- Holt, John. How Children
Fail. rev. ed. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, [1964]
1982. ISBN 0-201-48402-1.
- This revised edition of Holt's classic includes the entire
text of the 1964 first edition with extensive additional interspersed
comments added after almost twenty years of additional experience
and reflection. It is difficult to find a book with as much wisdom
and as many insights per page as this one. You will be flabbergasted
by Holt's forensic investigation of how many fifth graders (in an
elite private school for high IQ children) actually think
about arithmetic, and how many teachers and parents delude themselves
into believing that parroting correct answers has anything to do with
understanding or genuine learning. What is so refreshing about Holt
is his scientific approach—he eschews theory and dogma in favour of
observing what actually goes on in classrooms and inside the heads
of students. Some of his insights about how those cunning little
rascals game the system to get the right answer without enduring
the submission to authority and endless boredom of what passes for
education summoned some of the rare fond memories I have of that odious
period in my own life. As a person who's spent a lot of time recently
thinking about intelligence, problem solving, and learning, I found
Holt's insights absolutely fascinating. This book has sold more than
a million copies, but I'd have probably never picked it up had it not
been recommended by a kind reader using the
recommendation form—thank you!
September 2004 