Gostei de ler este artigo.. “School is a prison – and damaging our kids” por Peter Gray. O resumo não é simples, já que aborda um tema complexo que é o da escola convencional, e a forma como as crianças aprendem “talvez” a não aprender nas escolas de hoje. Deixo aqui para registo algumas citações..

“the conventional wisdom is that these issues can be resolved with more money, better teachers, more challenging curricula and/or more rigorous tests”

“School is a place where children are compelled to be, and where their freedom is greatly restricted — far more restricted than most adults would tolerate in their workplaces”
“children learn most deeply and fully, and with greatest enthusiasm, in conditions that are almost opposite to those of school”
“schools were created to teach children to read the Bible, to believe scripture without questioning it, and to obey authority figures without questioning them”

“The top-down, teach-and-test method, in which learning is motivated by a system of rewards and punishments rather than by curiosity or by any real, felt desire to know, is well designed for indoctrination and obedience training but not much else”

“We think of it as bad-tasting medicine, tough to swallow but good for children in the long run. Some people even think that the very unpleasantness of school is good for children, so they will learn to tolerate unpleasantness, because life after school is unpleasant.”
“Research has shown that people of all ages learn best when they are self-motivated, pursuing questions that are their own real questions, and goals that are their own real-life goals. In such conditions, learning is usually joyful.”

“Through their own efforts, children learn to walk, run, jump and climb. They learn from scratch their native language, and with that, they learn to assert their will, argue, amuse, annoy, befriend, charm and ask questions. Through questioning and exploring, they acquire an enormous amount of knowledge about the physical and social world around them, and in their play, they practice skills that promote their physical, intellectual, social and emotional development. They do all this before anyone, in any systematic way, tries to teach them anything.”

“This amazing drive and capacity to learn does not turn itself off when children turn 5 or 6. We turn it off with our coercive system of schooling.”

“three core aspects of human nature — curiosity, playfulness and sociability — can combine beautifully to serve the purpose of education.”

” the self-directed approach to home education has increased in popularity, more and more centers and networks have popped up to offer resources, social connections and additional educational opportunities for children and families taking this approach. With these — along with libraries and other community resources that have always been available and, of course, the Internet — the educational opportunities are boundless.”

“the conditions that optimize children’s natural abilities to educate themselves:
a) unlimited opportunity to play and explore (which allows them to discover and pursue their interests);
b) access to a variety of caring and knowledgeable adults who are helpers, not judges;
c) free age mixing among children and adolescents (age-mixed play is far more conducive to learning than is play among those who are all at the same level); and
d) direct participation in a stable, moral, democratic community in which they acquire a sense of responsibility for others, not just for themselves”

“the natural drives and abilities of young people to learn are fully sufficient to motivate their entire education. When they want or need help from others, they ask for it. We don’t have to force people to learn; all we need to do is provide them the freedom and opportunities to do so.”

+infos(o artigo): http://www.salon.com/2013/08/26/school_is_a_prison_and_damaging_our_kids/

+infos(exemplo de escola): http://www.sudval.org/

+infos(directório de alternativas): http://alternativestoschool.com/