For more information about John, visit his site
Growing Without Schooling
https://www.johnholtgws.com/who-was-john-holt
Also, the Mises Institute
https://mises.org/library/john-holt-libertarian-outsider
John Holt, author who advocated radical education
By William P. Coughlin Globe Staff
John Caldwell Holt of Boston, the controversial author, educator, leader and proponent of the American home-schooling movement for children, died of cancer yesterday in his home. He was 62.
The author of many books on education, two of which had sales of more than 1.5 million copies, Mr. Holt had urged reform of schools since the 1960s, saying the traditional methods used in classrooms do not work.
An outspoken and consistent critic of the theme he believed is imparted In schools - that life is a race - Mr. Holt observed that "the trouble with races is that they always produce more losers than winners.
"And when you begin to call a youngster a loser and treat him like a loser, he begins to think of himself as a loser. And when this happens his chance of doing much learning and growing becomes slight."
In a 1973 interview, he said the nation must quickly move toward a "deschooled society in which learning is not separated from but is integrated with the rest of life."
People should have freedom of choice to learn whatever they wish to learn, he urged, with community learning centers and yearlong flexible school days.
A balding, soft-spoken man who articulated his views with disarming logic, Mr. Holt was widely quoted and his ideas were a perennial subject of publications and talk shows nationwide.
Claiming he never had set out to become an author, writer, lecturer or social reformer, Mr. Holt said he wrote his first book, "Why Children Fail," in 1964 after being fired as a fifth-grade teacher because "I had an unusually honest relationship with the students . . . it was a threat to administrators who wanted to maintain structured, authoritarian classrooms."
The founder of Holt Associates in Boston, which deals with education and social issues, Mr. Holt in 1977 began writing a bimonthly magazine, "Growing Without Schooling," about teaching children at home. Its circulation is about 5,000. In 1980 he opened John Holt's Book and Music Store, a catalogue of books primarily about children.
His other books include "Never Too Late," (1978) a musical autobiography: "Instead of Education" (1976); "Escape from Childhood" (1974); "Freedom and Beyond" (1972); "What Do I Do Monday" (1970); "The Underachieving School" (1969); and "How Children Learn" (1967).
He also wrote articles for many national newspapers and magazines.
The holder of a degree in industrial administration -- "whatever that is." he said - Mr. Holt held that educational background is irrelevant and refused to respond to questions about his own.
"... A person's schooling is as much a part of his private business as his politics or his religion ... no one should be required to answer questions about it. May I say instead that most of what I know I did not learn in school, and indeed was not even taught."
Born April 14, 1923, in New York City, Mr. Holt was in the Navy's submarine service from 1943 until 1946, and until 1952 worked in various parts of the World Government movement. He was former executive director of the New York State branch of the United World Federalists.
After traveling throughout Europe, he began teaching in 1953 at Colorado Rocky Mountain School, Carbondale, Colo. He taught at Shady Hill School, Cambridge, from 1957 to '59; at Lesley Ellis School, Cambridge until 1963, and at Commonwealth School in Boston from 1965 until 1967.
Mr. Holt also was a visiting lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education and at the University of California, Berkeley.
A bachelor, Mr. Holt leaves his two sisters. Charity Jane Pitcher and Sue Bontecou, both of Santa Fe, N.M., and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5. in the First Church Unitarian. 1306 Hancock St., Quincy.
Published 15 Sep 1985 in The Boston Globe (MA).
Growing Without Schooling
https://www.johnholtgws.com/who-was-john-holt
Also, the Mises Institute
https://mises.org/library/john-holt-libertarian-outsider
John Holt, author who advocated radical education
By William P. Coughlin Globe Staff
John Caldwell Holt of Boston, the controversial author, educator, leader and proponent of the American home-schooling movement for children, died of cancer yesterday in his home. He was 62.
The author of many books on education, two of which had sales of more than 1.5 million copies, Mr. Holt had urged reform of schools since the 1960s, saying the traditional methods used in classrooms do not work.
An outspoken and consistent critic of the theme he believed is imparted In schools - that life is a race - Mr. Holt observed that "the trouble with races is that they always produce more losers than winners.
"And when you begin to call a youngster a loser and treat him like a loser, he begins to think of himself as a loser. And when this happens his chance of doing much learning and growing becomes slight."
In a 1973 interview, he said the nation must quickly move toward a "deschooled society in which learning is not separated from but is integrated with the rest of life."
People should have freedom of choice to learn whatever they wish to learn, he urged, with community learning centers and yearlong flexible school days.
A balding, soft-spoken man who articulated his views with disarming logic, Mr. Holt was widely quoted and his ideas were a perennial subject of publications and talk shows nationwide.
Claiming he never had set out to become an author, writer, lecturer or social reformer, Mr. Holt said he wrote his first book, "Why Children Fail," in 1964 after being fired as a fifth-grade teacher because "I had an unusually honest relationship with the students . . . it was a threat to administrators who wanted to maintain structured, authoritarian classrooms."
The founder of Holt Associates in Boston, which deals with education and social issues, Mr. Holt in 1977 began writing a bimonthly magazine, "Growing Without Schooling," about teaching children at home. Its circulation is about 5,000. In 1980 he opened John Holt's Book and Music Store, a catalogue of books primarily about children.
His other books include "Never Too Late," (1978) a musical autobiography: "Instead of Education" (1976); "Escape from Childhood" (1974); "Freedom and Beyond" (1972); "What Do I Do Monday" (1970); "The Underachieving School" (1969); and "How Children Learn" (1967).
He also wrote articles for many national newspapers and magazines.
The holder of a degree in industrial administration -- "whatever that is." he said - Mr. Holt held that educational background is irrelevant and refused to respond to questions about his own.
"... A person's schooling is as much a part of his private business as his politics or his religion ... no one should be required to answer questions about it. May I say instead that most of what I know I did not learn in school, and indeed was not even taught."
Born April 14, 1923, in New York City, Mr. Holt was in the Navy's submarine service from 1943 until 1946, and until 1952 worked in various parts of the World Government movement. He was former executive director of the New York State branch of the United World Federalists.
After traveling throughout Europe, he began teaching in 1953 at Colorado Rocky Mountain School, Carbondale, Colo. He taught at Shady Hill School, Cambridge, from 1957 to '59; at Lesley Ellis School, Cambridge until 1963, and at Commonwealth School in Boston from 1965 until 1967.
Mr. Holt also was a visiting lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education and at the University of California, Berkeley.
A bachelor, Mr. Holt leaves his two sisters. Charity Jane Pitcher and Sue Bontecou, both of Santa Fe, N.M., and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5. in the First Church Unitarian. 1306 Hancock St., Quincy.
Published 15 Sep 1985 in The Boston Globe (MA).
For more information about John, visit his site
Growing Without Schooling
https://www.johnholtgws.com/who-was-john-holt
Also, the Mises Institute
https://mises.org/library/john-holt-libertarian-outsider
John Holt, author who advocated radical education
By William P. Coughlin Globe Staff
John Caldwell Holt of Boston, the controversial author, educator, leader and proponent of the American home-schooling movement for children, died of cancer yesterday in his home. He was 62.
The author of many books on education, two of which had sales of more than 1.5 million copies, Mr. Holt had urged reform of schools since the 1960s, saying the traditional methods used in classrooms do not work.
An outspoken and consistent critic of the theme he believed is imparted In schools - that life is a race - Mr. Holt observed that "the trouble with races is that they always produce more losers than winners.
"And when you begin to call a youngster a loser and treat him like a loser, he begins to think of himself as a loser. And when this happens his chance of doing much learning and growing becomes slight."
In a 1973 interview, he said the nation must quickly move toward a "deschooled society in which learning is not separated from but is integrated with the rest of life."
People should have freedom of choice to learn whatever they wish to learn, he urged, with community learning centers and yearlong flexible school days.
A balding, soft-spoken man who articulated his views with disarming logic, Mr. Holt was widely quoted and his ideas were a perennial subject of publications and talk shows nationwide.
Claiming he never had set out to become an author, writer, lecturer or social reformer, Mr. Holt said he wrote his first book, "Why Children Fail," in 1964 after being fired as a fifth-grade teacher because "I had an unusually honest relationship with the students . . . it was a threat to administrators who wanted to maintain structured, authoritarian classrooms."
The founder of Holt Associates in Boston, which deals with education and social issues, Mr. Holt in 1977 began writing a bimonthly magazine, "Growing Without Schooling," about teaching children at home. Its circulation is about 5,000. In 1980 he opened John Holt's Book and Music Store, a catalogue of books primarily about children.
His other books include "Never Too Late," (1978) a musical autobiography: "Instead of Education" (1976); "Escape from Childhood" (1974); "Freedom and Beyond" (1972); "What Do I Do Monday" (1970); "The Underachieving School" (1969); and "How Children Learn" (1967).
He also wrote articles for many national newspapers and magazines.
The holder of a degree in industrial administration -- "whatever that is." he said - Mr. Holt held that educational background is irrelevant and refused to respond to questions about his own.
"... A person's schooling is as much a part of his private business as his politics or his religion ... no one should be required to answer questions about it. May I say instead that most of what I know I did not learn in school, and indeed was not even taught."
Born April 14, 1923, in New York City, Mr. Holt was in the Navy's submarine service from 1943 until 1946, and until 1952 worked in various parts of the World Government movement. He was former executive director of the New York State branch of the United World Federalists.
After traveling throughout Europe, he began teaching in 1953 at Colorado Rocky Mountain School, Carbondale, Colo. He taught at Shady Hill School, Cambridge, from 1957 to '59; at Lesley Ellis School, Cambridge until 1963, and at Commonwealth School in Boston from 1965 until 1967.
Mr. Holt also was a visiting lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education and at the University of California, Berkeley.
A bachelor, Mr. Holt leaves his two sisters. Charity Jane Pitcher and Sue Bontecou, both of Santa Fe, N.M., and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5. in the First Church Unitarian. 1306 Hancock St., Quincy.
Published 15 Sep 1985 in The Boston Globe (MA).
Growing Without Schooling
https://www.johnholtgws.com/who-was-john-holt
Also, the Mises Institute
https://mises.org/library/john-holt-libertarian-outsider
John Holt, author who advocated radical education
By William P. Coughlin Globe Staff
John Caldwell Holt of Boston, the controversial author, educator, leader and proponent of the American home-schooling movement for children, died of cancer yesterday in his home. He was 62.
The author of many books on education, two of which had sales of more than 1.5 million copies, Mr. Holt had urged reform of schools since the 1960s, saying the traditional methods used in classrooms do not work.
An outspoken and consistent critic of the theme he believed is imparted In schools - that life is a race - Mr. Holt observed that "the trouble with races is that they always produce more losers than winners.
"And when you begin to call a youngster a loser and treat him like a loser, he begins to think of himself as a loser. And when this happens his chance of doing much learning and growing becomes slight."
In a 1973 interview, he said the nation must quickly move toward a "deschooled society in which learning is not separated from but is integrated with the rest of life."
People should have freedom of choice to learn whatever they wish to learn, he urged, with community learning centers and yearlong flexible school days.
A balding, soft-spoken man who articulated his views with disarming logic, Mr. Holt was widely quoted and his ideas were a perennial subject of publications and talk shows nationwide.
Claiming he never had set out to become an author, writer, lecturer or social reformer, Mr. Holt said he wrote his first book, "Why Children Fail," in 1964 after being fired as a fifth-grade teacher because "I had an unusually honest relationship with the students . . . it was a threat to administrators who wanted to maintain structured, authoritarian classrooms."
The founder of Holt Associates in Boston, which deals with education and social issues, Mr. Holt in 1977 began writing a bimonthly magazine, "Growing Without Schooling," about teaching children at home. Its circulation is about 5,000. In 1980 he opened John Holt's Book and Music Store, a catalogue of books primarily about children.
His other books include "Never Too Late," (1978) a musical autobiography: "Instead of Education" (1976); "Escape from Childhood" (1974); "Freedom and Beyond" (1972); "What Do I Do Monday" (1970); "The Underachieving School" (1969); and "How Children Learn" (1967).
He also wrote articles for many national newspapers and magazines.
The holder of a degree in industrial administration -- "whatever that is." he said - Mr. Holt held that educational background is irrelevant and refused to respond to questions about his own.
"... A person's schooling is as much a part of his private business as his politics or his religion ... no one should be required to answer questions about it. May I say instead that most of what I know I did not learn in school, and indeed was not even taught."
Born April 14, 1923, in New York City, Mr. Holt was in the Navy's submarine service from 1943 until 1946, and until 1952 worked in various parts of the World Government movement. He was former executive director of the New York State branch of the United World Federalists.
After traveling throughout Europe, he began teaching in 1953 at Colorado Rocky Mountain School, Carbondale, Colo. He taught at Shady Hill School, Cambridge, from 1957 to '59; at Lesley Ellis School, Cambridge until 1963, and at Commonwealth School in Boston from 1965 until 1967.
Mr. Holt also was a visiting lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education and at the University of California, Berkeley.
A bachelor, Mr. Holt leaves his two sisters. Charity Jane Pitcher and Sue Bontecou, both of Santa Fe, N.M., and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5. in the First Church Unitarian. 1306 Hancock St., Quincy.
Published 15 Sep 1985 in The Boston Globe (MA).
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