Rethinking school
by S. Wise Bauer · first published 2018
3mentions
2recommended by
3HN commenters
2009–2022first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
"Our K-12 school system is an artificial product of market forces. It isn't a good fit for all--or even most--students. It prioritizes a single way of understanding the world over all others, pushes children into a rigid set of grades with little regard for individual maturity, and slaps "disability" labels over differences in learning style. Caught in this system, far too many young learners end up discouraged, disconnected, and unhappy. And when they struggle, school pressures parents, with overwhelming force, into "fixing" their children rather than questioning the system. With boldness, ex
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Just want to mention that I recommend the book "Rethinking School" by Susan Wise Bauer. It's a book I recently read that I wish I had heard about several years ago as it discusses the futility of trying to fit a round peg (child) into a square hole (traditional k-12…
on “Troubled teens left traumatised by tough love camps” ↗…probably also count as timeless classics in the "thinking book" section. Lastly, see also Seymour Papert's books "Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas" (1980) and "The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer" (1993). These are brilliant for anybody who's interested in thinking and learning, or the Logo programming language that Papert developed.
on “Ask HN: Are older programming books useful?” ↗…as the authority on what children cannot do because they are not at appropriate stages of development, published his first scientific article at age eleven!" -- Seymour Papert, The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer (1993).
on “A 5 Minute Intelligence Test for Kids” ↗