In Defense of Childhood

by Mercogliano, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780807032862
• ISBN10: 0807032867
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-08-01
• Publisher: Beacon Press

Summary

As codirector of the Albany Free School, Chris Mercogliano has had remarkable success in helping a diverse population of youngsters find their way in the world. He regrets, however, that most kids' lives are subject to some form of control from dawn until dusk. Lamenting risk-averse parents, overstructured school days, and a lack of playtime and solitude, Mercogliano argues that we are robbing our young people of "that precious, irreplaceable period in their lives that nature has set aside for exploration and innocent discovery," leaving them ill-equipped to face adulthood. The "domestication of childhood" squeezes the adventure out of kids' lives and threatens to smother the spark that animates each child with talents, dreams, and inclinations. There is plenty that those involved with children can do to protect their spontaneity and exuberance. We can address their desperate thirst for knowledge, give them space to learn from their mistakes, and let them explore what their place in the adult world might be.

Author Biography

Chris Mercogliano has been a teacher at the Albany Free School since 1973 and codirector since 1985. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, and he is the author of Making It Up As We Go Along, and Teaching the Restless: One School's Remarkable No-Ritalin Approach to Helping Children Learn and Succeed. Mercogliano lives in Albany, New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
The Taming of the Child	p. 1
Into the Corral	p. 17
No Work and No Play	p. 40
Real Play	p. 57
The Wildness Within	p. 85
The Importance of Solitude	p. 104
Childhood Lost	p. 121
Adulthood Arrested	p. 141
Saving Inner Wildness	p. 164
Acknowledgments	p. 187
Notes	p. 188
Index	p. 202
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