How Children Fail (Classics in Child Development) Paperback – September 4, 1995

Worth your money and time. Thought provoking. Great read.

I recommend getting this book over How Children Learn, which is great but not as good. This book is phenomenal, life changing, one of the best books I've ever read (I'm an avid reader) and THE BEST anti school book out there. I worried this book would be irrelevant in today's era, but no it is spot on. The author provides plenty of examples to illustrate his thoughts. It all makes sense and everyone should read this before having kids. I wish I had. If you have any doubts or fears about homeschooling, unschooling, whatever you call it, then you especially need this book.Even if you don't have kids, this book is enlightening. I'd recommend everyone read it, but if you have kids or work with them, consider this book mandatory. It will help you understand children in ways you've never thought of.

Very cheap and good quality print

Having studied education and seen first hand the detrimental affect teacher-centered classes have on a child's potential, I have to say it's refreshing to read a THINKING person's view on pedagogy in the 20th century. Sadly, I'm not sure we've improved much in the close to 50 years since this book/journal was written. Though the journal thoughts in the first part of the book show the direction Holt's thinking is leaning, the section on "Real Learning" is where the real gems are to be found. In fact, it has spurred me on to purchase "How Children Learn" as my preference is to approach education positively and constructively. This is a definite classic and I think new educators as well as old should be encouraged to read it and use to rethink their approach to teaching.

I don't know where to start. This book changed me on a fundamental level. It started kind of slow for me, but by the end my understanding of children, learning, and school were forever changed. I read this book eleven years ago when my oldest was an infant. I had already fallen in love with the idea of unschooling, although I didn't truly understand it back then. I didn't make significant progress in deschooling until my oldest was about 8 or 9. The longer I unschool and deschool, the more this book speaks to me. John Holt understood how children fail, and he did a brilliant job of slowly unpacking that knowledge in the form of this book so the rest of us could not help but see it, at least those of us who want to see it. Start with this book first. Then read all of Holt's other books. You're perspective on children and learning will be more rooted in reality.

This book is a must read for all teachers and parents. John Holt provides great insight into how kids respond to schooling which must be distinguished from genuine education. Schooling consists of pointless dull and often stressful rituals that children develop various strategies to cope with. Testing, grading, and judging students creates a fear of failure in children that becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy for far too many. For Holt, real learning is the work of the learner not the teacher.

See my comments for Holt's other book, "How Children Learn". Kids in public schools are forced to learn (memorize) things that have no relevance to them. One might say to a child, "You better learn this, and get it right on a test." The child is pressured to give the correct answer, or even any answer out of fear of being punished or humiliated. Holt, "What is most surprising of all is how much fear there is in school".Look at my review of "How Children Learn", which is also a must have book for parents.

What is it about?Mostly it’s about how children cope with the stress of school, and how these methods are not conducive to real learning.Was it good?It was relatable and felt true, but I did not care for the fact that it was a bunch of memos he had written before he ever thought to write a book. As such, it is not nearly as fluent and organized as some of his other books.