School Choice Isn't About Fighting for Resources, It's About Choosing How To Learn

JD Tuccille:

On a family vacatiEmpty classroom© Valentin Armianu | Dreamstime.comon a few weeks ago, my older nephew's unhappiness with school was a major topic of conversation. His fifth grade teacher, it turns out, required all of the kids in class to read assigned books at the same rate--sprinting ahead was strictly forbidden. For a kid who just tested at the reading level of a high school senior, this was a pointlessly morale-killing rule that contributed to a very smart boy's growing discontent with school. Sixth grade is now underway, and so are parental negotiations for a more flexible approach toward education, or else a healthier venue, including home. It's with this experience in mind that I read research psychologist Peter Gray's all too accurate piece in Salon comparing modern schools to prisons--horrible, curiosity-crushing institutions that teach all the wrong lessons. His points are excellent in themselves, and provide a major insight into why the school choice debate is often so off-base.

Gray, a professor at Boston College, writes:

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 6, 2013 1:31 AM
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