the bullshit when it comes to how children learn (or more realistically, as the book contends: how they do NOT learn) in schools. He approaches the subject almost as a scientist, eschewing fancy, obfuscating academic language as well as cleverness and finger-pointing. It is a remarkably gimmick-free book that attempts to put aside the supply-side notion of "how can we as teachers discover clever methods for imparting knowledge to our captive charges?"
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May 13, 2011
Katie
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Very interesting read. It was written mostly from the 60's and 70's and things have changed some in our schools, but not much. That was what was so surprising for me. I didn't realize when I ordered the book that it was written from his notes in the late 50's and early 60's. I read it anyway, thinking I might get SOMETHING out of his research. Unfortunately, our schools haven't changed that much and most of what he discussed in this book is STILL HAPPENING TODAY. ARGH!!!
The best part More...
The best part More...
Mar 29, 2009
Claudia
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Original copyright date: 1964. Holt's work rings just as true now as it did when I read it in the late 60's. As I read, I could see his warning about our current testing craze: "One ironical consequence of the drive for so-called higher standards in schools is that children are too busy to think...to a very great degree, school is a place where children learn to be stupid...our 'tell 'em and test 'em way of teaching leaves most students aware that their academic success rests on shaky found
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Apr 01, 2010
Heather
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As my husband is a teacher by trade, he has read several books on children and education that he recommended I read. One of these is How Children Fail by John Holt. I found it to be profound and fascinating and recommend it to anyone who cares about what their children learn or education. (Plus at under 200 pages, it's a quick read.) John Holt was a teacher and this book is a collection of memos that he shared with other teachers and his administration. His memos were based on observations in te
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Jun 15, 2010
Pretty intense. I have decided not to rate this book with gold stars (John wouldn't have approved).
It definitely wasn't perfect, there were certain points where the spelling and grammar made it difficult to understand what was going on. Another aspect that I wasn't crazy about was the product placement. I can tell that John was just trying to be helpful and give pointers to other teaching personnel and share what he was interested in, but it's clear in revision notes that John wished he h More...
It definitely wasn't perfect, there were certain points where the spelling and grammar made it difficult to understand what was going on. Another aspect that I wasn't crazy about was the product placement. I can tell that John was just trying to be helpful and give pointers to other teaching personnel and share what he was interested in, but it's clear in revision notes that John wished he h More...
Jan 01, 2008
Kris
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This was the first book I read about homeschooling. It was recommended in my Montessori Teacher Training, and I fell in love. Despite the dreary title, John Holt has an intuitive sense of good teaching and the innate joy children can find in a good learning environment.
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Dec 17, 2009
Sara
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This book, more than anything else, is what sold me on homeschooling. Anything to save my kids from this.
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Jul 11, 2011
Christie
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In the beginning pages I reacted very defensively to Mr. Holt's assertations that teachers and schools are basically failing children. Having earned a degree in education I had a lot of preconceived notions about "what works" in teaching, and it was hard to let some of them go. However, by the end of the book I found myself in total agreement with the author. School IS too often a place where children fail. Where they learn to follow a leader rather than become a leader in life. Kind o
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Sep 28, 2009
Umm Layth
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Do you know what is so wonderful about this book? The students were paid attention to!
This is a must read for any human being. It was an overwhelming read for me because I related to so many of the things mentioned within it. I am an example of a child who was ignored, who had her strategies to survive in school, who really was behind and didn't understand as much as my teachers thought I did. I stopped caring sometime around middle school. Sadly, there are far too many examples of More...
This is a must read for any human being. It was an overwhelming read for me because I related to so many of the things mentioned within it. I am an example of a child who was ignored, who had her strategies to survive in school, who really was behind and didn't understand as much as my teachers thought I did. I stopped caring sometime around middle school. Sadly, there are far too many examples of More...
Nov 06, 2008
Flourish
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So far, one of the great quotations I've found is:
"It used to puzzle me that the students who made the most mistakes and got the worst marks were so often the first ones to hand in their papers. I used to say, 'If you finish early, take time to check your work, do some problems again.' Typical teacher's advice; I might as well have told them to flap their arms and fly. When the paper was in, the tension was ended. Their fate was in the lap of the gods. They might still worry abo More...
"It used to puzzle me that the students who made the most mistakes and got the worst marks were so often the first ones to hand in their papers. I used to say, 'If you finish early, take time to check your work, do some problems again.' Typical teacher's advice; I might as well have told them to flap their arms and fly. When the paper was in, the tension was ended. Their fate was in the lap of the gods. They might still worry abo More...
Feb 22, 2009
Rebecca
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This was written in the 60's but I am sure it is same today. It was all based on observations of a school teacher and had a lot of specific stories about how kids are "untrained" to think in schools. He later wrote a book How Kids Learn. I started to read it, skimmed a bit, but didn't find it as interesting. That was similar to Einstein Never Used Flashcards book, but he's not a scientist and it wasn't as well written. Same concepts though.
Nov 12, 2009
Well, the intention of my rule to write something, anything, after any book I posted was that it would engage me to critically analyze or to express my feelings beyond our common, generalized adjectives that compress our thoughts. Yet for this book, I have nothing much more to say than that it was "wonderful," "insightful," "inspiring." Probably words I used in my last review of "Why Children Learn," written by the same author.
Dec 22, 2010
Michele
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Originally written in 1964, John Holt's criticism of public school methods continues to be true to this day. (Note: Read as research into modern homeschooling movement.)
Jul 06, 2007
Consuela
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I read this book after I had read John Holt's wonderful "Never Too Late" about his own struggle to learn to play the cello as an adult with no previous musical knowledge or training. He was primarily an educator and this book is wonderful in how it outlines that so often children are taught to fear and hate learning because the goal is always just to come up with the right answer and not their individual process for getting there. Though written in the 1950s, this work is still very re
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Dec 25, 2010
Sara
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A good overview that does not seem dated. Echoed a lot of my school experience. I will read more by him.
Nov 07, 2010
Lara
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I reread this any time I need to reconnect with what is most important to me about education.
Feb 15, 2010
Anissa
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i still don't know how to finish this book, but i have to finish it before i graduate, yaaaaa.... it is really the wrinkle-maker!!
Jan 26, 2012
Monica
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Everyone who has children, works with children, or knows children should read this book.
Jul 03, 2011
Really can't rate this since I didn't really want to read all about failure with kids and schools ... so I read that last chapter, which was a summary of the book. It basically just preaches that kids need freedom to be who they are. I was much more attracted to reading "How Children Learn" which preaches the same thing, just from a positive standpoint.
Jan 30, 2010
Claire
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Read this in 1986. It was formative to understanding children struggling to learn in our traditional school system.
Jan 25, 2012
Totally digging this book so far. Holt is brilliant in his observations of human character. He's writing from the 50's and 60's but it rings true to my school experience as well. It's startling and yet gratifying to see these 'issues' realized and made sense of. He is bold in some assertions, but I love that he came back to the book 20 years later and made footnotes about where he was wrong or how his opinion changed without altering the original manuscript. I can't say it's the most riveting th
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Aug 18, 2008
Anthony
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I really enjoyed this book. Holt is observant and insightful. He describes how positive reinforcement, a seemingly innocuous practice, can destroy a child's intelligence. He criticizes how the US educational system places greater concern on material being "covered," rather than on building a solid foundation on which future learning can be based.
Although the book was originally written in the 60's and focuses on the fifth grade experience, many of the same criticisms are More...
Although the book was originally written in the 60's and focuses on the fifth grade experience, many of the same criticisms are More...
Jun 13, 2011
Dana
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Very insightful. Regardless of who educates your children, this is an excellent perspective of what it is that motivates chidren, how they learn, how they retain, how they fail and how systems fail.
Aug 18, 2010
Susan
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Very good insight into the trials and tribulations of public school children. Interesting. I skimmed through the beginning but it seemed to get meatier towards the end.
