John Holt argues that school is bad for children in three main ways: 1. Children enter school as naturally curious and eager learners but school transforms them into anxious, lazy and dishonest students who dread being wrong. 2. School separates learning from living and places undue psychological pressure on children by positioning teachers as authoritarian figures. 3. The traditional school system exploits children by wasting their time, preventing true learning, and compelling children to think and behave in ways dictated by the school rather than themselves. Holt recommends improving the system by empowering self-assessment, abolishing grades and compulsory attendance, and helping children learn about the world through direct experience rather than a fixed curriculum.

1. SCHOOL IS BAD FOR
CHILDREN

2. GROUP MEMBERS
 RUPESH SHAH (LEADER)
 VINEET GOEL (EDITOR)
 JASHMINA PRADHANANGA
 KRITI MANANDHAR
 SRISTI SIDDHI BAJRACHARYA
 PRIYA SINGH

3. AUTHOR INTRODUCTION
 John Caldwell Holt (1923-1985)
 Educational theorist in the USA
 Lectured nationally and internationally
 Wrote a number of books
 Published in the magazine The
Saturday Evening Post(1969)

4. CONTENT
 PRE-SCHOOL PERIOD
 AT SCHOOL
 CRITICISMS
 CHANGE IN TRADITIONAL
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
IMPROVEMENT
 CONCLUSION

5. PRE-SCHOOL PERIOD
 Smarter and more curious
 Better at finding and figuring things out
 Solved the mystery of language
 More confident and resourceful
 Persistent and independent
 Determined, energetic and skillful
learner

6. AT SCHOOL
“LEARNING AND LIVING”
 Learning is separate from living
 Psychological pressure
 Teacher as god like figure
 Hesitate to ask questions
 Lazy, dodge, bluff, fake, cheat
 Adopt bad habits
 Limit creative learning power

7.  Escape from reality to daydreams and
fantasies
 Restrict interaction with other
 To be wrong, uncertain, confused is a
crime

8. CRITICISMS
 Exploitation of children
 Time wastage
 Prevents true learning
 Ugly, cold, inhuman
 Compels to do, think and be as “they”
want
 Right answers are what the school
wants
 Prevents interaction

9. CHANGE IN TRADITIONAL
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
 In Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon
– Public school without building
– Learn about the world at first hand
 In Washington
 In New York
– Teachers and Writer Collaborative
– Real writers visit schools
– Practicing attorney
 Paired Learning (group work)

10. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
IMPROVEMENT
 Let them judge themselves
 Compare performance
 Self-assessment
 Help them if they ask for
 Get rid of grades, exams and marks
 Abolish the fixed, required curriculum
 Abolish compulsory school attendance

11. CONCLUSION
 Psychology of children
 Banking concept of education
 Student taken as receptacles

12. ANY QUERIES…