When I started reading "Free to Learn" by Peter Grey, I thought that I should believe everything I read in the book. After talking to my mom about the first chapters, she told me that the idea of reading this type of book is to think about what I read and decide wether I agree or not. Grey makes it clear that he thinks that school nowadays has completely taken freedom from kids and does not let them achieve their maximum capacities as they would if they had more "free play", as Grey calls it, He tells us that the ancient way of living is more beneficial for kids to be able to learn skills needed for life, and not just "temporarily" learn for a test, and then forget about it. Obviously there are some things that I don't agree with, which I´ll explain in following paragraphs. All his ideas have led me to 2 main take-aways.
1) School nowadays is only interested in kids´ academic performance.
The book has led me to realize that most schools in America only focus on academic performance and grades for students to be able to be accepted at good universities. I realized that these schools have left out something that is even more important: LIFE. And I talking about life after we graduate from college. I strongly believe that programs such as the Innovation Academy prepare us for life in a way that no other school program can. It does this by letting us pursue our own interest and passions, and providing us with real life situations. Students that don't have the opportunity to be in this type of program, such as students taking the MYP, won't be exposed to real life situations, and therefore, won´t be prepared for the future, when those do appear.
2) The importance of free play has decreased.
In chapter 2, Grey talks about hunter-gatherer communities and their customs. He states that in those communities, children are completely free play freely most of the day, if not all of it, I see hunter-gatherer communities as "ancient", I might be wrong, but that is my perspective. When Grey talked about how these communities, he talks about how children are free to do whatever they wish, and mostly without adult supervision, except for when their life´s ate at risk, but other than that, they run around freely playing with each other, joining adult activities, etc. This shows that in that time, free play was a priority for children. Now lets look at the importance people give free play nowadays. Schools have decreased the amount of free time students get during school hours. Apart from 6-8 hours of school, students are expected to do about 2 hours of homework every evening. Children don't get the right amount of free play that they should be getting to be able to gain the values that are gained during free play as a child, which involve friendship, fairness, and bravery among many others. Really the importance of free play hasn't changed, what has changed is the amount of importance GIVEN to it.
1) School nowadays is only interested in kids´ academic performance.
The book has led me to realize that most schools in America only focus on academic performance and grades for students to be able to be accepted at good universities. I realized that these schools have left out something that is even more important: LIFE. And I talking about life after we graduate from college. I strongly believe that programs such as the Innovation Academy prepare us for life in a way that no other school program can. It does this by letting us pursue our own interest and passions, and providing us with real life situations. Students that don't have the opportunity to be in this type of program, such as students taking the MYP, won't be exposed to real life situations, and therefore, won´t be prepared for the future, when those do appear.
2) The importance of free play has decreased.
In chapter 2, Grey talks about hunter-gatherer communities and their customs. He states that in those communities, children are completely free play freely most of the day, if not all of it, I see hunter-gatherer communities as "ancient", I might be wrong, but that is my perspective. When Grey talked about how these communities, he talks about how children are free to do whatever they wish, and mostly without adult supervision, except for when their life´s ate at risk, but other than that, they run around freely playing with each other, joining adult activities, etc. This shows that in that time, free play was a priority for children. Now lets look at the importance people give free play nowadays. Schools have decreased the amount of free time students get during school hours. Apart from 6-8 hours of school, students are expected to do about 2 hours of homework every evening. Children don't get the right amount of free play that they should be getting to be able to gain the values that are gained during free play as a child, which involve friendship, fairness, and bravery among many others. Really the importance of free play hasn't changed, what has changed is the amount of importance GIVEN to it.