Freedom to Learn

The roles of play and curiosity as foundations for learning.

Peter Gray Ph.D.

A Hundred Years of Children’s Freedom

A.S. Neill pioneered a new school where children were free, respected, and responsible, 101 years ago. It's still going strong.

Why Parents Should Do Less for Their Kids

Children innately want to become increasingly self-sufficient and self-directed, but we can drive that out of them if we persist in doing everything for them.

What Is Play? How Children Define It

Much of what educators call "play," such as in "play-based learning," isn't play at all, at least not as defined by most play researchers or by children.

Why Kids Are Suffering Today

It should be no mystery why kids are suffering from high rates of mental disorders. We are depriving them of experiences essential to mental well-being.

How Magazines’ Advice to Parents Has Changed Over a Century

An analysis of articles in magazines for parents documents the decline, over decades, in the expectation that children can manage themselves.

Research Reveals Long-Term Harm of State Pre-K Program

By 6th grade, children who had been in the pre-K program performed worse on all achievement tests and had worse school comportment than controls who had not been in the program..

The Man Who Trusted Children: Daniel Greenberg

Daniel Greenberg never stopped learning, never stopped challenging conventional thought, and never wavered in his devotion to Sudbury Valley School and its students.

Beware of “Evidence-Based” Preschool Curricula

Everybody, of course, says the new pre-K programs will use “developmentally appropriate curricula” and will employ “evidence-based best practices.” But what is that evidence?

The Team that Coached Themselves Won the Tournament

My own interpretation is that free play led the boys to be more playful, even in their serious tournament games, and playfulness makes us all a head taller than we otherwise are.

The Advanced Placement Racket

Here are 6 reasons why high schools should terminate their AP programs and let teachers and student create their own special courses, motivated by genuine interest, not status.

This Is an Especially Bad Time to Send Children to School

As childhood Covid cases have soared, so has the rate of homeschooling. The homeschooling rate has more than tripled since the pandemic began, but not just from fear of Covid.

Play Out, Don’t Work Out

Few Americans exercise even the minimum weekly amount of 150 minutes. A shift in thought and action from "working out" to "playing out" could solve this problem.

Vegetable Gardening as a Key to Health, Happiness, Longevity

An activity common in those parts of the world where people regularly live into their 90s and 100s is vegetable gardening. Here's why.

Free-Range Kids: A Movement That's Gaining Ground

"America's Worst Mom," Lenore Skenazy, believes all kids need greater independence—including yours.

The Toxic Consequences of Attending a High-Achieving School

Research shows why levels of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse are much higher among students at high-achieving high schools than among students elsewhere.

The Case Against Universal Preschool

There is no such thing as a “developmentally appropriate curriculum” for three- and four-year-olds. Common sense should tell us that. Curriculum implies imposed ...

Forced Schooling, Anxiety, and "Learning Disorders"

Early academic pressure creates learning blocks, diagnosed as disorders.

“Specific Learning Disorder": The Case Against Labeling

Some researchers have contended, with good reason, that "specific learning disorder" is neither specific nor a disorder and that the label can cause more harm than good.

A Pandemic Lesson: Family Togetherness Makes Children Happy

By far the most common response by children to the question, "What have you LIKED about this period of lockdown?" was "More Time with My Family."

Lord of the Flies: A Harmful Distortion of Children’s Nature

William Golding was a schoolteacher, and "Lord of the Flies" is a teacher's worst nightmare. But it isn't true. Real kids in danger cooperate to save themselves.

How Dyslexic Kids Learn to Read When Removed From School

Dyslexia is usually described as a cognitive or perceptual disorder, but these stories make it clear that the more serious problem was an emotional one—school-induced trauma.

Hype Versus Fact on Social Media and Teens’ Mental Health

When you read dramatic headlines about great damage to kids from social media or other uses of screens, it’s good to ask about the actual data.

Registrations for Homeschooling Are Soaring

A Gallop Poll, Aug. 27, revealed a doubling in rate of homeschooling in the US. Some reasons derive from immediate pandemic effects on typical schools, but others go beyond that.

Kids Continued to Cope Well Two Months After Schools Closed

Contrary to dire predictions about the effects of school closures, two surveys revealed that most children benefited from newfound free time.

Survey Reveals Children Coped Well With School Closure

A large, representative survey suggests that children's psychological health, sense of independence and responsibility, and relationships with parents improved when schools closed.

Undeserved Shame: Why Does It Occur?

Why would a person falsely accused and convicted of a crime experience shame? Why do people unfairly stigmatized for any reason feel it? This is why.

Thank You for Shaming Me. Really.

Why did shame come about, in natural selection, as a component of human nature? The answer lies in an understanding of how shame makes us acceptable to people on whom we depend.

The Case Against the Case Against Homeschooling

A professor contends that children have the right to government-enforced compulsory schooling. Think about that: A right that they can't refuse.

Is the Pandemic Causing Children’s Anxiety to Go Up or Down?

Before the school closures, children were suffering from record levels of anxiety, mostly school-induced. So how are kids using their newfound time?

Coronavirus School Closures: An Educational Opportunity

The closures of schools and organized after-school activities provide children and families with new opportunities for freedom and self-direction. Here are some suggestions.

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