Saturday Reviews: Free to Learn

For years, I’ve said that Alfie Kohn’s Unconditional Parenting is the one parenting book I would recommend for anyone to ever read. Close behind are Dr. Laura Markham’s Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids and John Taylor Gatto’s Dumbing Us Down. Today I have a new favorite, and it’s Dr. Peter Gray’s Free to Learn.

Dr. Gray is an advocate of unschooling, so expect to read that—but expect lots and lots of scientific evidence to back up Dr. Gray’s opinions. His journey began like most unschoolers’ journeys begin—with the love of his own son. From there, Dr. Gray went from studying various concepts regarding evolutionary growth to how children and people in general learn.

The book is filled with remarkable studies and information, from how the rise of homework, lack of play and increased school hours coincide with an huge increase in youth depression and suicide, how today’s hunter/gatherer societies learn and function and so much more. And what’s great about Dr. Gray’s work is that it’s also engrossing; it’s not dry and dull like so many other academic or scientific studies about education, which I really appreciate.

This is a must-read for any homeschooler or unschooler, but I would also strongly suggest it for any parent and education professional as well. Our system of education and our system of parenting could both change so much for the better if more people could only consider different ways of raising (and respecting) children. I dare say we would be much happier as a society as well if we adopted these changes.

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