About this title: First published in the mid 1960s, How Children Fail began an education reform movement that continues today. In his 1982 edition, John Holt added new insights into how children investigate the world, into the perennial problems of classroom learning, grading, testing, and into the role of the trust and authority in every learning situation. His understanding of children, the clarity of his thought, and his deep affection for children have made both How Children Fail and its companion volume, How Children Learn, enduring classics.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: Reprint.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Dell Delta, New York
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. 1964 Dell Delta soft cover. NOT EX LIB! Clean, lightly toned pages withsome reading wear, barely creased spine, some edge scuffing, covers a little scuffed & rubbed. 181 p. read more
Binding: Library Binding
Publisher: Pitman Publishing Company
Date Published: 1964-01-01
Description: GOOD. Mine is by Delta Publishing. LIBRARY BINDING. EX SCHOOL LIBRARY. SOLID. UNDERLINING THROUGHOUT. NORMAL READING WEAR. SLIGHT SPINE TILT. Items may or may not have the same cover art as displayed for this item on this site. If you need a specific cover please inquire first. Vinyl is visually graded according to Goldmine. Because of our volume we just don't have time to play test every album, however we would gladly play test any album and it's often a great idea to ask us to do that to ... read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Pitman, New York
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. No dust jacket. Signed by previous owner. xv, 181 p. 22 cm. hardcover, edge wear to cover ends, no dj, text in very good cond, clean and unmarked, fading and 3 very small stain spots to spine. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Pitman, New York
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Used; cover is worn, especially along spine edge, edge wear. Pages are clean, tight and unmarked. xv, 181 p. 22 cm. read more
Description: Fair. Light to Moderate Shelfwear Overall. Scuffed Covers, both covers creased. Faintly Creased Spine. Edgewear. Marks on first page. Marks, Underlining & Annotations in text. pb06s02. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: DELTA BOOK CO
Date Published: 1964
Description: Fair. Paperback, EX-LIBRARY. Library markings include identifier on spine, ownership stamps and card sleeve on back endpaper. Cover shows moderate wear to edges, very minor spine creasing. Light soiling. Front ocver has vertical crease near spine. Front endpaper has previous owner's sticker, insides of cover show sunning and paper stains. Pages are sunned to edges, minimal underlining. Front hinge is weakened, binding is good. read more
"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' classrooms.
What impressed me most about this book was Mr. Holt's obvious passion for his subject matter. As a concerned teacher, he noticed a problem in his classroom and, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the problem did not make any sense to him. Accordingly, he threw all his powers of observation, reason, and empathy into trying to understand it. The result is a fascinating and unique book that seeks to understand, not through studies or "science" but rather through direct firsthand observation, what exactly is going on in the minds of kids.
The book makes a lot of good points and raises a lot of interesting questions about the nature of education and learning. To my mind, though, none of its conclusions were unquestionable, and more than once I found myself wondering if Mr. Holt's deeply felt empathy for the children he was observing caused him to focus too exclusively on the child's point of view. Also, he takes it for granted that the kind of keen desire to learn about the world found in infants would continue unchanged through adulthood if only adults would "get out of the way." This conclusion, though possible, seems to me unprovable in either the positive or the negative sense.
Still, I think everyone should read this book. The questions that an obviously concerned individual has about education deserve to be considered and answered, in one respect or another, in the minds of every citizen of a free country, all of whom have a vested interest in the process and results of the education of the young."
"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 students who were/are failed by the education system in our country, who we think are doing well. The truth is our education system in America sucks.
It's a powerful message for home schoolers. John Holt reminds us that if we are going to pull our children from public school and homeschool then we must not mock the system, because it just doesn't work! We spend all this money trying to change something that needs its roots replanted. We are hurting the urge of children to love education. We must understand every child thinks and works differently. We must be open minded so that we can see what works and what doesn't work, soon. We must encourage and look at education with a different mind set. Education is about preparing us to succeed in life, holistically, not just for work. What messages are we sending to our children? Is it really shocking to hear that our children hate school? It's like John Taylor Gatto states: Our children are being schooled, not educated!"
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