Learners' Manifesto:
from INSULT TO INTELLIGENCE by Frank Smith (PhD Harvard)

1 The brain is always learning. We learn exactly what is demonstrated by people around us. Schools must stop trying to teach through pointless drills, activities and tests.

2 Learning does not require coercion or irrelevant reward. We fail to learn only if we are bored, or confused, or if we have been persuaded that learning will be difficult. Schools must be places where learning can take place naturally [by desire, not force].

3 Learning must be meaningful...schools must change themselves, not try to change us, to ensure we understand what we are expected to learn.

4 Learning is incidental. We learn while doing things that we find useful and interesting. Schools must stop creating environments where we cannot engage in sensible activities.

5 Learning is collaborative. We learn by apprenticing ourselves to people who practice what they teach [who don't just teach. If the child didn't learn, the teacher didn't teach]

6 The consequences of worthwhile learning are obvious [We use what we learn]. Schools, teachers and parents should not have to rely on marks, scores or tests to discover if we have learned.

7 Learning always involves feelings. We remember how we feel when we learn or fail to learn. Schools must not treat learners like machines.

8 Learning must be free of risk. If we are threatened by learning, then the learning will always threaten. Schools must recognize that continual testing [and many other of their practices] are intellectual harassment.

The lesson in Smith's list is that schools are bad places for learning, especially the public schools. They violate all of those recommendations, with every child, all the time. Smith's book describes what goes on in the typical school and sums it up best in one chapter, called The Nonsense Industry.

article by Ned Vare