Free to Learn
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Free to Learn
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Narrated by:
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Dan Woren
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By:
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Peter Gray
About this listen
Our children spend their days being passively instructed and made to sit still and take tests, often against their will. We call this imprisonment schooling yet wonder why kids become bored and misbehave. Even outside of school children today seldom play and explore without adult supervision and are afforded few opportunities to control their own lives. The result: anxious, unfocused children who see schooling and life as a series of hoops to struggle through.
In Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Gray argues that our children, if free to pursue their own interests through play, will not only learn all they need to know but will do so with energy and passion. Children come into this world burning to learn, equipped with the curiosity, playfulness, and sociability to direct their own education. Yet we have squelched such instincts in a school model originally developed to indoctrinate, not to promote intellectual growth.
To foster children who will thrive in today's constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development. Drawing on evidence from anthropology, psychology, and history, Gray demonstrates that free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become emotionally resilient. This capacity to learn through play evolved long ago, in hunter-gatherer bands where children acquired the skills of the culture through their own initiatives. And these instincts still operate remarkably well today, as studies at alternative, democratically administered schools show. When children are in charge of their own education, they learn better and at lower cost than the traditional model of coercive schooling.
A brave, counterintuitive proposal for freeing our children from the shackles of the curiosity-killing institution we call school, Free to Learn suggests that it's time to stop asking what's wrong with our children and start asking what's wrong with the system. It shows how we can act both as parents and as members of society to improve children's lives and promote their happiness and learning.
©2013 Peter Gray (P)2018 Hachette AudioCritic Reviews
" All kids love learning. Most don't love school. That's a disconnect we've avoided discussing until this lightning bolt of a book. If you've ever wondered why your curious kid is turning into a sullen slug at school, Peter Gray's Free to Learn has the answer. He also has the antidote." (Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids)
" [A] well written, well organized and beautifully stated piece of work . I emphatically recommend this book for any parent as well as any educator or anyone interested in improving education for our society." (Laurette Lynn, UnpluggedMom.com)
" [E]nergetic Gray powerfully argues that schools inhibit learning . [Gray's] vivid illustrations of the power of play to shape an individual are bound to provoke a renewed conversation about turning the tide in an educational system that fosters conformity and inhibits creative thinking." (Publishers Weekly)
What listeners say about Free to Learn
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 28-03-2021
Enlightening, Fascinating, Inspiring
I loved every minute of this book. Picked up a lot of new information along the way. Fascinated by the concept of Sudbury School especially. As a "teacher" myself for children under 5, this book keeps the fire for my passion burning: that to fight for children's right to PLAY and self-directed learning. Can not recommended this book enough!
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- Michael H
- 29-04-2019
A complete rethink of current education
Many people in society are worried about rising rates of mental illness and the fact that many children get high grades but then in the real world they don't understand what was taught to them. Free to Play offers a profound rethinking of the schooling system based on modern science but also a look back at hunter gather tribes.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Jimmy
- 26-01-2024
To know where you’re at, learn the history
Enlightening read. Know knowing why and how the school system was originally created explains a lot and knowing there are other methods of education more suited to the children’s state of brain development makes me realise why I didn’t do well knowing a mainstream school.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 08-02-2021
A must read for parenting and child development!
I loved it! It just confirmed that every human being is able to flourish by themselves when there environment is fertile and has diversity!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 07-06-2020
powerful and insightful book
every parent teacher amd child care worker must read this book. Its life changing and i cannot wait to start implementing these philosophies into our lives
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- michelle coulcher
- 07-02-2019
some fantastic information.
as an unschooler I found a lot of the topics very interesting and have definitely related to the way it was discussed full stop when we first left school or my son was in grade 2
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- Danielle
- 24-07-2022
A real eye opener
A fascinating journey through the history of schooling that made sense of what is happening to our children today. An absolute must read for modern parenting.
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- Deborah Lessing
- 11-01-2024
A must read for anyone involved in education.
Very compelling! Peter Gray makes an excellent argument for self directed learning. After reading this book, you will not be able to look at schooling in the same way. Hopefully more people start to acknowledge the damage that is being done by coercive schooling.
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- Alex
- 29-09-2022
Excellent book.
As a person who mostly hated mainstream schooling and battled with depression. This explains everything brilliantly. Now I have my own children. I really hope I can find the courage to go against my wife's illusions and make their lives full of play and happiness rather than an authoritarian nightmare.
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- kristie
- 08-01-2023
100% Read this book
Absolutely brilliant. Read it twice to be sure you got everything. I was nodding the whole time.
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