How Children Learn: Reading John Holt

Once, in an attempt to allow children to give space to children’s questions, I told to ask whatever questions they have in mind. I was bombarded with a number of questions and one that stands out in my mind: If humans came from monkeys, why haven’t all monkeys changed to humans? A simple question on evolution, it may seem, but it is the manifestation of the children’s natural willingness to learn. When we studied electricity, students brought the igniting part of the gas-stove lighter which on pressing could light up a small LED bulb; I had thought for years, that the lighter used friction to generate spark, and it was a revelation to see that it was electricity that generated spark. They not only build boats and rockets using paper but created a myriad of shapes and structures using paper. This spirit of enquiry and exploration – using the body and mind – forms an essential part of the learning process and is naturally present in a child.  

John Holt disapproves of brain research as a mode to study children learning. All his finding on children learning stems from his observation of children. He substantiates his claim with anecdotal evidences drawn from his careful observation of children. He provides evidences to confirm that the learning ability is not restricted to certain domains of learning but is present across all domains of learning: Reading, talking, sports, art, math, science; and in the fantasy world of children. He asserts that the mind of a child is always at work in making sense of the world and is eager to be a part of the world. He holds the view, that schools in their blind adherence to standards, have turned a blind eye to these abilities and in making children learn, they irreversibly damage the ability of the child to learn.  

In this article, I summarise how children exhibit learning abilities naturally confirming the presence of cognitive competencies – sometimes, even to the level of modelling and abstraction which are considered to be advanced competencies. I have also attempted to relate the findings of John Holt, to my childhood experiences, my observation of children and to my own short experience of teaching VI grade science at a public school.  

On Learning to talk 

A child is eager to express her feelings and wishes. The sounds that babies utter are not without meaning. Skilful use of muscles to utter a sound is no mean task, which, children do persistently and patiently to convey a meaning. If speaking were to taught to children it would definitely become a complex process, making it impossible for them to acquire speech. In helping children to talk adults can do that only by talking to them and allowing them to be around when people talk.
  

 Children invent words – which may or may not make sense to an adult – and associate these words with an object, person, experience and a host of other things. With time, the child organises objects and persons into groups and names them. This mental ability present in the child is nothing but abstract thinking – thinking in terms of symbols rather than the physicality.   

Thus, children’s words and sounds must be listened to and its meaning needs to be understood. A child must be responded to; however meaningless the adult may think the sounds are. It is only then the adult can have a real, honest conversation connected to the child’s context. In doing so, the child understands that the idea of speech is to convey meaning. Then, from the context and tone of voices, the child begins to get a general idea of what is spoken and the structure of the language. If this happens, then the child can plug in new words into the language’s structure to mean what he thinks. This exposure to a speech would benefit the child more when it comes from siblings or slightly older children as the speaking and listening happens effortlessly among them, rather than with adults.  

Holt is of a strong view that there is no need to correct the mistakes in young children. It is only by exposing children to more and more right form of speech – to which they can associate themselves and relate to – can we improve their talking and not by correcting. A subtle way of correcting mistakes is to expose them to the right form of usage without explicitly hinting at the mistake. He aptly quotes, a catholic educator, on why one should never rush to correct because, “a word to the wise is infuriating.” That is what a child gets – infuriated – when rendered help unasked for.  

I couldn’t relate to this more, as I do feel infuriated – despite being wrong – when someone corrects me on anything; children are not different from adults. Confronting a nascent learner with his inadequacies will definitely harm the learner’s ability to learn.  The importance of not rushing to correct can never be understated, as Holt allots 20 pages of this book to discuss why speech errors of young children should not be corrected. 

Allowing children to Read 

Children when are exposed to the symbolic world of letters and sounds, get frightened and try to avoid the situation that demands them to read; one may better realise this by attempting to read the script of a new language. The situation is worsened when an all-knowing adult confronts them with the task of reading words displayed on a chart.  

Learning to read is a process that involves associating letters with sounds and the ability to associate the sounds with meaning; hence requiring a great deal of familiarisation. Familiarity with letters and their shapes is indispensable first step to read. Children should be allowed to get used to the shapes of letters; though they may be only gazing at the letters, one should be patient. At this stage, it is prudent to allow them to be with slightly older children who are better in reading, but still struggling. This instills confidence in a child to read.  

Without any attempt to familiarise children to letters, sounds, groups of letters and their associated meaning, it is futile to force them to read through repetition. This process, which requires learning of symbols and developing relational capabilities – required for reading –  is not complex, but is made complex. Holt, cites an example of a committee that has broken down reading into 200 sub-sets of skills to demonstrate how blind adherence to outcomes and standards have made reading complex. 

Like, in all their acts, children are seeking meaning in reading. Holt, based on his experience of observing children, gives a few recommendations. Use of signs to familiarise children in associating words with meaning is a way to allow for children to develop reading ability. A prudent thing to do in allowing children to read is to put children within reach of resources and offer them space to choose what they want. In a group of children – with younger children and slightly older children – younger children have an achievable challenge as well a comfortable guidance which may not be available in an adult. Adults can read aloud stories that children like and offer help only when asked for. Children have to be given enough time to correct their mistakes on their own. If children are forced to read, tested and corrected, children will begin to lose confidence and will be deprived of hope.  

Learning ability in Sports and Games 

Children fervently explore the world around them by their physical interaction and sports and games provide an opportunity to do so; that’s why children take to sports as fish to water. When allowed to explore without fear and discouragement, children acquire fine traits demanded by the sport and become more physically aware of themselves in their interaction with the environment. It is important only to understand where children expect help and offer it in a way that seems less imposing to the child. Adults in fear that the child may hurt himself may resort to instruction and force and restrict them in their exploration.  

Holt describes a situation in swimming pool where brute force and shouting fails to make any impact on the young swimmer in learning to swim; but when no attempt is made to instruct, a kid effortlessly acquires the nuances of swimming – developing reflex to prevent water from entering mouth and nose, handling waves rising above face etc. In any competitive sport, the interest of the child and his observation of peers playing can lead to development of sporting skills in a way that instruction and explanation can’t do.  

Art and Math 

Art and Math are another symbolic representations of the real world. Strict adherence to predefined symbolic expressions in language, art and math hinder the actual expression of the child’s perception. All these are also a powerful tool for expressing a desired reality and art goes beyond a tool of expression to a powerful tool of exploration.  

An artist or mathematician desires the detailed expression of his perception through his tools – words, brush or numbers. This extraordinary detail is what is present in the child’s artistic expression. In symbolic representation, a child if uninhibited and unrestrained would perceive and represent reality giving a new meaning.   

I have always felt sadly about my inability to draw – even a straight line. I still feel the shakiness with which I used to get my biology laboratory records signed; the neatness of the papers was paramount; no one wanted to know what I made out of the drawing or what it represented, but wanted the drawings to be picture perfect. My ability to be dexterous took a big hit.  

Children’s fantasy in imagined reality 

Couple of decades ago (seems like long ago) I spend the summer holidays, along with my cousins, at my Grandparents’ house. There was no television, so we had to play to keep ourselves out of boredom. ‘It is boring’ was a common refrain among us. After being bored by the conventional games of hide and seek, catch me if you can, one game we invented was to make and sell products and imagine a community living together. Individually or in groups, we would make things out of whatever is available like sand, leaves, wood. Each of them would have a role in the community and thus a community was simulated. This, today I understand is an learning ability that indicates  an advanced cognitive competency of modelling reality 

Fantasizing, as one thinks, is not always an escape from reality and definitely is not the case with children. Children fantasize not because they want to escape from reality; they want to model the world’s reality for themselves and want to be able to be part of the world.  

Think of the games children play; kings and queens, mom and dad games, building houses, etc. Observe the children building houses on sand; they attempt to make it as big as possible. They want to do a real house to be able to live in it. The family game, the train game, are all their way of modelling reality. In modelling reality, they model people, their attitudes, behaviour, physical systems and understand what it is to be like them.  

The next level of fantasizing arises from reading books like comics and wanting to enter the world of those characters.  The influence of mass media like television, I feel, has inhibited children’s ability to fantasize and model a world for them. It already creates a world for them to exist, even which when children chose to be part of it have to go by definitions laid out by the template of Superman or a spiderman; or worse, they do not fantasize at all. So, the ability of fantasizing to act as a learning opportunity is diminished. 

On Open Schooling 

Schools which do not constrain children learning to classrooms and allow them to learn at their own pace and their own liking are open schools. In contrast with traditional schools, which are rigidly bound by timetables and syllabi, open schools offer an alternative of freedom to children in all aspects 

In such a free and open environment, children have no exposure to the society’s problems and are unaware of challenges of the times they are living in. John Holt expresses his concern that if open schools cannot bring the nature of society within the learning framework it may not be sustainable.  

I visited the Puvidham Learning Centre –  set up as an alternative to mainstream education – which envisions to provide children a joyful learning experience and empowers them to lead a self-sustainable living. No doubt these schools allow natural abilities of child learning to grow unhindered, but how do these schools educate them to cope up with the outside world once they leave the school ( after 8th) is a question.  

Conclusion 

Schools have become places that do not facilitate learning but severely damage the natural abilities of the child to learn and schools are dangerous places to be in. This is evident from the numerous observations of parents in ‘growing without schooling’ frequently quoted in this book. Education, in schools, have become mass delivery system having scant regard for personalisation and individualisation.  

The child in his natural way not only makes sense of the world but finds his place in the world, realising his worth and is attuned to contribute. The overpriced and overburdened education, I was provided, curbed self-expression and degraded the potential. It can be said, without doubt, that it happens to most of the students to varying extents. Many could only manage to come out of school, lacking in confidence, and cling to the lowest support available. If schools do not honour the natural learning abilities present in the child, they not only inhibit their potential, but ruin it beyond resurrection.