Ten Reasons Not to Hit Your Kids

[accentnepal]

I do feel that my life would have been far different had I been brought up under the ideas of Summerhill. My parents did try, but they did not have the information available. BTW, the "beat" goes on - Summerhill has to endure more government inspections than any other school in England.

Here is another Summerhill quote:
"We feel that children in other schools are being disadvantaged by the fact that they have no decision making processes to learn from, making it very difficult when they subsequently leave school and have to start living in the adult world."

Here is Joseph Chilton Pearce saying the same thing:
"In its original, genuine sense, Waldorf (school) is not preparing the child to be a dollar commodity in the marketplace, but is meeting each stage of a child's life with the environment that allows the child to be fully and completely and wholly a child at that time. My statement has always been that the three-year-old is not an incomplete five-year-old, but a complete, total and whole three-year-old."

[thentavius]

It makes me want to move overseas if I ever decide to have children.

[BellisimaJ.]

Here is Joseph Chilton Pearce saying the same thing:
"In its original, genuine sense, Waldorf (school) is not preparing the child to be a dollar commodity in the marketplace, but is meeting each stage of a child's life with the environment that allows the child to be fully and completely and wholly a child at that time. My statement has always been that the three-year-old is not an incomplete five-year-old, but a complete, total and whole three-year-old."

Accentepal, this statement sums up my feelings precisely. Too often, parents are striving to turn their pre-k's into little statements about their own parenting;i.e., placing them in preschools where the focus is on learning rather than being a child . Not to mention piano lessons, etc. Children of that age need the time to be only a child, IMO.

It makes me want to move overseas if I ever decide to have children.

Thentavius, you can give them what they need if you homeschool them. I wish I had. Actually, I wanted to, but my son was too social a person to go for it. 

[chiquita]

[quote author=accentnepal link=topic=6101.msg33778#msg33778 date=1164581014]

Here is another Summerhill quote:
"We feel that children in other schools are being disadvantaged by the fact that they have no decision making processes to learn from, making it very difficult when they subsequently leave school and have to start living in the adult world."

Here is Joseph Chilton Pearce saying the same thing:
"In its original, genuine sense, Waldorf (school) is not preparing the child to be a dollar commodity in the marketplace, but is meeting each stage of a child's life with the environment that allows the child to be fully and completely and wholly a child at that time. My statement has always been that the three-year-old is not an incomplete five-year-old, but a complete, total and whole three-year-old."
[/quote]

The current public education model hasn't really changed since its inception. We address reading, writing, and math skills, but have failed miserably to address the emotional intelligence of children. Without a strong ability to utilize critical thinking skills, children have limited ability to effectively problem solve and negotiate conflict. I equate it to providing the child with a map, but forgetting to include a compass and directions. They leave home with an incomplete set of tools in their toolbox to adequately navigate and operate within the adult world.

[BellisimaJ.]

Well said, Chiquita.