Quotes by John Holt
“Birds fly, fish swim, man thinks and learns. Therefore, we do not need schools. We need shrines of learning where people can come and go as they please.”— John Holt
“What is essential is to realize that children learn independently, not in bunches; that they learn out of interest and curiosity, not to please or appease the adults in power.”— John Holt
“Living is learning and when kids are living fully and energetically and happily they are learning a lot, even if they don't know it.”— John Holt
“Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners.”— John Holt
“The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do.”— John Holt
“Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how.”— John Holt
“We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn... but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them.”— John Holt
“The human animal is a learning animal; we like to learn; we are good at it; we don't need to be shown how or made to do it. What kills the process are the people interfering with it or trying to regulate it or control it.”— John Holt