I think it must be a natural law that every family of educators must have someone like me: a person who has a talent for dropping out.
I know nothing about education, but I think this is true: We do well when we try to help children — and those who inquire like children — find their own interests. We do less well when we think it’s our duty to help them find a “career,” meaning a way to sort out questions about money.
A.S. Neill, who was an educational reformer when I was a child, had a similar idea:
I hold that the aim of life is to find happiness, which means to find interest. Education should be a preparation for life.
I think that helping children find their interests is a good thing to do — but I also think that old people can seek like children and that those who do are happier.
When people who are considering retirement query me about it, I ask: “Is there anything you are interested in — anything you want to learn?”
• Source: A.S. Neill, Sumerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing; New York, Hart Publishing, 1960, pp. 24. The Internet Archive has it here:
https://archive.org/details/Summerhill-English-A.S.Neill/mode/2up
No comments:
Post a Comment