Field Day : Getting Society Out of School

by Hern, Matt

• ISBN13: 9781554200023
• ISBN10: 1554200024
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: New Star Books

Summary

Does institutionalizing our children for six hours a day, five days a week, really bring out the best in them? In this provocative book, Matt Hern argues that there are effective alternatives to school as we know it. Hern believes that local communities are in the best position to decide what kind of schooling their children need. In suggesting ways that we can leave the traditional school model behind, he sketches a future in which personal autonomy and social change go hand in hand. In the process, he shows how children thrive outside of school and make every day a field day.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	3	(8)
The Politics of Deschooling
What's In Front of Us	11	(4)
The Emergence of Compulsory Schooling	15	(10)
Monopoly Schooling	25	(8)
Breaking School's Hold	33	(8)
A Conversation with John Taylor Gatto	41	(14)
Free to Learn
Learning Units	55	(7)
Teaching versus Learning	62	(9)
The Nature of Authority	71	(6)
The Value of Play	77	(8)
A Conversation with Helen Hughes	85	(6)
Pedagogy and Freedom	91	(6)
Photo Essay	97	(119)
Richard Lawley
A Schooled Culture
What Is an Educated Person?	108	(9)
The Control of Children	117	(11)
A Conversation with Chris Mercogliano	128	(8)
Entrusting Responsibility	136	(7)
Deschooling and Social Ecology	143	(6)
A Conversation with Mary Leue	149	(6)
The End of Compulsory Schooling
How Things Are Changing	155	(4)
Hijacking Public Schools	159	(8)
Independent Democratic and Free Schools	167	(15)
A Conversation with Jerry Mintz	182	(7)
Homeschooling and Homelearning	189	(8)
A Conversation with Grace Llewellyn	197	(7)
Deschooling: Alternatives to School	204	(12)
Index	216