Reaction Essay Of School Is Bad For Children By John Holt (Article Sample)

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Reaction Essay: School is Bad for Children
Of all the articles that we have learned, School is Bad for Children by John Holt was the single piece that represented the reality of life when it comes to taking children to school. Right from the first paragraph, I agree with Holt that every child is smarter, less afraid of the unknowns, more curious, resourceful, persistent, better at figuring things out, and independent than he or she will ever again be in the rest of the schooling period. Before I joined school I wanted to be an architect. But my dream faded away over time due to the beliefs that were instilled in my mind by various teachers. I am not saying that taking children to school is bad, but sometimes it is a hindrance to the children preventing them from becoming the person they want to be in the future. The article is a good example of the stages in the theory of development that a child undergoes after joining a school.
Based on the article, children are not given the opportunity to learn in the areas they have vested interest in but are instead solely taught to pay attention to their teachers and follow the curriculum. The first thing they are told is that they have come to school to learn. I take this statement as an insult since one starts learning from the time they were born. In reality, even before one is taken to school, they know a lot. What is more, the children are made to believe that only their teachers can make them read, and they cannot do it on their own. This dependency on their teachers makes children perceive themselves as untrustworthy and worthless and that they are only fit for taking orders from other individuals. Fear is instilled in the child, and they even forget what they knew, and their curiosities fade away. The fear makes the child to shy off from asking questions even about the topics they do not understand. The course of life that the child takes in school, sways him or her away from what they want to do in their future life.
I was intrigued by the fact that children learn that being confused, wrong, and uncertain is a crime. This is because schools want students only to give the right answers, and therefore, the children cannot think critically. When a child is obliged to perform a certain task they do not like; they just do it to fulfill the command and become lazy since they lack interest in whatever they are doing. Due to the requirement of always being right, the child learns to cheat in their tests, hence, not utilizing their abilities. From my perspective, corruption starts right from school since children learn that they must be bribed to do something. I remember when I was in elementary school, we were told that one should try to solve problems alone before consulting. This restricts children from learning to interact with other children and how to respond to ...