Bad For Children

The educational system in America is a popular and controversial topic. Opinions on what school can do or cannot do for our youth vary by who is speaking. John Holt, author of the essay, “School is Bad for Children,” makes a plea in his essay to, “Free children from the classroom, a “dull and ugly place, where nobody ever says anything very truthful”(72). Throughout the essay, he expresses his emotions clearly against sending children to school. He believes that sending and having a child taught in school is the wrong thing to do. However, young children need some type of schooling to help develop their mind, body, and soul. Without it, the adolescents are not taught to critically think outside of the box. With that being said, in Holt’s essay, the evidence he uses is not very logical. It is based on how he, himself views school
He explains towards the end of the essay that we need to get kids out of school buildings and give them a chance to learn about the world at first hand. For example, he says, “In Philadelphia and Portland, Oreg., to pick only two places I happen to have heard about, plans are being drawn up for public schools that won’t have any school buildings at all, that will take the students out into the city and help them to use it and its people as a learning resource”(75). The kinds of places these children would go to are for example, “In other words, students, perhaps in groups, perhaps independently, will go to libraries, museums, exhibits, courtrooms, legislatures, radio, and TV stations, meetings, businesses, and laboratories to learn about their world and society at first hand” (75). Holt uses two places to help support his claim about getting children out of school buildings. Using that type of examples and evidence does help him and his points to be considered